Music

One of American popular music's great enigmas, says critic Ed Ward, is what would have happened to Patsy Cline's career if it had lasted longer. She was poised to revolutionize the role of the solo female singer, as well as Nashville's place in the music business, when she was killed in a plane crash. Decca has just released her complete recordings on an album called Sweet Dreams.

Stuart has been playing country music professionally since his early teens. From the mid-1980s to the early '90s, he had a lot of mainstream country-music success. But in recent years, Stuart has migrated toward an old-fashioned sound. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his latest album, Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.

As a composer, Coleman has been heavily influenced by James Brown's funk. You wouldn't mistake Coleman's band Five Elements for J.B.'s, but like the Godfather of Soul, he goes in for fast, jittery beats on Harvesting Semblances and Affinities.

Lincoln, the jazz legend who transformed herself from a supper-club singer into a powerful voice in the civil-rights movement, died Saturday. She was 80. Fresh Air revisits two interviews with the respected performer, actress and songwriter.

Portions of this interview were originally broadcast on March 25, 1986, and June 16, 1996.

Mac Rebennack, known as "Dr. John," has been a rock and soul ambassador for his native New Orleans since the late 1960s. Although his public profile has risen and fallen over the years, the spirit of his city is a constant presence on all of his albums. Critic Milo Miles talks about how crusading for wounded New Orleans has given Dr. John a jolt of vitality.

Arcade Fire is a Montreal-based band that has, in less than a decade, grown in popularity from obscure indie favorite to mass-appeal group that can fill New York's Madison Square Garden. Critic Ken Tucker says the band's third album, The Suburbs, has the sweep and ambition of a rock opera.

In 2008, jazz pianist Fred Hersch slipped into an AIDS-related coma for more than two months. When he came out of the coma, he couldn't walk, eat or play piano. Hersch explains how he rebuilt himself after his illness and composed music for his latest album, Whirl.

After writing "We Will Rock You" and touring around the world as the lead guitarist in Queen, Brian May made an unusual career choice: He got his Ph.D. in astrophysics. May explains how Queen developed its distinctive sound and explains his fascination with stereoscopic photographs taken in the 1850s.

Los Lobos has been active since the 1970s, and during that time the band has done everything from opening for Bob Dylan, U2 and the Grateful Dead, to recording a tribute album to Walt Disney soundtracks. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Los Lobos' new album, Tin Can Trust, stands with the group's best work.

Critic Ed Ward tells the story of one of the most unusual female soul singers to come out of the early 1960s. Sugar Pie DeSanto, who grew up with Etta James, rose to national prominence when her single "I Want to Know" reached the Billboard charts. Fifty years later, she continues to perform and do her signature move, a back flip, on stage.

Dutch composer, saxophonist, bass clarinetist and bandleader Willem Breuker died in Amsterdam last Friday. He was 65. Breuer led his own big band while also composing music for films, theater and classical ensembles. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead looks back at Breuker, who he says helped shape and define modern Dutch music.

From one engagement to the next, saxophonist Lee Konitz rarely uses the same combination twice. But a few years ago, he began collaborating with a young trio known as Minsarah, which he invited to join him at the Village Vanguard last year. Three new knot recordings radiate the joy of making music in every note.

Jones has been a pop star since 1965, when he released his first single, "It's Not Unusual." Since that time, he's remained a star overseas, while resurfacing periodically on the American pop charts. Rock critic Ken Tucker review his latest album, a collection of gospel, blues and soul covers called Praise and Blame.

Authors Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson share the stories behind Hollwood's most beloved songs -- from Casablanca's "As Time Goes By" to the melodies from Mary poopins -- in their book The Songs of Hollywood.

In 1993, a Vancouver band called The Blue Shadows released its debut album, On the Floor of Heaven. The country-rock album was widely praised and sold well in Canada, but never reached the U.S. Ken Tucker Reviews the album, which has just been issued here for the first time.

Of the three great blues guitarists named King -- B.B., Albert and Freddie, -- arguably the most influential was also the least well-known: Freddie. But his most important work has been unavailable until recently. Critic Ed Ward review a recent release, Taking Care of Business, which spans much of King's career.

Randolph emerged from a gospel music tradition, playing steel guitar in the so-called "sacred steel" style of some African-American Pentecostal churches. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his new album, We Walk This Road, which features original tunes and covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Prince and John Lennon.

Until now, Finch has been primarily known for the backup singing she's done in the band The Mission Express. But rock critic Ken Tucker says Finch's new album, Cry Tomorrow, is a fully formed, mature piece of work.

Frank Loesser wrote the musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- in addition to over 700 other songs. On today's Fresh Air, musical anthropologist Michael Feinstein discusses Loesser's musical legacy and plays some of his favorite Loesser tunes -- including several rare archival recordings.

Moran's new album, Ten, is like a stack of progress reports -- on his personal growth as pianist and as a composer, on the development of a trio with stable personnel for a decade, and on how jazz itself has progressed over the last 10 years.