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Filk is a little-known genre of folk music composed and performed by science-fiction fans, usually revolving around sci-fi and fantasy themes. "Filkers" share a lively online culture -- and in the real world, some entertaining and slightly bizarre get-togethers.

Composer John Adams, who has composed operas about communism and terrorism, believes that "if opera is actually going to be a part of our lives... it has to deal with contemporary topics." is latest work is about the first test of a nuclear weapon. John Adams talks about his opera, Dr. Atomic.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. It's a long-forgotten recording of a 1957 benefit concert, which has never been released until now.

Chris Martin and his band Coldplay have found success again with the band's latest album, X&Y.

Wesley Stace's first novel, Misfortune, started its life as a song. That's because the author is known first and foremost as singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding. Stace tells Scott Simon about the book and his music.

Musician Mark Knopfler spent months recuperating from a motorcycle crash two years ago, before he could write songs again or return to the studio. Knopfler tells Liane Hansen about his recovery and his CD Shangri-La.

Bill Henderson, author of Simple Gifts: Great Hymns: One Man's Search for Grace talks about his love of classic hymns and their spiritual significance.

With each sharing an unabashed love for '60s pop songwriting, it seems perfectly natural that singer/guitarists Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs would wind up working together. On their newest release, Under the Covers, Vol. 1, they come into their own.

William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience won the Grammys for best classical album, choral performance, and classical contemporary composition at Wednesday's awards ceremony. Other awards went to the London Symphony and singer Thomas Quasthoff.

The Fourth Symphony is too often overshadowed by Beethoven’s more dynamic Third and Fifth symphonies. Following the monumental "Eroica" in chronology but not in style, the Fourth was closer to the more classical first two symphonies in the estimation of contemporaries.