Patty Larkin: 25 Songs, 25 Friends, 25 Years
For 25, Patty Larkin recorded voice and guitar for 25 songs, then let friends such as Rosanne Cash, Erin McKeown and Martin Sexton do the rest. Twenty-five not only represents the number of songs and collaborators, but also how many years it's been since Larkin made her first recordings.
Bigelow's Oscars will change Hollywood, slowly
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow wrapped her fingers around that little golden man called Oscar on Sunday and cracked one of Hollywood's glass ceilings, but truly shattering it may take more time.
Mark Linkous, A Flawed Hero All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton reflects on the loss of Mark Linkous, the imaginative mind and voice behind the music of Sparklehorse. Linkous killed himself this past weekend, two months after the loss of another artist to suicide, Vic Chesnutt.
Accused Letterman extortionist pleads guilty
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A television producer pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to extort $2 million from U.S. talk show host David Letterman by threatening to reveal his affairs with women who worked on his late-night program on CBS.
Cowboy Junkies On Mountain Stage
The moody folk-pop band has visited Mountain Stage eight times since 1992. But for this go-'round, Cowboy Junkies went back even further, reinterpreting material from the group's classic 1988 album The Trinity Session.
De Niro signs up to play football icon Lombardi
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - He has played killers and cops in the movies, and two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro may soon take on the role of iconic U.S. football coach Vince Lombardi in a film backed by sports television network ESPN.
Samuel Barber At 100, Reconsidered
He was once dismissed as a composer for "high middlebrow taste." But Barber, who wrote the famous Adagio for Strings, would not be criticized if he were an emerging composer today, 100 years after his birth.
Charlie Sheen returning to work next Tuesday
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Charlie Sheen is expected to return to work on CBS' "Two and a Half Men" on Tuesday, according to his publicist.
Jim Keller On World Cafe
Keller, formerly of the '80s pop hitmaker Tommy Tutone, returns for his first solo release in a decade with Sunshine in My Pocket, an album brimming with bright, optimistic folk-pop.
Rapper DMX arrested for violating probation
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Troubled rapper DMX was arrested in Arizona on Tuesday for violating his probation by regularly using illegal drugs during the last nine months, authorities said.
Nicholas Payton: Live At The Village Vanguard
He found his footing in jazz through its hard-swinging main stem. But after he'd proved his hard-bop mettle, he took a fork in the road toward electric experimentalism. Now, trumpeter Nicholas Payton seems comfortable pursuing a middle ground. Listen live Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.
John Krasinski joins "Something" romantic comedies
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - John Krasinski is in negotiations to join Ginnifer Goodwin in "Something Borrowed," a romantic comedy from the company behind "The Blind Side."
Dessa: Hip-Hop Word Warrior
Her eyes half-closed, Minneapolis MC Dessa flowed through the rhymes from her new album, A Badly Broken Code, at KEXP. Her hands moved with the rhythm, and her voice was pitch-perfect.
Phantom of Opera sequel opens amid "phan" disquiet
LONDON (Reuters) - The sequel to "Phantom of the Opera", one of the biggest musicals of all time, opens in London on Tuesday amid disquiet among die-hard "phans" who have been posting opinions online since previews began two weeks ago.
SXSW 2010 Preview
On this edition of All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen chats with NPR Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson about some of the bands they're most looking forward to seeing at this year's South by Southwest music festival. Hear music from some great discoveries, including the metal group Black Cobra and rapper Rye Rye.
Pink Floyd battles EMI in online royalties case
LONDON (Reuters) - Pink Floyd on Tuesday launched legal action against record label EMI in a case that centres around royalty payments and how music is sold in the digital age.
Seabear: Iceland's Orderly Orchestra
"Lion Face Boy" is the first single from Seabear's sophomore album, We Built a Fire, and it's a perfect display of the band's knack for constructing mountains of instrumentation on a simple idea. The track opens with understated vocals and drums, but eventually bursts into a swarm of piano, horns and guitar.
Five Songs, Ten Classic Tenor Titans
The tenor sax is a powerful instrument. This is especially apparent in music created by mighty jazz masters whose skills shaped sounds still reflected in present-day compositions. Hear five great pairings, battles and studio jam sessions.
Cliff Richard turns to jazz to mark 70th birthday
LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran British singer Cliff Richard will mark his 70th birthday with the release of an album of jazz and swing music, he announced on Tuesday.
Barber's 'Adagio': Naked Expression Of Emotion
There's a simple logic behind Samuel Barber's emotional Adagio. It progresses from a single note to high emotional wailing to release to final acceptance. On today's centennial of Barber's birth, take a guided tour of the music with commentator Rob Kapilow.
Suds And Sensibility: Barber's Violin Concerto
Barber's beautiful concerto came about at the request of a soap magnate named Samuel Fels. Although the business end of the commission was sullied, the concerto came out sparkling. Hear violinist James Ehnes play the piece in concert.
Sparklehorse Singer Mark Linkous Remembered
The creative force behind the band Sparklehorse took his own life Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn. He was 47. Linkous' often pretty melodies contrasted with lyrics that were sometimes dark. He deliberately distorted his vocal tracks in a way that made them sound both right in the listener's ear, and as if they were coming from some faraway place.
Elis Regina: The Feeling Between The Notes
In a way, she's similar to iconic figures such as Janis Joplin or Billie Holiday — singers whose recordings define not just a style, but a way of being. Today, young performers talk about being intimidated when they attempt songs Regina made famous. Her work mulls the big questions of life and romance, one magnificent half-step at a time.
Holly Miranda On 'World Cafe: Next'
On her debut album, The Magician's Private Library, Miranda teams up with producer Dave Sitek to create a mix of wrenching vocals, dashes of floating digi-synth backgrounds and upbeat Antibalas horns.