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A compilation of Ethel Merman recordings from the '50s, The World is Your Balloon, collects songs she recorded for Decca Records. Few are songs Merman herself made famous.

In 1997, Ry Cooder sparked an international interest in Cuban music as producer and guitarist on the hit CD Buena Vista Social Club. He recently returned to the same studio where that album was recorded, this time to collaborate with legendary Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban.

Country legend Loretta Lynn joins forces with rocker Jack White for a soulful new CD, Van Lear Rose. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and Lynn.

Astronomer Ian Griffin of Baltimore, Md., is the guest on a new edition of "What Are You Listening To?" His musical selections range from Bruce Springsteen to themes from 1960s British TV shows. NPR's Steve Inskeep listens along.

NPR's Susan Stamberg takes a mid-year pause to reflect on the centennials being marked in 2004. Her list of individuals and institutions making their debut in 1904 includes actors Cary Grant and Sir John Gielgud, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the New York subway.

The a cappella group The Persuasions decided to do an album of Grateful Dead songs. As "The Dead" have been icons of sub-culture since the mid 60's, and have inspired more than one generation of devotees (Deadheads), they knew that covering the harmonies would not suffice. They would have to rediscover AND reinvent the music - both for themselves, and the audience.

The Maryland Democrat said he'd received a preliminary diagnosis of being in remission after undergoing treatments for lymphoma. "I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love," the lawmaker said.

A curator of mollusks at a natural history museum, listener Kevin Roe shares some of his favorite musical picks: Skip James, Abida Parveen and Nick Cave –- three singers with rich, evocative voices.

Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, has released a 2-CD career retrospective, Weir Here. The guitarist performs two songs and reflects on music and career with NPR's Scott Simon.

Elizabeth Mitchell has taken old rock and folk favorites and made them new again — this time for kids. Her new album, You Are My Little Bird, invokes artists from the Velvet Underground to Woody Guthrie.