World Cafe on KRVS

Sidi Touré is a Songhai singer-songwriter from the city of Gao in northern Mali. Though he grew up in a royal family, he sings the blues elegantly and in his own native language; interestingly, Touré has said he'd never heard American blues music until after his first album was released.

Since 2008, the North Carolina band Holy Ghost Tent Revival has been crafting a sound rooted in its members' Southern upbringing. Along the way, it's made the transition from playing acoustic bluegrass and folk to becoming a soul-rock horn band that recalls '60s and '70s classic-rock influences such as The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers, contemporary indie-rock acts like Dr. Dog, and New Orleans brass-band jazz.

This past July, the prolific indie-rock band Dirty Projectors returned with a new record, Swing Lo Magellan. Just as accessible as the group's 2009 breakthrough, Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors' sixth studio album places an added emphasis on the songs' concepts rather than just unique pop arrangements.

All month, World Cafe invites listeners to discover the music of Havana, Cuba with the series Sense of Place.

"I always try to find art in everything I do, because I believe in music as a way of life. For me it's like a game, to mix everything I learn with my roots."

Southern rhythms have always been in Patterson Hood's blood. Born in Alabama as the son of David Hood, a bassist for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, young Patterson started writing songs at age 8.