NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre about their Alt.Latino Tiny Desk takeover for Hispanic Heritage Month. Adblock test (Why?)

Bluegrass phenom Billy Strings talks about his new album, Renewal. Adblock test (Why?)

At the heart of Esperanza Spalding's new album is the question "What do you need a song for?" NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with the Grammy-winning musician about her album, Songwrights Apothecary Lab. AILSA CHANG, HOST: There is one question at the heart of Esperanza Spalding's new album - what do you need a song for? (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) ESPERANZA SPALDING: It's such a simple question, and I feel like we have the capacity to answer it (laughter). CHANG: Spalding is a Grammy-winning jazz singer and bassist. And to answer this seemingly simple question - what do you need a song for? - she needed more than just other musicians. So she basically created a whole laboratory, a cross-disciplinary group of neuroscientists, psychologists, ethnomusicologists and more. She calls it the "Songwrights Apothecary Lab." SPALDING: We are like shipwrights, you know? We build things. We build things that we want to be vessels to ferry people from one point to another point, one shore to another shore or even through a vast, you know, uncharted ...

The soul and R&B legend, who died in 2004, was recently voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1998, Charles came on Fresh Air to promote The Complete Country & Western Recordings: 1959-1986. Adblock test (Why?)