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In the 1950s, no bluesman was more popular than Jimmy Reed. He wrote hits like "Bright Lights Big City" and "Big Boss Man" and pioneered the ubiquitous "thump" guitar riff. Two accomplished Texas bluesmen, Omar Kent Dykes and Jimmie Vaughan, pay tribute to Reed on their new CD.

Fresh Air's music critic Milo Miles considers the work of the art-punk band Sonic Youth; the group's 1988 album Daydream Nation has just been reissued in a deluxe double-CD edition.

The Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates 50 years of great music this weekend. Musician David Was reflects on the festival and reviews a new set of archival Monterey CDs featuring Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.

Fresh Air's rock critic reviews The Con, the fifth album from Canadian twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Their music has been heard in a number of American TV shows, including Grey's Anatomy, The L Word and Medium.

One of the most popular poets among Western readers today is actually a long dead poet of the East. Rumi, the 13th century poet of the Persian empire, still inspires with his works evoking ecstasy and the divine.

He was a teenager when his band, The Stray Cats, had its first big hit. These days, Lee Rocker spends most of his time with his own group, which just released a new CD. And, true to his rockabilly roots, he still wields a mighty upright bass.

When Bridgewater came up empty after tracing her family tree back more than 100 years, she turned to West African music. After a trip to Mali in 2004, she discovered its complex musical heritage. Hear an interview about the inspiration behind her new album, Red Earth.

Drummer and singer Levon Helm has survived his membership in The Band, a close brush with bankruptcy and a battle with throat cancer that temporarily took away his voice. Now he's back with Dirt Farmer, his first solo album in 25 years.

Producer T Bone Burnett found a surprisingly good fit when he matched wispy-voiced bluegrass vocalist Alison Krauss with hard-rock belter Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame). Their new CD, Raising Sand, has a relaxed, intimate feel.

In the new movie I'm Not There, director Todd Haynes deploys six actors to portray the many lives of one man: Bob Dylan. Haynes talks about the unorthodox nature of the film and how he hopes it evokes Dylan's universe of the 1960s.