Madeleine Peyroux

Episode 292: When singer Madeleine Peyroux released her breakout album Careless Love in 2004, her voice and phrasing, with echoes of Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell, had more verve than the newly famous Norah Jones and more blues than Diana Krall. Her story was more remarkable than either. She'd basically run away from school as an American teenager living in Paris and joined a touring/busking ensemble the Lost and Wandering Jazz and Blues Band. After 2004 she became a vital, critically acclaimed artist with a unique fusion of jazz, blues, country and folk. Now she's released her first entirely self-written songs, guided by the legendary producer Elliot Scheiner, called Let's Walk.