Terry Gross

Producer Amy Salit interviews singer/songwriter and guitarist Joe Ely. He's been called the "underappreciated American rock 'n' roll legend." This country rocker hails from Lubbock, Texas and has been recording and playing music for 20 years, releasing nine albums. He began his career playing traditional country but now leans more toward the country-rockin' blues that has become a distinctive Texas sound. His latest album is "Love and Danger."

Authors Seth Cagin and Philip Dray. Their new book is "Between Earth and Sky: How CFCs Changed Our World and Endangered the Ozone Layer." It's about how CFCs (or chlorofluorocarbons) went from being the "miracle compound" to the the biggest threat to the ozone layer. CFCs came into being in 1928 and made possible the mass use of refrigerators and air conditioners. By the 1950s they were used in aerosol sprays and in the manufacture of Sytrofoam. But by 1974, scientists began to see their deleterious environmental effects.

Roberts is Political Analyst for NPR and ABC. The daughter of parents who shared a Congressional seat for a combined total of fifty years, Roberts' star in journalism is rising on radio and TV. In a conversation recorded live before an audience, Terry asks her about covering Congress and how her political upbringing affects her reporting.

Lamott has written a new book about being a mother for the first time (and single, at that), called "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year." One reviewer says the book is "an emotional roller coaster ride. Painfully honest, laced with humor and poetry and moments of profound insight." Lamott is also the author of the novels, "Hard Laughter," and "All New People."

Former staff members on The Johnny Carson Show, Mike Huber and Barbara Bowen. They were, respectively, correspondent and co-correspondent for Carson and had the job of reading letters sent from fans and non-fans of the show. They collected the most memorable ones in the new book, "Dear Johnny."

A conversation with singer/songwriter Arthur Alexander, whose songs were recorded on early records by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He was slated to tour with Otis Redding the week Redding died in a plane crash. Alexander's new album, "Lonely Just Like Me," is his first release in twenty years.

Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Bartholet, author of "Family Bonds: Adoption & the Politics of Parenting." In her book, Bartholet --the mother of two adopted Peruvian boys-- examines transracial, single and older-parent families, and challenges current societal priorities about parenting, adoption and infertility.

Professor Gayle Pemberton of Princeton University reviews Black Women in White America, edited by Gerda Lerner. It was originally published in 1972.

Journalist Michelangelo Signorile. He writes regularly for "The Advocate," and "Out" magazine. He has a new book, called "Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power." Signorile is a proponent of controversial practice of "outing" -- revealing the homosexuality of someone in power or position whether that person wants it known or not.