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Case has one of those huge, powerful voices that pulls you in and swirls you around, kind of like a tornado. For her latest album, Middle Cyclone, Case filled a barn with pianos, recorded the sounds of tree frogs and channeled a lovestruck tornado. Here, Case discusses the process of writing Middle Cyclone and working with her other band, The New Pornographers.

Joan Baez's sterling voice, the songs she sings and her commitment to society's underdogs have had a profound influence on American culture. Baez talks about her new record, Day After Tomorrow, and performs songs from the album at NPR's New York studio.

With an innovative repertoire and creative musical arrangements, the five brass players of the Meridian Arts Ensemble — and the group's new percussionist — have redefined the boundaries of the traditionally stodgy brass quintet in music that ranges from J.S. Bach to Frank Zappa.

Singer-songwriter Tom Russell lives in El Paso-Juarez, which sits right on the border between Texas and Mexico. When he heard about the new wall going up between the two countries, he realized that all cheap labor on the border is done by illegal immigrants. So he wrote a song that asks an obvious question.

The Gaslight Anthem's new album, The '59 Sound, is filled with narratives that recall and refer directly to Bruce Springsteen's early works. Music reviewer Tom Moon says that it's one of the year's great surprises.

Soul may be a full-fledged style of music or just a flavor, but whether you like it straight-up or blended with other music and innovations, there's a sense that soul is always going to be part of the mix. Newcomers Sharon Jones and Eli "Paperboy" Reed share their thoughts.

Steve Cropper shaped the Memphis soul sound as a guitarist and songwriter for Stax Records. Felix Cavaliere fronted the hit-making group The Rascals. They ran in the same music circles for decades, but only now have they made their first album together.

Duke has put out more than 30 albums, which have incorporated jazz, pop, Latin and R&B to critical and commercial success. On his latest album, Dukey Treats, he pays tribute to funk, soul and Sly Stone.

The city of Chicago has one more thing to boast about: Its hometown orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, has been named America's top orchestra in a new critics' poll published in the venerable British magazine Gramophone.

On her latest album, Back to the River, singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi uses her hard blues style to tell stories of family life. Her own day-to-day existence with husband Derek Trucks (a guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band) and their two children may not be average, but Tedeschi's songs have universal appeal.