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In 1962, Dubliner Paddy Moloney put together a band to play traditional Irish music, and to celebrate his homeland's folk culture. More than 40 years later, The Chieftains are going strong.

Britain's Guillemots are a young band that fuses unique sonic textures with catchy, uplifting music. The end result is completely modern-sounding pop: The band challenges the listener while also paying homage to a rich songwriting history.

Ali Farka Toure, the Grammy Award-winning musical legend from Mali, has died after a long illness. He was 66. The singer-guitarist gained international fame from his 1995 collaboration with Ry Cooder on the bluesy album Talking Timbuktu.

Involvement in bowling leagues, bridge clubs, and other participatory groups has declined considerably in recent decades, but community choruses have bucked the trend. Commentator Michelle Mercer has noticed the connection between singing and happiness, as she shares in this postcard from her gleeful local chorus.

The stories in Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood are the opposite of tidy narratives: They're fragmentary bits that isolate and freeze moments in time. One such episode pops up in the second verse of "Hold On, Hold On," a transfixingly slithering rocker Case recorded with The Sadies.

The vast majority of America's recorded legacy is out of print. That's the finding of a study by the Library of Congress. The report shows that consumers can purchase less than 30 percent of U.S. sound recordings made before 1965. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports.

NPR music critic Tom Moon talks with David Dye about Bruce Springsteen's new collection We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. All the tracks on the new album are standards closely associated with folk icon Pete Seeger.

The annual music awards show also featured controversial appearances by Travis Scott and Morgan Wallen.

An artist's inspiration can come in many forms. Along with bandmate Tessie Brunet, musician Dax Riggs of Houma, La., has crafted an entire album out of the fear of death: We Are Night Sky, the debut recording of Deadboy and the Elephantmen.

Benga is one of the most beloved forms of popular music in the East African country of Kenya, but it is little known on these shores. Extra Golden hopes to widen America's musical horizons with the release of Ok-Oyot System. Music critic John Brady offers a preview.