World Cafe

Tyler and Maggie Heath, siblings from San Marcos, Texas, self-released their independent album, Through the Deep, Dark Valley, in October of last year. It was the culmination of a collaboration that began a couple years ago, when they wrote their first song together — for their mom. She liked it, but more importantly, they liked the process.

British producer and singer Jamie Lidell is one of electronic music's funkiest solo practitioners. When Lidell visited World Cafe in 2006 to support his successful album Multiply, he told host David Dye that he had been called the "one-man human funk tornado" — a moniker he earns yet again in this session.

In this installment of World Cafe, Lidell plays songs from his new self-titled album and discusses the process of making the record at his new home studio in Nashville.

Petula Clark's new album, Lost In You, is her first since 2004. The 80-year-old actress, singer and entertainer launched her career in film and on the radio; she even entertained the troops in WWII, and was later known for her worldwide hit "Downtown."

At a Red Baraat show, the combination of Punjabi Bhangra music, New Orleans-style jazz, go-go and even hip-hop is so seamless — and the vibe of the party is so exuberant — that barriers fall down. That unique sound is what Red Baraat's leader, Sunny Jain, had in mind when he formed the band in Brooklyn in 2008.

Ivan and Alyosha started out as the duo of Tim Wilson and Ryan Carbary, with the band's name coming from characters in the Russian novel The Brothers Karamazov. The two met in 2007 and immediately attracted strong national praise for their first EP, The Verse, The Chorus.

After a band breakup, musician Chris Snyder consoled himself with the challenge of what he called "the threesixfive project": a challenge to write a song every day for a year. This one-man band ended up with 10 songs that stuck, and those formed his debut album, Yearling.

The Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist eventually got a chance to revisit the recordings, which initially were little more than sketches, in an upstate New York studio. Listen to two songs from Yearling here.

The L.A. band Fitz & The Tantrums broke through in 2011 with its debut album, Picking Up the Pieces. Undeniable songs and exciting concerts led the group to festival dates and other high-profile live appearances around the world.

The Swiss-German duo Boy has enjoyed worldwide success with its charming debut album, Mutual Friends. Members Sonya Glass and Valeska Steiner met in 2005 at a six-week song workshop and quickly developed a rapport.

In this installment of World Cafe, the two discuss the nuances of writing in English, and describe how their friendship grew along with their musical success.

Mount Moriah is a rock band formed around the duo of guitarist Jenks Miller and singer Heather McEntire. Its second full-length album, the recent Miracle Temple, combines the strum and twang of Southern rock with vocals that hit hard emotionally.

On this installment of World Cafe, host David Dye discusses with McEntire the complexity of Mount Moriah's sound, as well as her push to explore the nuances in her vocals.