Ana Popovic grew up in 1990s Belgrade as Yugoslavia fractured, yet she became the first European nominated for Best New Artist Debut at the W.C. Handy Blues Awards. Her entry point into American blues was her father Milton's record collection, a sonic sanctuary in a turbulent time. By 15 she was playing guitar, by 1995 she had formed the band Hush, and by 1998 that band was playing over 100 shows a year across Serbia, Greece and Hungary and releasing a debut album with a full brass section.

This episode follows the counterintuitive decisions that shaped her career: walking away from Hush at its peak to study jazz guitar in the Netherlands, landing on the Jimi Hendrix tribute album Blue Haze alongside Taj Mahal and Buddy Miles, recording her solo debut in Memphis with producer Jim Gaines, and being invited on stage and on tour by Solomon Bur ...