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Brazilian singer Ceu loves soul, jazz, hip-hop and afro-pop. And those influences are apparent on her new self-titled CD. But the foundation underlying it all is the Brazilian samba. "It's what sticks to the soles of my feet, " she says.

The songs of singer-songwriter Patty Griffin are full of heartbreak and longing — so much so that a friend recently challenged her to write a happy song. She discusses that song and her new CD, Children Running Through.

Years before Dr. Spock and other child-rearing gurus, a renowned pediatrician in Poland pioneered the field by advocating that parents simply trust their instincts. He was executed by the Nazis, along with the orphans he cared for in a Warsaw ghetto.

Lily Allen is pop star with a quick wit and a sharp tongue. After a string of hits in the United Kingdom last year, the 21-year-old artist has released her CD Alright, Still in America. She explains her creative process and inspiration.

When words alone fail to illuminate the confounding mysteries of the heart, music lends a hand. Whether it's unrequited love, a fleeting affair or love that lasts a lifetime, there's a song for it. NPR listeners share "their" songs — along with the stories of bliss, bitterness and bygone times that make the music meaningful.

Country music singer Charlie Louvin and his brother Ira Louvin were regulars at the Grand Ole Opry in the 1950s. Charlie Louvin has just released his first studio work in over a decade, featuring Elvis Costello, George Jones, Will Oldham, Jeff Tweedy and more.

For some musicians good song writing is elementary. For others it's elementary school. A CD called Kid Pan Alley collects tunes created in classrooms around the country and recorded by top Nashville artists, including Amy Grant.

Lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Colin Meloy is part of the indie pop quartet The Decemberists. The group hails from Portland, Ore. Meloy is known for using "10-dollar words" in his songs, and for "creating character studies that wouldn't sound out of place in a Victorian novel."

LCD Soundsystem's new album, called Sound of Silver, broadens the project's sound to make singer-writer-producer James Murphy's rhythms even more accessible.

The Puppini Sisters have a new CD out called Betcha Bottom Dollar. Marcella Puppini talks about some of the music on the British trio's new album.

Andy Palacio's album Watina is an effort to document his people's culture and prevent its extinction. Palacio is of the Garifuna people — descendants of shipwrecked slaves who settled on the east coast of Central America.

In Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook chef Fuchsia Dunlop spotlights recipes from the Chinese province of Hunan, the home of Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Communist Revolution.

The Last Town Chorus is the musical brainchild of Megan Hickey, a singer/songwriter who plays and writes songs almost exclusively on lap steel guitar. The group makes music for in-between hours, when the world around you is eerily quiet, when you can't sleep but you can't wake up.

France has produced remarkable music over the years, from the emotive chanson of Edith Piaf to Serge Gainsbourg's iconoclastic work to the electronic melodies of the band Air. But these days there are so many young artists stirring the charts that it seems like French music is in the process of reinventing itself.

Spring Awakening is winning critical praise as a fresh interpretation of the Broadway musical. Based on a 19th-century play, the angst-ridden teen musical defies convention by dealing with tough topics and raw adolescent feelings.

Tom Manoff reviews the CD by violinist Joshua Bell called Voice and Violin. He says the CD explores some famous pieces in classical music — like "Song to the Moon" from Dvorak and Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise" — that take on the lyrical play between fiddle and voice.

Tavares' travels from Portugal to her parents' homeland in Cape Verde put her in touch with her cultural roots. The journeys also brought a unique mix of sounds to the singer/songwriter's music.

Rickie Lee Jones' first original album in four years comes with a little heaven-sent inspiration. The Grammy Award winner's new album, The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, was inspired by the words of Jesus, and tells stories of the worldly and the divine.

Ben Sollee just wants us to get along. On his debut, full-length release, Learning to Bend, the Kentucky-born singer offers an inspired collection of acoustic, folk and jazz-flavored songs, filled with hope and the earnest belief that the world is good.

President Biden is heading to Israel and Saudi Arabia Tuesday in his first visit to the Middle East as president for meetings that he says he hopes will help advance regional security and stability.

Organizers in Michigan submitted 750,000 signatures for a November ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night — nor even threats of Russian missiles shall keep the garbage haulers of Kharkiv from their appointed rounds. We hit the streets with one crew.

Carmen Rita Wong's mother was Dominican and father was Chinese, or so she thought. In her memoir, Why Didn't You Tell Me, she reckons with the truth that was kept from her for 31 years.

Listen to the acclaimed Norwegian pianist in a program that spans pillars of the piano literature — from Haydn to Chopin to Bartok.

The committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held a hearing on Tuesday focused on the role of the conspiracy theory QAnon and extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.