Music

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the music of Mardi Gras as performed by Professor Longhair, the Neville family and The Hawkettes.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the music of British pop stars Rick Astley and his sister Virginia. Rick Astley has the top hit in England - "Never Gonna Give You Up" - and the song is now getting wide airplay on U.S. stations. Virginia Astley has recorded several albums in Europe. Her first American album has just been released.

Rock Critic Ken Tucker. It's another in the continuing series of interviews with Fresh Air's contributors. Ken tells us how a frustrated college poet found himself in crowded clubs listening to punk bands and being paid for it.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Little Willie John, an unrecognized rhythm and blues singer in the 50s who recorded the song "Fever" long before Peggy Lee made it a pop hit.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews "The Man Who Shot John Lennon," the "Frontline" documentary on Mark David Chapman. The program relies on audiotaped psychiatric interviews with Chapman, and on a close analysis of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, which Chapman followed as though it were a script for Lennon's murder.

Hammer dulcimer virtuoso John McCutcheon returns for another performance.

Record producer Thomas Z. Shepard, one of the most imaginative and successful producers of Broadway and classical recordings. Shepard has produced the cast recordings for "Sweeney Todd," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "La Cage Aux Folles," and "Me and My Girl," which has just been nominated for a Grammy.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles The Buzzcocks, a British punk group that had more influence on the British punk scene than better-known bands like The Sex Pistols. The band was based in Manchester and had an even grittier veneer than that of the notorious London punk bands.

Exiled South African singer Miriam Makeba. At 20, she became the lead vocalist for a top South African band. And when her performances brought her international acclaim, she used her forum to speak out against Apartheid. She was subsequently banned from her native country, and then later from America for her marriage to the radical Stokely Carmichael. For the past 20 years, she's toured with her mentor, singer Harry Belafonte, and last year she toured with Paul Simon's Graceland Tour.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "How Ya Like Me Now?," the new album by Rap star Kool Moe Dee.