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Edwards is one of the last men who knew the iconic bluesman Robert Johnson.

For the Perry siblings of Tupelo, Miss. — ages 9, 14 and 16 — making music involves making unique instruments from car parts. The young family band with astonishingly mature blues chops demonstrates its craft in NPR's Studio 4A.

The monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria sing ancient Gregorian chants in their 12th-century church — and then post them to YouTube. Their technological savvy landed them a record deal, and now their album is storming the European charts and arriving in America. Father Karl Wallner talks to host Andrea Seabrook about balancing pop stardom with the religious life.

A week after Lil Wayne's latest album was released, it had sold a million copies. Robert Christgau says the phenomenal success of Tha Carter III, especially in these dismal times for the music industry, is due to the risky marketing techniques Lil Wayne employed and the playful way he treats traditional gangsta rap themes.

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.

The best little bar-band in Texas is back with more ballads of heartache and anthems for getting over it. The Old 97's have just released Blame It On Gravity. Front-man Rhett Miller joins Fresh Air to talk about the recording and to perform some new songs.

Twenty-five years after its first album, the New Jersey band is still selling out Madison Square Garden and putting out chart-topping singles. But these days, its sound is a little more country, and it's recording in Nashville. That may be because pop and rock songs have left behind the working-class, everyday guy, while country music sings straight to him.

Fresh Air's jazz critic has a listen to a re-issue of The Hawk Flies High, the 1957 album from tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins — who's often credited with legitimizing that instrument in the jazz world.

The soul singer's new album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, is generating quite a buzz. The award-winning singer talks about the events of her seven-year, singing career, including a new film in the works.

The launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 50 years ago this week marked the dawn of the space age — and sparked songwriters' imaginations.