NPR Staff

The country singer's music is steeped in loss and heartache, emotions she knows well. Her debut solo album recounts the struggles she has faced, and what she has learned along the way.

In an age when you're more likely to hear a cool new song in an ad before you hear it on the radio, a panel at SXSW addressed the question of how to match mayonnaise with banjos or sneakers with EDM.

Steve Inskeep talks with former NPR foreign correspondent Anne Garrels about her new book Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia.

Helen Fielding's memorable comic creation started as a series of columns in the Independent some 20 years ago; as the paper goes digital-only, Fielding says the next Bridget could come from a blog.

This week on Hidden Brain, the stories of two men who showed empathy for the other side and found themselves labeled "enemy" by their own people.

"When the people get my music, people can get my soul, too," says Cuban singer Dayme Arocena. She's one of many musicians benefiting from the changing relationship between the United States and Cuba.

Writer Helen Oyeyemi's new collection features nine stories all linked through the idea of keys that open rooms, doors, even hearts. She says she felt haunted by keys while working on the book.

If you'd like to study gospel music performance in school, you won't find a whole lot of options. Now, Nyack College in Manhattan is aiming to change that, with a new brand-new bachelor's degree.

Immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, often fleeing violence, are put in detention centers. That was the best way to handle the influx at the time, says one Homeland official. Now, rules are changing.

The singer plays Pontius Pilate in Fox's live TV musical event. He says he never thought to try acting before, but the songs — including "Mad World" by Tears for Fears — drew him to the part.

Robert King, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace spent over 100 years combined in solitary confinement for a prison guard's death. Now that Woodfox is free, he's joining his friend King in advocacy.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) built a refugee camp on the northern coast of France at the request of the local mayor. But the French national government is not happy about it.

Simone Giertz Yahtch makes robots. The Swedish inventor has found a following with her quirky mechanical creations, even if they don't work as you'd imagine.

Katie Roiphe's The Violet Hour is a meditation on mortality in which she describes the last days of Maurice Sendak, Sigmund Freud, Susan Sontag, John Updike, James Salter and Dylan Thomas.

David Kushner was 4 years old when his older brother Jon was killed. "I think with the loss of anybody, that person — they don't disappear," he says. Alligator Candy is his memoir of the experience.

"Music is spiritual: There's something about it that's sacred even when it's not a sacred song." On Millsap's raucous new album, Pentecostalism intersects with Greek myths, old-school blues and more.

The politics team is back with their recap of the week. They discuss everything from the violence at Trump's campaign rallies to President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court.

During her first visit to SXSW, Audie Cornish talks with festival veteran Stephen Thompson of NPR Music the festival's history, what people expect to hear and how it has evolved over the decades.

That's the lesson Tanya James' mother taught her. And she says it was invaluable in the West Virginia coal mines, where she worked for decades. Now, she's passing that lesson down to her daughters.

"Our job was to love them," says actress Krisha Fairchild. She plays a recovering addict in Krisha, a film written and directed by her nephew, and inspired by her family's struggle with addiction.