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Joe Bussard's record collection — perhaps the largest of its kind — sends listeners back in time. "The truest form you'll ever hear in American music is on these records," he says.

Critics have rarely embraced Stephen King as a serious writer. But the prolific novelist, best known for his horror stories, is about to enter some serious company. The National Book Foundation is honoring the best-selling author with a lifetime achievement award whose previous recipients have included Arthur Miller, Eudora Welty and John Updike. King discusses the award and his writing with NPR's Susan Stamberg.

James Carter, the lead singer of "Po' Lazarus," the opening song on the Grammy award-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, died Nov. 26. He was 77. Folk music collector Alan Lomax recorded Carter singing "Po' Lazarus" in 1959, while the latter worked on a chain gang at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. NPR's Bob Edward has a remembrance.

The Metropolitan Opera has revived La Juive, a 19th century French opera about religious persecution. Enrico Caruso once filled the lead tenor's role in the work by Jacques Fromenthal-Halevy. The new tenor star is Neil Shicoff, who speaks with NPR's Linda Wertheimer.

Art Carney died Sunday at age 85; a small, private funeral service for the the popular actor was held Tuesday. Carney is most fondly remembered for playing Jackie Gleason's pal Ed Norton on The Honeymooners. He later won the 1974 Oscar for best actor in Harry and Tonto.

Daniel Bergner's book, In the Land of Magic Soldiers, tells the stories of victims and perpetrators in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war, and the efforts to rebuild the nation. He finds a country so devastated that its people often plead for a return to British rule. Hear NPR's Melissa Block.

Dream Jungle is the third novel by Jessica Hagedorn, who was born and raised in the Philippines. Hagedorn places the story in her home country in the 1970s, and weaves together several narratives involving a number of characters, including a young country girl, an urban businessman and an American journalist. Alan Cheuse reviews the book.

Checkers and alphabet blocks beat out Candy Land, Clue and Big Wheel to win two coveted spots this year in the National Toy Hall of Fame. There are now 28 toys in the Hall of Fame, including Mr. Potato Head, Barbie, Etch-A-Sketch, Legos and the teddy bear. Brenda Tremblay from member station WXXI reports.

The seafaring adventure Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe, sails into theaters Friday. Like the Patrick O'Brian novels on which it is based, the film strives for historical authenticity on every last detail, including sound effects. NPR's Michele Norris talks with sound designer Richard King.

A softly lit oil portrait of a young woman with a pearl earring is one of Johannes Vermeer's best-known paintings. The new film Girl with a Pearl Earring brings the story behind the famous image to the silver screen. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

Hip-hop and R&B acts dominate the field of nominees for this year's Grammy awards, announced Thursday. Beyonce, Jay-Z, OutKast and Pharrell Williams each earned six nominations. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and music writer Tom Moon.

NPR's Bob Mondello says similarities often emerge among movies sharing a season, and that is especially apparent this year. The most obvious are the 19th-century war movies (Master and Commander, The Last Samurai, and Cold Mountain) -- but there are more obscure trends, like films that include a dead child in their plots (Mystic River, In America, 21 Grams).

In a rare break with his party, the Senate minority leader said that it's not the RNC's job to single out party members with different views, referring to Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

The nonprofit health system, which serves Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk and Pasco counties, has begun a national search for a successor who is expected to be named by years' end.

Director Kevin Smith's latest film, Jersey Girl, stars Ben Affleck as a single father raising a young daughter. It's a departure from Smith's past work. The biting, iconoclastic humor of films such as Clerks, Dogma and Chasing Amy had established Smith as a force outside Hollywood's mainstream. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

On Thursday, Friends airs its last episode. The long-running Frasier is also winding to a close. Both shows have been keys to NBC's success and the network has been looking for replacements for years. But there hasn't been a breakout sitcom on any network hit since Will and Grace had its debut six seasons back. Some even say that sitcoms have lost their appeal. Two sitcom veterans -- Paul Reiser and Jim Burrows -- are trying to prove that the traditional sitcom lives. NPR's Kim Masters reports.

Graham Parker's sarcasm and anger were the trademark of his Squeezing Out Sparks. Nearly three decades after making quintessential bar-band rock with his group The Rumour, the sharp-tongued Englishman releases a more folksy, roots-oriented CD called Your Country. Meredith Ochs has a review.

The 1970s movie Walking Tall, about a man who takes the law into his own hands after his town becomes a sinkhole of iniquity, became a B-movie classic, inspiring a TV movie and a short-lived network series. A new remake, starring wrestler-turned-actor the Rock, opens this weekend. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

Motown founder Berry Gordy has decided to sell his stake in 15,000 Motown songs known as the Jobete collection to EMI Music Publishing. The catalog includes hits by the Supremes, Marvin Gay, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, as well as many songs never released. With the deal, Gordy breaks all ties to the Motown empire he created and nourished. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards.

The group Ollabelle came out of an open mike night in New York City called, "Sunday School for Sinners." Their music captures the sound and feeling of the American South, from it churches to its porches and honkytonks.

Residents of Normandy, France, old enough to remember the 1944 invasion are being encouraged to come forward and share their memories. As the 60th anniversary of D-Day in June approaches, towns and villages across the region are holding meetings in an effort to record the testimony of those who lived through the Nazi occupation and the liberation. Alasdair Sandford reports.

Violinists with the Beethoven Orchestra in Germany sue for a pay raise on the grounds that they play many more notes per concert than their musical colleagues. Orchestra officials, however, say the violinists knew this when they began taking violin lessons -- and if they wanted to play fewer notes, they should have chosen a different instrument. Kyle James reports.

The incandescent, influential funk musician Betty Davis died on Wednesday. She made a string of albums in the mid-1970s that helped to shape stylish, Afrofuturist strains of funk and hip-hop.

Out of 4,489 current teacher vacancies, 1,321 are in teaching jobs that deal with students who have special needs.

A report on sex abuse in the German Catholic Church faulted former Pope Benedict's handling of four cases. Benedict acknowledged the abuses under his watch but denied any wrongdoing.