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In 1951, gospel star Rosetta Tharpe got married in front of thousands of fans at a baseball stadium. In some ways, says biographer Gayle Wald, it set the template for today's stadium rock concerts.

Edwin "Lil' Eddie" Serrano has written songs for artists such as P Diddy, Usher and Janet Jackson. The New York native says shaping his own singing career has been difficult, but now he has a new CD: Nobody's Fool. He speaks with NPR's Teshima Walker.

Reviewer David Greenberger has been listening to the latest release of the British pianist and accordion player Geraint Watkins, Dial 'W' for Watkins.

In the 1950s, composer William Bolcom began an ambitious project to set the 46 poems in William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience to music. A massive work, the result premiered in 1984. Now, a recording of Bolcom's work has finally been released. NPR's Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr reports.

Tinariwen formed in the refugee camps of Libya and Algeria. They've carried instruments and rifles in their lives, and fought for the freedom of their Tuareg people. Their music is a mix of North African blues and at times reggae-influenced. Chris Nickson reviews their CD, Amassakoul.

Tom Waits' change in approach on Real Gone can make the new album a challenge to hear, but worth digging into. Hear critic Tom Moon.

Akin Fernandez's obsession with "numbers stations" — broadcasts of seemingly random numbers sequences that still remain officially a mystery — led to a CD set compiling off-air recordings. It's become a cult hit. Matt Cowan reports.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with violinist Jennifer Koh about her new CD Violin Fantasies, a concept album on which she plays four fantasies by Schubert, Schumann, Schoenberg, and Ornette Coleman.

Musician Joey Burns of the band Calexico talks about his song "Sunken Waltz" — a tune about the rampant suburban sprawl growing in the outskirts of the band's home base of Tucson, Ariz.

Plant formally fronted the band Led Zeppelin. His new solo CD includes tracks he recorded before Zeppelin and after. It's called Sixty Six to Timbuktu. (The interview continues through the end of the show.)