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After 10 years of being heralded as the "next big thing," the singer-songwriter has finally cracked the Billboard charts. As the son of a Pentecostal preacher, Thorn has no trouble infusing his latest CD with elements of gospel music.

After serving on the jury for a murder case, singer Phil Wade was inspired to write a five-part suite that anchored The Wilders' latest album, Someone's Got to Pay. Wade and Ike Sheldon discuss the origins of the story.

Blind since birth, the New Orleans piano wizard embraces all of the bluesy musical styles of his native city, as well as the classical training of his youth. He gives an interview and performance in NPR's Studio 4A.

The great soul singer recorded his new album, Lay It Down, with some of today's biggest R&B artists and hip-hop producers. But he says the music is still about "love, love, love."

Music reviewers generally wait until November and December to assess the year in music. But 2008's halfway point seems like a good place to stop and look back at six busy months full of critics' darlings, Internet sensations and even, in a grim commercial climate, commercial hits.

A federal judge has blocked North Carolina laws that greatly restrict who can help people with disabilities seek absentee ballots and fill them out.

The daughter of famed jazz journalist and producer Leonard Feather first tried to make a career as a stage actress. That's when she started to translate her minor aggravations into song lyrics — and singing them.

Anti-folk songwriter Jeffrey Lewis isn't content to sing about love and loss. He finds inspiration in less-covered topics such as the true origins of punk music or mistaken identity on the subway. In an interview, Lewis talks about his muse, his other life as a comic book artist, and anti-folk music.

The Boston-based composer is remembered, 100 years after his birth, for a string of three-minute pops-concert classics such as "Sleigh Ride," "The Typewriter" and "The Syncopated Clock."

Chicago has beaten out San Francisco for the dubious title of having the nation's most expensive gas. Chicagoans can blame high taxes of almost 80 cents a gallon, along with a special fuel recipe required to protect air quality.