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Barenaked Ladies has a new album and a clever, new marketing ploy. They're letting their fans make the videos, design the concert T-shirts, even remix the songs.

To mark the composer's 250th birthday this year, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis have been on an all-Mozart sonata concert tour. They also have released a four-CD set of 16 Mozart sonatas.

He's an Orthodox Jew who is also a reggae singer. And if some of his songs sound like prayers, you're not far off. Meet Matisyahu, a singer exploring his spiritual side through reggae. This year, he's performing several concerts at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City to celebrate Hanukkah.

It's not easy living on the avant-garde edge of any art, let alone the always-changing world of jazz. But for nearly 50 years, the sound of Ornette Coleman has proven to be one of the most unorthodox — and most influential — in modern jazz.

The Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith upholds a songwriting tradition that earns him critical praise and awards, if not chart-topping hits. His latest album, Time Being, finds him reflecting on getting older and appreciating what's precious.

After the more than 15 years together, the five-piece Canadian band Barenaked Ladies is having a first. They are releasing their latest album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, on their own record label. Two members of the band, Steven Page and Kevin Hearn, elaborate.

On his latest CD, Ry Cooder recounts hardships of the Dust Bowl migration through the story of a "red" cat named Buddy and his two traveling buddies. The story was inspired by a real feline who slept in a suitcase.

The Woody Guthrie-esque lament "Cardboard Avenue" pushes the influences together to create a new style that's distinctively Cooder.

Praised for the fluidity he brings to Chopin, Chinese pianist Yundi Li is getting rave reviews for his latest interpretation of Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. He joined the National Symphony Orchestra this week for three performances of the concerto.

Self-described troubadour Martin Sexton has risen from busking on the streets of Boston and Harvard Square to making music at his country cabin in the Adirondacks. Sexton's new CD, Seeds, offers thanks for something unusual: failure.

Slight-of-hand expert Ricky Jay runs the gambling tables in the HBO series Deadwood. His stage show won an Obie Award. Now, he has compiled a collection of his favorite poker music and a DVD of his tricks.

Susan Werner's musical path has taken her from opera to pop, jazz and classic American songs. In her latest album, The Gospel Truth, this singer-songwriter journeys to America's spiritual side.

Journalist Martha Raddatz has spent extensive time covering the war in Iraq. Her new book The Long Road Home examines the First Cavalry Division's surprise battle at Sadr City in April 2004.

A debut at the Metropolitan Opera is an opera singer's dream. It's about to become a reality for tenor Lawrence Brownlee.

Ralph Covert says the key to writing songs for children is to forget that you're writing for children. The indie rocker turned musician for the smaller set discusses his latest CD, Welcome Ralph's World.

Conor Oberst, lead singer of Bright Eyes, captured public attention as a protest singer with artistic ambitions. At 27, he seems to have mellowed. "Make a Plan to Love Me" is a gentle throwback to the '60s.

Chicago-based jazz singer Kurt Elling consistently gets the top spot in music magazine polls for Best Male Vocalist. His new album Nightmoves, is his first for the Concord Jazz label.

In his new album, 12 Segundos de Oscuridad — Twelve Seconds of Darkness"-- Oscar-winning musician Jorge Drexler explores the path that darkness can illuminate.

Saxophonist Sonny Rollins has outlasted many of the jazz greats he played with. At age 76, he's now jazz's elder statesman, crossing another milestone in his 65-year career with a new CD, Sonny, Please, a new record label and a Web site.

Aides to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol said the next hearing would focus on extremist groups and their possible links to Trump and his allies.

Singer, musician and folklorist Mick Moloney's album, McNally's Row of Flats, centers on theater songs by an Irish songwriting team from the late 1800s. The team consisted of actor and writer Ed Harrigan and musician David Braham, both acclaimed performers of the early Great White Way.

Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka, who marks his 50th anniversary in the music business this year, helped create what's known as the Brill Building sound in the late '50s and early '60s. He's been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, but he got his start as a classical pianist. He joins Terry Gross to talk about his life as a performer — and about The Definitive Collection, a career-spanning greatest-hits compendium.

A new CD features a unique musical combination from Ghana: drums, singing, bells and squeeze-bulb horns. The band members are taxi and truck drivers, and their music, por por, is named after the sound their horns make.

It's a truism that the drum is the heart and soul of African music. But not so fast: Over the past century, guitarists have redefined the sound of the continent. Two new releases, by Zimbabwean guitarist Louis Mhlanga and a Toronto-based group called the African Guitar Summit, prove that.

Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lucinda Williams has released her eighth CD, West. The collaboration with producer Hal Willner is mostly a meditation on the death of Williams' mother, and the end of a turbulent love affair.