"Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass"!  It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?  And it flowed effortlessly when the jamband Leftover Salmon brought their self-described style to packed venues, most notably in their home state of Colorado, and in our Southeastern Appalachian corner of the country.  This album from 1992 was their recording debut for their fans, having first formed in 1989 when Vince Herman's band the Salmon Heads asked some members of the Left Hand String Band (mandolinist Drew Emmitt and the late banjo pioneer Mark Vann) to sit in.  Join us for this 21-year-old flashback, as we ge

Louisiana's "Swamp Pop" father Bobby Charles helped shape rock & roll’s evolution during the ‘50s and ‘60s, writing a string of hits for artists like Fats Domino and Bill Haley & the Comets.  In 2007, folk-blues songwriter Shannon McNally began working on this tribute project with him that is now finally complete, three years after his death.  Dr. John, who played piano on Charles’ 1972 self-titled album, produced it and joins McNally and other New Orleans musicians.  It's our feature Thursday night.

America's Cup, the oldest and most prestigious sailing competition, has hit some choppy water.

The death last week of British sailor and gold medal Olympian Andrew "Bart" Simpson when the boat he was crewing capsized and broke up during a practice run off San Francisco, has prompted tough questions about safety.

An unsolved triple murder in the Boston suburbs is getting a closer look in the wake of the marathon bombings. One of the victims may have been a friend of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. That's prompting authorities to revisit the 2011 case.

The murders took place in Waltham, Mass. On Sept. 12, 2011, police responded to a house in the leafy suburb a few miles west of Boston.

President Obama's first term was free from the kind of scandal that consumes every ounce of political oxygen in Washington. Now, in light of a trio of controversies, his supporters find themselves in the uncomfortable and unaccustomed position of having to defend some hard-to-defend events.

Democrats have offered up a range of responses. They view the issues — Benghazi, the IRS and the Justice Department snooping on The Associated Press — as separate issues that shouldn't be lumped together.

The Illinois Senate has approved a measure to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, sending the bill to the governor for his signature.

The bill would be the strictest in the nation. According to The Chicago Tribune:

Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchinson has been creating compelling, sometimes even uplifting, songs about abject failure since the Scottish band's first album, Sing the Greys, came out in 2006.

On this installment of World Cafe, Hutchinson tells host David Dye how the entire band was involved in writing lyrics for its new album, Pedestrian Verse. The singer also discusses Frightened Rabbit's unique experience during a recent tour of northern Scotland.