Music

Singer Blake Shelton scored his fourth consecutive No. 1 country hit with "Honey Bee," from his just-released album. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the album shows Shelton's playful, unpredictable side.

New Orleans went decades without a homegrown label to document its riches. Rock critic Ed Ward says this explains why many 1950s New Orleans classics were released by Ace Records in Jackson, Miss.

Welch and Rawlings perform an in-studio concert featuring several songs from The Harrow and the Harvest, and talk about many of the lyrics they've written over the years.

Sherwood Schwartz, who created the TV sitcoms Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 94. Fresh Air remembers the TV producer and writer with excerpts from a 1988 interview.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a seven-CD box set featuring the quartet's Atlantic years, which span 1956-64.

Rock critic Ken Tucker says that Beyonce's new album, titled 4, is something of a risk – it's not merely a collection of new songs, but a personal reassessment of the kind of pop star she wants to be.

Since releasing her first solo album in 1967, Parton has become a star in movies and on television. But rock critic Ken Tucker says that her new album, Better Day, returns the focus to Parton's singing and her frequently underestimated songwriting.

The Singing Cowboy was one of the country's most popular and prolific film stars during his career; he also gained fame as a radio star, producer and TV personality. Biographer Holly George-Warren traces Autry's lengthy career in Public Cowboy No. 1.

When Monk's band arrived late in San Francisco, it inspired a solo album recorded in 1959.

A new tribute album celebrating Buddy Holly has just been released, featuring artists like Lou Reed, Paul McCartney and Cee Lo Green. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Rave On, Buddy Holly is the "rare tribute album that, by and large, succeeds artistically."

The King of In Between is Jeffreys' first album of new music in more than a decade. Hailed as Rolling Stone's Best New Artist in 1977, Jeffreys later had more success overseas. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the new album showcases a lively artist who remains artfully ambivalent.

Senso, a 1954 Italian political melodrama, and Two Sisters From Boston, a 1946 Hollywood comedy, couldn't be more different — except they're both set at the opera. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says he loves them both.

The star is admired for his guitar playing, and for the way he mixes elements of country and rock music without pandering to either audience. Ken Tucker says that Paisley's new album, This Is Country Music, is less a manifesto than an enjoyable way to hear him expand his fan base.
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Taborn's solo album is full of wide-open spaces between notes, and very quiet dynamics.

The late Ellen Willis was the first pop-music critic for The New Yorker. A new anthology, Out of the Vinyl Deeps, collects her thoughts on Dylan, Joplin and The Rolling Stones, among others. Critic Ken Tucker says the anthology "resurrects a nearly lost, vital, invaluable voice" in pop music.

Akinmusire would rather fit into a cohesive band and spread the solos around than put himself way out front.

Saadiq has become one of the leading lights in the "neb-soul movement." Rock critic Ken Tucker says the singer's new album, Stone Rollin', broadens his canvas to take on other soulful styles, as well.

Fallon is thankful for slow walkers, people named Lloyd and the word "moist." The comedian and host of Late Night collects more than 100 nuggets of gratitude in his book Thank You Notes. He talks with Terry Gross about giving thanks and doing impressions.

The Impulse jazz label, famous for its fold-out black and orange album covers, turns 50 this year. To celebrate, the label has released a box set featuring its early releases. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the set showcases the diversity and talent of the musicians Impulse recorded.

Over the course of 40 years, Iggy Pop has changed from a noisy brat with seemingly no chance at stardom to a widely respected founder of punk. A new box set, Roadkill Rising, collects many of his unreleased bootlegs.