World Cafe on HD-3

As the last World Cafe before we ring in 2012, today's show looks back at the wonderful year of music that was 2011, and takes a peek at what's ahead.

At 22 years old, Adele was inspired by the works of Etta James, Jeff Buckley and Jill Scott when she decided to enroll in the BRIT school. By the time of graduation she had perfected her sound and emerged as a soulful songbird and MySpace sensation in 2007 and 2008.

Although Dawes' members have only been together since 2009, the L.A. band's romantic roots rock sounds like the product of an entirely different era.

It's a stretch to call "Beth/Rest" the year's most divisive song, but it's hard to discuss Bon Iver's second album without weighing in on its '80s-style closer. Next to the lush, impeccably crafted grace that precedes it, "Beth/Rest" couldn't be more jarring: With its electric keyboards, saxophones and epic guitar solos, the track could double as the lost love theme to a misbegotten action movie in which Morgan Fairchild seduces a suave diamond thief played by Lou Diamond Phillips.

Though Annie Clark began as a member of Sufjan Stevens' touring band and The Polyphonic Spree, those experiences do little to explain the incredible things that happen on Strange Mercy, her third album under the moniker St. Vincent. As if unleashed from the constraints of her previous work, Clark straight-up shreds.

Ditching the prog-folk of their previous two albums, The Decemberists have taken a more cut-and-dried approach with The King Is Dead. Recorded in a barn outside of Portland, the album has strong ties to R.E.M. in sound and production — Peter Buck, guitarist for R.E.M., decided to climb on board for three songs.

On today's special, Christmas-themed episode of World Cafe, we're gathering several big-name artists and their best holiday songs to spread some seasonal cheer.

The Chain Gang of 1974 is the stage name for DJ Kamtin Mohager, a longtime beat master whose penchant for dance-inducing music and reverence for '80s pop pushed him to create this solo project. Mohager points to a childhood of Persian music, then inspiration by Tears for Fears and Talk Talk, as the muse for his inner rhythms and keen sense of melody. After playing bass on tour with 3OH!3 for a few years, Mohager moved to Los Angeles for a change of scenery — and to write Wayward Fire, his second album.

Four string virtuosos, each hailing from bluegrass or classical backgrounds, recently came together to bring the world a wonderful mix of the two genres in The Goat Rodeo Sessions.

The title of Garland Jeffreys' latest album is an apt description of his life's work overall: The King of in Between. A singer-songwriter whose blend of rock 'n' roll, reggae, blues and soul is as edgy as it is full of social commentary, Jeffreys knows what it means to be an outsider, as evidenced by his accessible yet unclassifiable music.