Terry Gross

At age 53, Texas singer James Hand has just released his debut album, The Truth Will Set You Free. Hand has been singing and playing for nearly four decades, but he's mostly performed in small town dives.

Hand is also a horse trainer when he's not singing. His sound has been compared to Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell.

The brother-sister team of Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger has a new album called Bitter Tea, which they describe as "sissy psychedelic Satanism." Their other albums include Rehearsing My Choir, made with the participation of their 82-year-old grandmother.

Writer Reynolds Price has penned a total of 37 volumes of fiction, poetry, plays, essays and translations. His new book is Letter to a Godchild (Concerning Faith). Price has taught at Duke University since 1958, and has won numerous awards and honors for his work.