Chicago has been a mecca for such diverse acts as Cheap Trick, Etta James, Smashing Pumpkins, Herbie Hancock, Chicago and Kanye West. This episode chronicles the city's musical evolution from the blues of Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters in the '50s and '60s, to the quintessentially midwestern rock of Cheap Trick in the '70s and the punk rock of the '80s, as exemplified by Naked Raygun. At Electrical Audio studios, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters connect with owner Steve Albini, a Chicago musical icon as a founding member of Big Black and Shellac, who produced and recorded Nirvana's third album, "In Utero". Later, they're joined by Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen to record "Something from Nothing", the first song on Foo Fighters' new album.

A transient town where few are born and raised, Washington, D.C. is in many ways a city of extremes. Starland Vocal Band, Marvin Gaye, Duke Ellington, Nils Lofgren, Chuck Brown, Henry Rollins, Fugazi and Trouble Funk all hail from D.C. In the early '70s, the music style go-go originated here, and has remained a local craze ever since. Dave Grohl sits down with Trouble Funk's Big Tony Fisher to talk about go-go, and explores its origins with Chuck Brown, the genre's undisputed godfather. He also chats with Don Zientara, owner of Inner Ear Studio, which the Virginia-raised Grohl says "produced the entire soundtrack of my youth", as well as with members of the punk band Bad Brains and Ian MacKaye of Teen Idles, Minor Threat and Fugazi, who all recorded at Inner Ear over the decades.

Foo Fighters head to the Music City: Nashville, TN, home of the Grand Ole Opry and legendary artists like Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, and more. Dave sits down with Dolly Parton, Tony Joe White, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and producer Tony Brown to talk about Nashville's musical influences. Meanwhile, the Foo Fighters prepare to record at Southern Ground studio.

As Foo Fighters prepare to record at the historic Austin City Limits Studio, Dave Grohl chats with Terry Lickona, executive producer of "Austin City Limits", the TV series that has featured performances from Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Beck, Radiohead and Grohl himself (in both Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures) over the course of 40 years. Dave delves into the roots of the city's music scene, from the blues of Jimmie Vaughan, to the psychedelic rock pioneered by Roky Erickson's 13th Floor Elevators, to punk bands Scratch Acid and Big Boys. He also discusses the impact of commercialization on Austin with guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

Los Angeles has been the musical birthplace of such iconic and varied acts as The Doors, X,balloons N' Roses, NWA, Van Halen, The Eagles, Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Pat Smear, an L.A. native whose band The Germs were pioneers of the city's punk scene, visit legendary KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, owner of a 1970s Sunset Strip club that became ground zero of the U.S. glitter rock scene and a stomping ground for the likes of Iggy Pop and The Runaways, Joan Jett's first band. Dave and the Foos then head to the desert to record with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh at Rancho de la Luna, an iconoclastic studio in Joshua Tree, where co-founder David Catching and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme reminisce about the 1990s Palm Desert underground.

Melding the rhythms of the city with diverse cultural influences, New Orleans epitomized the evolution of jazz as home to Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick, Jr., Little Richard, Juvenile, Aaron Neville and many others. Dave Grohl chats with Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Cyril Neville and Trombone Shorty (who first played onstage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival when he was just four years old) about New Orleans' unique history, "jazz funerals", Mardi Gras Indians and the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Elsewhere, Dave bonds with Ben Jaffe, scion of a famous jazz family and leader of the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, before recording the latest Foo Fighters song at the historic French Quarter venue.

While Foo Fighters set up to record with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard at Robert Lang Studio, Dave Grohl chats with Lang, Duff McKagen (Guns N Roses), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) and Nancy Wilson (Heart) about Seattle's northwest sound. Dave delves deep into Seattle's rich musical heritage and also interviews the co-founders of the famed Sub Pop Records.

On the final stop of his multi-city journey, Dave Grohl explores the melting-pot ingredients that have contributed to the evolution of the NYC music scene over the years. Among those who shed light on the Big Apple's enormous influence on American music are KISS' Paul Stanley, producer Jimmy Iovine, Nora Guthrie (daughter of Woody Guthrie), Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Chuck D of Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys' Mike D, and producer Rick Rubin. From the money-making factories of Tin Pan Alley and the Brill Building in the '40s and '50s, to the West Village folk scene of the '60s, to the rock, punk and rap movements of the '70s and beyond, countless acts of the last half-century are either from NYC or have recorded there. Before recording a final Foo Fighters single at The Magic Shop - one of the city's last iconic recording venues - Dave chats with owner Steve Rosenthal about some of the legendary bands that have recorded there, as well as the "cloudy" future of traditional, in-the-studio recording.