Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...

We'll be highlighting a musician who trained as a physician but now writes songs with a skill that matches his professional background today. Here comes Kaiwyn, a stethoscope-wielding healer and musical master from Australia. During his adolescence, Kaiwyn documented his experiences via blogs and poems, which marked the beginning of his musical journey. His little stories began to take on a beat of their own,...