Music

Amir “Questlove” Thompson plays us Christmas recordings – some favorites and some unusual ones. He’s perhaps the most popular DJ in America, in addition to being the co-founder of The Roots, the houseband for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” This year he won an Oscar for his documentary “Summer of Soul.”

The scenes in the new documentary Harvest Time show footage taken when Young was making the album Harvest. We listen back to two Fresh Air interviews with Young, from 1992 and 2004.

After a decade, Caitlin Rose is "Getting It Right." Weyes Blood's "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody" is an ethereal ballad. And Carly Rae Jepsen and Rufus Wainwright duet in "The Loneliest Time."

The Grammy winner got her start as a kid, singing backup for an Elvis impersonator. Her memoir, Broken Horses, is about her early life and the family she's built. Originally broadcast in April 2021.

The music "biopic" parody Weird stars Daniel Radcliffe in an over-the-top version of Al Yankovic's life. In the film, making up words to songs that already exist is considered the work of a visionary, playing the accordion is akin to being a guitar hero and Yankovic is asked to be the next James Bond.

White noise streams are a kind of sonic wallpaper. For many, they help keep some parts of the brain distracted so that other parts may better focus on things, like writing, studying or sleeping.

We mark the life of Lewis, who died Oct. 28, by listening to archival interviews with his sister, pianist/singer Linda Gail Lewis, and with Myra Lewis Williams, who married Jerry Lee when she was 13.

Lewis came up in rock, but proved his country chops on the 1968 album Another Place, Another Time. The music suited his piano style, and the lyrics fit the emotions he brought to every performance.

Swift's new album, which chronicles 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout her life, includes a bracing amount of clear-headed thoughts about love and life as a pop star.

Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new comic thriller "The Banshees of Inisherin" by writer-director Martin McDonagh and starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

After decades in New York, Watson has returned to Kansas City. The core KC jazz values — a swinging beat, a personal style, and an earthy, bluesy sensibility — are firmly in place on this new album.

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Hua Hsu defined himself as a teen by the music he loved. The murder of a close friend when he was in college changed the course of his life. His memoir is Stay True.

Ronstadt's new memoir, Feels Like Home, is an exploration of the food and culture of her Mexican roots. In 2013, she spoke about the health concerns that caused her to end her musical career early.

Wait's two lyrical concept albums, Blood Money and Alice, are being reissued on vinyl for their 20th Anniversary. We listen back to archival interviews with the musician, broadcast in 2002 and 2011.

Our film critic Justin Chang says that "Tar," which opens this week in theaters, is one of the most exciting new American movies he's seen this year.

After her husband's death in 1979, Sue Graham Mingus worked to keep his legacy alive, forming a repertory ensemble devoted to playing his compositions. She died Sept. 24. Originally broadcast in 2002.

Lynn, who died Oct. 4, grew up in poverty in eastern Kentucky and went on to have 16 No. 1 hits. Her life story was portrayed in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter. Originally broadcast in 2010.

In 1965, Lewis' trio had a crossover hit with The 'In' Crowd, a jazz recording they made in a Washington, D.C. nightclub, which reached the pop charts. Lewis died Sept. 12.

Shires made a name for herself, both as a solo artist and as the founder of the country supergroup The Highwomen, which includes Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby. In 2020, The Highwomen won Album of the Year at the Americana Music Honors and Awards ceremony. Shires' new album, Take it Like a Man, includes several songs she wrote during a rough period in her marriage to musician Jason Isbell.

In 2016, Springsteen spoke about New Jersey, masculinity and wishing to be his stage persona: "People see you onstage and, yeah, I'd want to be that guy. ... I want to be that guy myself very often."