World Cafe Words and Music from WXPN

Hear an acoustic performance of songs from Mumford and Sons' latest album Delta and Talia Schlanger's conversation with lead singer Marcus Mumford and keyboard player Ben Lovett. They discuss how the band keeps their shows intimate even when they play arenas, and Marcus shares the story of a life-changing trip to Mosul, Iraq where he sat with a fellow father and discussed the impact of the conflict on children's lives.

Grammy Award winner Mike Farris joins the Café to talk about his latest album, Silver and Stone, a love letter to his wife of many years. Farris also talks about writing a song about Mavis Staples, why he can't listen to U2 or Stevie Wonder when recording, and he performs live – including a dynamite Sam Cooke cover.

From Lulu to Annie Lennox. Gerry Rafferty to Frightened Rabbit. The Proclaimers to KT Tunstall. World Cafe visited the National Museum of Scotland in the fall for a wild ride through "Rip It Up: The Story of Scottish Pop." We examine Scotland's role in the birth of indie music, the impact of some of its most famous exports, and we listened to a ton of fun music from Scotland's rich pop canon. Our tour guide is Vic Galloway, a beloved host and DJ for BBC Radio Scotland and veritable encyclopedia of musical knowledge who wrote the book that accompanies this exhibit. Come along as we rip through the museum!

As a gay, left-wing woman living in the South, Indigo Girls' Amy Ray says she's in love with a place that doesn't always love her back. But she draws creative fuel from the differences of opinion, and also expresses gratitude for the village that's helped Amy and her partner raise their child in rural Georgia. On her latest solo album Holler Amy calls out the difference between Southern pride and Southern hate, imagines what Jesus might have thought of a border wall and delivers a smoking live performance with her band.

Known for putting on raucous shows and turning Scottish traditional music on its head, Scotland's Elephant Sessions are festival favorites who have earned praise in Rolling Stone. In 2018, the band won Live Act of the Year from the Scot Trad Music Awards and were shortlisted for Scottish Album of the Year. With 4 out of 5 bandmates hailing from the Scottish Highlands, we talk about Elephant Sessions' role in the wave of young musicians rewriting the rulebook on cool when it comes to traditional sounds. We recorded their performance at GloWorm Recording in Glasgow, as part of World Cafe's Sense of Place series.