George Wilson Discusses The Pluses and Minuses of the All Volunteer Army.

Grammy Award-winning blues singer John Hammond performs two songs in Fresh Air's weekly performance segment. Hammond has performed for nearly twenty years, and in that time his style has evolved from straight-forward, rural blues to a harder-edged, urban style of blues. He is the son of music impresario John Hammond Sr. who helped launched and nurture the careers of Bob Dylan, Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday.

Comic monologuist David Cale. He is one of the rising stars of the loosely-knit New York performance scene that brought out stars like Spalding Grey, Eric Bogosian and Laurie Anderson. In "Smooch Music," one of his best-received monologues, Cale, accompanied by a saxophonist, interweaves 23 vignettes on romance in New York City, with characters that range from the president of a swinger's club to pubescent boy who makes hickeys on his neck with a vacuum cleaner hose.

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone reviews the work of the young singer Alva Rogers. Rogers has performed in clubs throughout the New York City area over the last several weeks.