Music

Funk bassist and psychedelic soulster Bootsy Collins is known for his solid grooves and flashy style. Collins got his start at Cincinnati's famed King Records, where he began as a session musician before joining James Brown's band, The JBs.

While most record companies of the 1940s and 1950s made money in one genre, Cincinnati-based King Records spread the love to R & B, rockabilly, bluegrass, western swing and country. Jon Hartley Fox tells the story in his new book King of the Queen City.

Entrepreneur Seymour Stein got his start in the music industry as a teenager, when he worked with Syd Nathan at King Records in Cincinnati. Stein went on to co-found Sire Records, where he signed such artists as The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, Madonna, Depeche Mode and The Smiths.

For most of his life, music critic Tim Page felt like an outsider. Restless and isolated, he was uneasy around others. Finally, when he was 45, Page was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

Nicole Mitchell's Renegades matches exploratory playing with deep grooves and a tight ensemble blend. The new group is Black Earth Strings, consisting of flute, three strings and percussionist Shirazette Tinnin.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Dennis Diken's new album Late Music. Diken, the drummer for the Smithereens, has recorded this project with a group called Bell Sound.

When Cash was 18, her father (you know him as Johnny) presented her with a gift: a list of 100 essential country songs to help the budding singer-songwriter connect with and better understand the music that came before her. After holding on to it for the past few decades, Roseanne Cash decided to turn that gift into The List, her new album.

Author and screenwriter Nick Hornby joins Fresh Air host Terry Gross to discuss his new novel, Juliet, Naked, and his screenplay for the new movie An Education.

The volatile and eclectic music scene of 1960s Los Angeles comes together in a new box set issued by Rhino Records. Critic Ed Ward gives it a listen.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the latest CD by alto saxophonist Steve Lehman and his octet. In Travail, Transformation & Flow, Lehman continues his work using computer models to create and drive his improvisation.

John Fogerty's latest album, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, collects covers so raw and beautiful you'd barely recognize the in-studio perfectionist behind the 1973 album whose title it salutes.

The Beatles Remasters promises a clearer sound and truer look at the group's music catalog. Rock historian Ed Ward takes another listen to the iconic British band and finds that there's always more to discover.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new seven-disc set that chronicles the trumpeter's big band performances. Mosaic restored and remastered each of the 166 tracks from Decca Records' original recordings.

Whitney Houston's new album I Look To You is her first new release since 2002. Rock critic Ken Tucker says that while the pop-music landscape is not as she left it, Houston's new work fits right in.

Tenor saxophonist Lester Young was born one hundred years ago on Aug. 27, 1909. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead makes the centennial.

Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of the most popular songs of the early 1960s for the girl groups produced by Phil Spector, died Aug. 26 from a heart attack. In this interview, rebroadcast from 1986, Greenwich discusses the highlights of her career.

Few groups get to achieve a 50th anniversary, but the pioneering American folk trio the got to do just that this year. The release of a three-disc commemorative set by the New Lost City Ramblers was darkened, though, but the death of co-founder Mike Seeger.

The second full-length album from the Providence, R.I.-rooted band Deer Tick is called Born On Flag Day. Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.

A re-mastered, newly released back catalog of six albums by the Brit-punk band The Subhumans will remind you why people were knocked out by punk in the 1980s.

A founding member of the Fairport Convention and a legendarily accomplished guitar player and songwriter, he's celebrated in a new four-disc career overview from the Shout Factory label.