NPR: Music Podcast

Story: The new album from the Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots contains verses from the perspective of a child soldier in Sierra Leone, a campus shooter in America, and those in the grip of addictions. Rising Down may be the group's best album.

Stories: 1) YouTube Monks Storm European Pop Charts 2) Bansuri Master Deepak Ram Tackles Jazz 3) 'Tha Carter III' Takes Lil Wayne Platinum 4) Singer Undeterred by National Anthem Fallout 5) Martin Atkins: Teaching Bands To Tour Smart 6) Charles Ives' ...

Stories: 1) Ben Sollee Learns To 'Bend' 2) In Nashville, a Barbershop Battle 3) Atlanta Soul Scene Reborn 4) British Invasion: Laura Marling's Fearless Folk

Stories: 1) The Year of Musical Thinking, A At A Time 2) Leroy Anderson: Master of the Miniature 3) Pain At The Pump Curbs Traveling Bands 4) Le Vent Du Nord's 400-Year-Old Musical Gems

Stories: 1) Victor Wooten: The 'Palmystery' of Deft Fingers 2) The Best CDs of 2008 (So Far) 3) Can Al Green Lay It Down Again?

Stories: 1) Peter Gabriel's 'Big Blue' Musical Mashup 2) Grupo Fantasma: 'Gold' Sounds of Latin Funk 3) Video Game Makers Push to License Beatles Songs 4) Al Green Lays 'It Down' 5) Portuguese Fado and a Few Dirty Tables

Story: Marin Alsop, meet Robert Schumann. The Baltimore Symphony conductor reconnects with the composer's symphonies, probing for a deeper meaning within this widely performed but still misunderstood music. The Symphony No. 2, Alsop says, traces ...

Stories: 1) Olivier Conan Brings Chicha Music to Brooklyn 2) L.A. Company Buys TV's Dance Classic 'Soul Train' 3) Kathleen Edwards: 'Flowers' and Hockey Skates 4) Inspired by a Trip to Vegas: 'I'll Fly Away'

Stories: 1) Weezer's Rivers Cuomo Tries Reinvention 2) Lili Haydn: Jimi Hendrix of the Violin 3) For T-Bone Burnett, the Play's the Thing 4) Kidd Jordan: Honoring a Jazz Patriarch 5) Sonic Youth: Story of a 'Kool Thing'

Stories: 1) New Site Fuses Chess with Hip-Hop 2) Jenny Scheinman Makes a Vocal Debut 3) Paul Thorn: Skydiver, Boxer, Rootsy Rocker 4) Sen. Lamar Alexander's 'Tennessee Waltz'

Stories: 1) Albert Ayler's Fiery Sax, Now on Film 2) Pakistani Rock Star's Roots in U.S. Metal 3) Poster Artist Alton Kelley Dies at 67 4) 'BPP' Jukebox: The Mates of State

Stories: 1) Rock Pioneer Bo Diddley Dies at 79 2) The Roots of Country Music 3) Be Your Own Pet: Teenage Abandon 4) Teitur: Pride of the Faroe Islands 5) Jeffrey Lewis: Anti-Folk Comic-Book Antihero

Story: The Latino vote could have a major impact in the presidential general election in November. In an attempt to appeal to younger Latino voters, Voto Latino, a voter registration group, is using popular music as part of its outreach. Rapper Armando ...

Stories: 1) Jamshied Sharifi: The World's Music as 'One' 2) Music Archived for Eternity

Stories: 1) Jamshied Sharifi: The World's Music as 'One' 2) Music Archived for Eternity

Stories: 1) The Musical 'Seeds' of Jesca Hoop 2) Marley's 'Exodus' 30 Years Later 3) Mick Jagger: A Stone Alone 4) Computer Program Is a Virtual Music Teacher 5) Robert Plant, Meet Alison Krauss 6) Jonathan Butler on His Artistic Journey

Stories: 1) Eric Clapton Looks Back at His Blues Roots 2) Rediscovering Beethoven's Even Numbers 3) Remembering the First Record Ever Heard 4) Sting Tops List of Worst Lyricists 5) Singer Discusses Album, the Influence of Legends 6) Sigur Ros Disaster: ...

Stories: 1) Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' Sets Its Own Terms 2) Digging Up Thelonious Monk's Southern Roots 3) Janet Reno Presents America in Song 4) A College Dream Inspired by a Song 5) Busy Conductor Joins Detroit Orchestra 6) Radiohead Sells Album on the ...

Stories: 1) New CDs from James Blunt, KT Tunstall 2) 'The Real Thing,' According to Jill Scott 3) Paolo Nutini Takes to the 'Streets' 4) Tegan and Sara, Working 'The Con' 5) Survivors of Shanghai's Jazz Age Play Anew 6) Ornette Coleman on Sound ...