Terry Gross

Though they work as a tradition African-American string band, Carolina Chocolate Drops' members throw in some modern twists. The Durham, N.C.-based trio plays a wide variety of instruments, including the banjo, fiddle, jug, bones and harmonica. All of those sounds are featured on the band's newest record, Genuine Negro Jig.

William Hurt has been nominated for four Academy Awards, and won in 1986 for his role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Hurt prepares for his performances by burying himself deep inside the character — for his role as an ex-con in the film The Yellow Handkerchief, Hurt spent a night in a Louisiana prison.

The actor has been nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of a solider disarming explosive devices in the Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker. Renner describes what it was like to spend hours a day in a Kevlar suit — as well as how it felt to portray a serial killer in the movie Dahmer.