Music

After starring in Broadway shows like The Music Man and Candide, Cook struggled with addiction, then staged a successful second career as a cabaret singer. Her new memoir is Then and Now.

Did you know that a hard-luck band from California changed the rock-and-roll scene in London by being in the right place at the right time? Rock historian Ed Ward has the story of Eggs Over Easy.

Singer-songwriter Glaspy plays a variety of instruments, but concentrates mainly on guitar on her new album. Critic Ken Tucker says Emotions and Math blends complexity with "deceptive directness."

Wilson, who has been leading bands for 20 years, rounds up many of those players on his new tribute album. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Big Happy Family is full of humor and heart.

Bell, who had his first hit in 1961 with the song "You Don't Miss Your Water," brings his trademark compassion and tenderness to his new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls This Is Where I Live a triumph.

Herman's Hermits hit the American pop charts 22 times in the 1960s and early '70s. Now, a new anthology compiles 66 of the Hermits' tracks. Rock historian Ed Ward considers how the music has held up.

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker, who died last week at the age of 64. His 1969 hit "Israelites" was for many Americans the first reggae they'd ever heard.

Musician Laurel Sprengelmeyer — aka Little Scream — refers to prayer, devotion, heaven and Satan on her new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls Cult Following a "testament to desire and endurance."

Drummer Ralph Peterson's partners are two brothers who are a generation younger than him. The album Triangular III catches this working band in action.

American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has released All I Ever Wanted, her fourth album. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.

Will Toledo, the singer-songwriter who performs under the name Car Seat Headrest, is ambitious and passionate on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker says the record will make you want to sing along.

Carter's influence on pop and soul predates his best-known hit, "Patches," and is still felt today. Rock historian Ed Ward revisits the early career and the lasting impact of the expert songwriter.

Jazz stars David Murray, Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington first played together last year in New York. Now they come together with the new album, Perfection. Critic Kevin Whitehead has a review

The Irish director and screenwriter talks to Fresh Air's Ann Marie Baldonado about his new film, which tells the story of a young teenager in 1980s Dublin who discovers pop music and starts a band.

In his new memoir, Under The Big Black Sun: A Personal History Of L.A. Punk, John Doe of the band X brings together his own essays and stories from other musicians and scene-makers of that time. A conversation with Doe, with his bandmate Exene Cervenka, and with Dave Alvin of the Blasters who played with X for a short time.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews ... For the Whole World to See, an album of previously unreleased material from the proto-punk band Death.

A new film imagines what happened when Elvis Presley met President Nixon on Dec. 21, 1970. Film critic David Edelstein says Elvis & Nixon "shows the crazy-making insulation of celebrity."

A range of musicians, including Tom Waits and Sinéad O'Connor, cover gospel-blues performer Johnson on a new tribute album. Critic Milo Miles says the record's tracks are striking and inventive.

The 85-year-old saxophonist's new album features live recordings made between 1979 and 2012. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead calls Holding The Stage a "mixed bag" with a few "real gems."

In an interview recorded onstage, Amir Questlove Thompson the cofounder and drummer of the Roots, the houseband for The Tonight Show talks with Terry Gross about music, his father doo wop singer Lee Andrews who died last month, and about Prince.