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In 1968, Van Morrison released what would become a seminal recording in the history of popular music: Astral Weeks. It is Van Morrison's most praised album — although it was almost shelved by his record label. This year, he's performing every song from the album in select cities, and host Guy Raz caught up with him during his stop in Washington, D.C.

Folk music's Mike Seeger was an adventurer who wanted nothing more than to share his discoveries. He found overlooked musical treasures, polished them off a little and wondered at them. He sought out undiscovered or disappeared musicians in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina — including Dock Boggs. Seeger died Friday at 75.

Before he died, the great pianist donated a treasure trove of privately made recordings to Yale University. Now some of those very public recitals are being issued on CD, including searing 1940s performances from Carnegie Hall.

Tanya Tucker recorded her first hit single when she was 13. Now, after nearly four decades in the music business, a Grammy nomination and a tumultuous past few years, the country singer has released a new album, called My Turn.

NPR Music's Song of the Day features a new track every weekday, with analysis of the music, links to each artist's Web sites and, of course, a chance to hear the song itself. Here, Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson talks about recent selections by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Kurt Elling and more.

Henry Alford recommends one of the least "ooey-wooey books about religion or philosophy" he's ever read: the Tao Te Ching, a collection of aphorisms that dates back two millennia and invites constant reinterpretation.

The last year and a half hasn't been easy for the award-winning jazz pianist and composer, who spent months in a coma and almost died. But he has a new album out and is performing again.

Astatke is a well-born Ethiopian who fell in love with jazz in the early '60s and has been making music ever since. His most impressive effort, critic Robert Christgau says, is his latest album Inspiration Information, which he created in collaboration with the British experimental funk musicians in The Heliocentrics.

He may be better known for playing Bartok, but French violinist Laurent Korcia is a film buff and he devotes his new album to melodies from classic movie scores of the past 100 years.

In a curious case of musical evolution, the older Lee Fields becomes, the closer he gets to perfecting the sound of soul that he grew up with. His latest release, My World, finds an ideal middle ground between the slow grind of Southern blues and the faster, funkier stylings of retro-soul.