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Nellie McKay made a splash in 2004 with her debut CD, Get Away From Me. McKay's latest, Obligatory Villagers, is a jazz- and cabaret-inflected outing with sassy lyrics on topics as diverse as feminism and zombies. McKay joins Terry Gross for a Fresh Air concert and conversation.

Author Leah Hager Cohen says it's time to stop faking your way through conversations. "Once you finally own up to what you don't know, then you can begin to have honest interactions with the people around you," she explains.

The Storied South is a new book by folklorist William Ferris, collecting 40 years worth of oral histories from Southern writers and artists. Ferris tells NPR's Celeste Headlee that the book was a way of getting everyone from Eudora Welty to Bobby Rush to a "common table of conversation."

The band R.E.M. has released its first album in four years, Accelerate. Critics have been describing the disc as a "comeback," saying it's the band's best album in ages. Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills join Terry Gross for a conversation.

Last month, Ronstadt revealed that she has Parkinson's disease and can no longer sing. Her new memoir, Simple Dreams, reflects on a long career. In this conversation with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, she offers frank insights on sex, drugs, and why "competition was for horse races."

From health care to climate change to immigration, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has found himself at odds with conservatives over the years. But will Republican voters overlook those issues if they think he can beat President Obama?

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May says she'll remain in office, even after her Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority. She'll partner with another party to make up the lost seats.

Robert talks with Ed Renwick, director of the Institute of Politics at Loyola University in New Orleans. Renwick analyzes the Louisiana GOP primary and the defining issues that helped Pat Buchannan win out over conservative rival, Sen. Phil Gramm.

Several political figures are vying to succeed outgoing President Mohammed Khatami in Iran's election June 17. Both the conservative and reformist camps, according to opinion polls, are not very popular with the voters. And the race may yet have a wildcard candidate.

A black candidate who has been compared to the arch-conservative former Sen. Jesse Helms is running for the House in North Carolina. Vernon Robinson's first challenge is Tuesday's Republican primary. Stephanie Martin of member station WFDD reports.

The nomination of top White House lawyer Harriet Miers to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court draws mixed reviews from both sides of the political aisle. Conservative Republicans aren't happy.

Leading Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named Iraq's transitional prime minister. A religious conservative, Jaafari is also known for his political pragmatism. Also, President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents are sworn in.

The former mayor of Tehran, a hardline conservative with relatively little political experience, will be the new president of Iran. The margin of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory surprised many and is seen as a major setback for moderates. He promises a "modern, advanced, powerful and Islamic" nation.

Robert Siegel talks with Sam Tanenhaus, editor of The New York Times' book review and Week in Review section. Tanenhaus has been working on a biography of William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative icon who died today at 82.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's center-left Labor Party is seeking a second term. His opponent, conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton, wants to become the first political leader to oust a first-term government since 1931.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said his advisers told him not to ask potential Supreme Court nominees whether they would overturn Roe v Wade. "But I'm putting conservative people on," he said.

In recent weeks, there's been a debate among conservatives over the H-1B visa program. State Department data shows that workers from India received the majority of H-1B visas issued last year.

Recreational marijuana is still illegal in Texas. The socially conservative legislature has voted it down year after year. And yet, with its exploding market for largely unregulated consumable hemp, Texas has inadvertently become the new Republic of THC.

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal have advanced to a May 6 runoff in France's presidential elections. With most of the votes counted, Sarkozy took in more than 31 percent, with Segolene second at just under 26 percent.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu is in New York City and walks in on a meeting of young radicals toasting Old Communists. He notes the fact that old commies never say "die." They just die. He listens to them, believing some of the conversations may have started in the 19th century.