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His sharp-tongued lyrics have skewered rednecks, kingpins and heartless politicians. Newman has riled a long list of people — and it's likely to grow with the release of his new CD, Harps and Angels. He may be the most misunderstood songwriter ever.

As medal-winners step up to the podium in this year's Summer Olympics, commentator Miles Hoffman says, we're bound to hear quite a few national anthems, some of which come equipped with bad poetry and stilted music.

The folksy songwriter returns with his second album, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, now with a more upbeat, countrified sound. Yet even with the shift, Perkins continues to wrestle with his past.

Despite a constant flood of new music, people still like to insist it was all better in times past. But Marianne Faithfull, who has survived a bunch of musical decades, recognizes that right now is a golden era of its own. Her new record, Easy Come, Easy Go, is all covers, but alongside old standards are what might be some new staples.

When the gospel duo Mary Mary announced its tour dates for this spring, not one church was on the list of venues. Sisters Tina and Erica Campbell, who named their act after the two Marys in the Bible, have spent their careers taking gospel music out of its usual venues.

April 14 marks the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. In honor of the occasion, two preeminent Handel musicians explain why the music remains as popular as ever with both performers and audiences.

Eva Ayllon is sometimes called Peru's Tina Turner. On Kimba Fa, the 30-year veteran takes all sorts of liberties with Afro-Peruvian music, adding in piano and sometimes a brass section, as well as jazz harmony and ideas from other Afro Latin styles.

There's still a shortage of child care teachers and that's keeping parents out of the workforce. Dozens of states are trying to lure back providers and lower costs for families.

For those who think all Cajun music sounds exactly the same, a new CD tries to dispel that pervasive and dangerous myth. Christine Balfa Plays the Triangle offers up nearly an hour of triangle solos, performed by a woman with an impeccable Cajun pedigree.

On a new CD, God Shall Be Praised, recently discovered manuscripts at a 12th-century German convent awaken an ancient sound world. The shifting patterns of melodies were composed with subtle genius, to interest the ear but also create a sense of calmness and inner reflection.