Search results for

Country music star Waylon Jennings died this week at the age of 64. Born in 1937 in Littlefield, Texas, he was a disc jockey at 14, and had already formed his own band at the age of 12, making guest appearances on local station KDAV's Sunday Party, where he met Buddy Holly in 1955. Jennings became Holly's bass player. It was Jennings who gave his seat up to the Big Bopper on the plane that crashed and killed Buddy Holly. In 1975, Waylon was named the Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year, and in 1976, he helped found the "Outlaw Movement." In that year, Waylon, Willie, Jessi Colter (who married Waylon in 1969) and Tompall Glaser teamed up for Wanted: The Outlaws that became the first platinum (one million units) album ever recorded in Nashville. Waylon, the authorized autobiography, was written with writer-musician Lenny Kaye in 1996.

He calls his latest project a musical novel. This is part two of our interview with Young about his new CD Greendale. The 10-song album is set in a fictional California seaside town. Young also shot a feature film version of the album on Super8, which made the film festival circuit and goes into wider distribution in April. There is also a DVD, Inside Greendale, which includes in-studio footage of Young and his band Crazy Horse and scenes from the film. Over the years, Young has made excursions into country, blues, electro, rockabilly and soul. Early in his career, he formed Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills. He was then part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which eventually morphed into Crosby, Stills and Nash when Young embarked on a solo career.

The Nirvana frontman was known for smashing guitars during performances and in the studio. This one includes messages to his old friend, Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees.

Banning Eyre reviews the CD World Musette by the Paris-based group Les Primitifs du Futur -- or in English, The Future Primitives. The band, which features American cartoonist Robert Crumb on mandolin and banjo, devotes itself to old-style acoustic jazz. It sounds like it came from the 1920s. In fact, many of these compositions are contemporary, and were written by members of the group. Crumb, known for album covers and cartoons from the '60s and '70s, especially the everlasting Keep on Truckin', has had a lifelong fascination with 78 RPM records and old music. Back when this music was not the least bit fashionable, Robert Crumb was a member of The Cheap Suit Serenaders. Now he lives in Paris where he's clearly having a blast! (3:30)The CD is World Musette by Les Primitifs Du Futur, distributed by Harmonia Mundi, catalog number Sketch 333012.

For its summer tour, the musical duo the Ditty Bops isn't traveling cross-country like most bands. For most of their California-to-New York trip, Abby Dewald and Amanda Barrett are riding their bikes. Their latest release is Moon Over the Freeway.

The last time Scott Simon spoke to percussionist Bobby Sanabria, it was about Sanabria's newest CD, which has since been nominated for a Grammy Award. Now, Sanabria wants listeners to meet a classic Afro-Cuban album: Machito's Kenya.

Who's from North Dakota, hates turtlenecks, but loves the color orange? It's our V.I.P., a renowned rock critic and pop culture junkie. He tackles a trivia game about a little band known as KISS.

Songwriter Billy McCarthy turned to music after a childhood rocked by suicide and mental illness. He speaks with NPR's Laura Sullivan about the band's debut album, Rise Ye Sunken Ships.

The band's fourth album is the product of a cross-country sojourn by singer Erika Wennerstrom.

Born and raised in small-town Texas, Foster spent time in both New York and the U.S. Navy Band before settling back in Austin. Her new album, Let It Burn, features a mix of originals and covers, plus some stirring collaborations with The Blind Boys of Alabama.