Pop

The Australian singer recently made her American debut with her third album, As Day Follows Night. It's a cycle of songs about a love triangle, and it's performed, as Blasko says, in the direct manner of early Carole King. Milo Miles explains how Blasko escapes irony and sentimentality to refresh a well-worn subject.

Plant's new solo album is called Band of Joy. That's the name of a group he was in back in 1967, before Led Zeppelin, with drummer John Bonham. Rock critic Ken Tucker says that if the album title suggests nostalgia for older musical styles, there's nothing musty about the results.

Perry has released what is commonly considered the pop hit of the summer, a song called "California Gurls." Perry has a new album, Teenage Dream, which rock critic Ken Tucker says is just one part of what he calls "the Katy Perry art project."

Frank Loesser wrote the musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- in addition to over 700 other songs. On today's Fresh Air, musical anthropologist Michael Feinstein discusses Loesser's musical legacy and plays some of his favorite Loesser tunes -- including several rare archival recordings.

DeShannon's musical career spans five decades. In the 1960s, she toured with The Beatles on the band's first U.S. tour. In the 1970s, she sang with Van Morrison, and in the '80s, she won a Grammy for writing "Bette Davis Eyes." Here, she recounts what it was like to open for The Beatles -- and how recording "What the World Needs Now" changed her career.

The frontman for the pop-punk band Green Day details the group's early days in Berkeley an describes what it's been like to see American Idiot, a new Broadway musical based on one of his albums.

Tracey Thorn is best known as half of the British duo Everything but the Girl, in which she performed with her husband, Ben Watt. But since 1999, Thorn has spent much of her time raising her three children with Watt. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Love and Its Opposite, her third solo album.

Package tours in the early years of rock and soul were varied grab bags. But none were like The T.A.M.I. Show. Filmed in October 1964 in Santa Monica, the lineup included performers who weren't stars yet — like The Rolling Stones — and those at the peak of their fame, like Lesley Gore and Jan and Dean. Critic Milo Miles reviews the concert, just released on DVD.

Chilton, who died Wednesday from a heart attack, was the lead singer of the '60s teenage band the Box Tops and the '70s power pop group Big Star. He joined Fresh Air for two interview, first in 1991 and again in 2000. Today, we remember the cult musician.

Vic Chesnutt was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 18, but he's still a massively productive songwriter. Chesnutt has fifteen albums under his belt and his songs have been covered by Madonna, Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M. His new album, At The Cut, is a collaboration with Guy Picciotto of the band Fugazi. (

Vogue Magazine film critic John Powers talks about the year in media: the major events, the trending topics and the evolution of social networking.

Fresh Air's music critic Ken Tucker's picks for the best music of 2009 include songs by Taylor Swift, Billy Currington and Michael Franti as well as albums by Loudon Wainwright III, the Fiery Furnaces, and Bob Dylan.

Norah Jones became an immediate star after the release of her 2002 album Come Away With Me. Having sold more than 36 million records, Jones decided to move in a different direction with her new fourth album, titled The Fall. Rock critic Ken Tucker says it's an improvement over her last two.

In his new album, If It Wasn't For the Irish and the Jews, Irish musician and folklorist Mick Moloney celebrates the musical collaboration of the Irish and Jewish songwriters and performers of vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley.

The 48-year-old Scotswoman became an overnight star after her April 2009 performance on Britain's Got Talent, singing a chestnut of a ballad from Les Miserables. With five million copies of her first album sold since Nov. 23, critic Ken Tucker says, it's clear she's delivered what her fans wanted.

Music critic Ken Tucker reviews Fearless the second studio album by country-music singer/songwriter Taylor Swift. It debuted as number one on Billbaord's Top Country Music Albums.

Vic Chesnutt was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 18, but he's still a massively productive songwriter. Chesnutt has fifteen albums under his belt and his songs have been covered by Madonna, Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M. His new album, At The Cut, is a collaboration with Guy Picciotto of the band Fugazi.

Forty years after siblings Richard and Karen Carpenter signed with A&M Records, Richard Carpenter is releasing a 40th-anniversary compilation CD, Carpenters: 40/40. The two-disc set includes 40 tracks with hits including "Top of the World" and "We've Only Just Begun."

Lyricist and composer Johnny Mercer -- born Nov. 18, 1909 -- wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs, including American Songbook standards like "Skylark," "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain or Come Shine." HIs Academy Awards tally includes a statue for what's possibly his most famous tune, "Moon River." Fresh Air marks the anniversary of his birth with an in-studio concert starring Rebecca Kilgore and Dave Frishberg.

La Roux is a British pop duo -- 21-year-old singer Elly Jackson and synth player--producer Ben Langmaid -- with a style that blends passionate vocals with strict mechanical beats. The pair's self-titled album went No. 1 in England and Europe this year, and now it's out stateside. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews.