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Tom T. Hall developed the singer-songwriter as a trustworthy observer, a persona who could supply all the detail we needed to get the sense of the situation in three minutes flat.

As the summer comes to a close, NPR's Stephen Thompson looks back to see which of his predictions for which songs would rule the summer came true.

Pop Culture Happy Hour host Stephen Thompson and NPR Music contributor Marissa Lorusso suggest three songs to make your summer road trip playlist perfect.

Last week, thousands of Haitians gathered in a stadium for the final round in a national songwriting contest. The topic: restavek, the term for the thousands of children who are modern-day slaves.

Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was on top of the jazz world during the '60s and '70s. But personal setbacks left him unable to play and took him out of the limelight and off the stage. Hubbard died on Dec. 29, but in this story from 2001, he talked about attempting a comeback with an album called New Colors.

Hall Overton was a tall, modest, Midwestern, chain-smoking college instructor of classical music at Juilliard. But at the Jazz Loft, he was living, teaching music and playing piano with greats like Thelonious Monk.

Pop culture critic Linda Holmes recently stumbled onto a satellite radio channel called 80s Chillpill. And though she hadn't really missed any of these songs, they kicked off some serious nostalgia.

Marianne Faithfull, 58, talks about her new CD Before the Poison. It's bolstered by collaborations with PJ Harvey and Nick Cave. Faithfull supplies lyrics and a voice that has turned into a husky growl.

Ed Gordon talks with singer, songwriter and pastor Donnie McClurkin about fame, his troubled past, his bright future and reaching out to an international audience through gospel music.

When his contract to a major record label went down with the ship, acoustic soul singer Eric Hutchinson hit the road to generate his own exposure — and, in the end, wound up self-releasing his debut. Hutchinson plays his material in a session from WXPN.