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Feliciano discusses his career as a crossover pioneer on this week's show and he plays the music that influenced his career — and it's not what you think.

In this series on Oscar-nominated scores, NPR's movie-film expert Andy Trudeau takes Liane Hansen through two more of the nominees: Javier Navarrete for Pan's Labyrinth and Thomas Newman for The Good German.

The Faintest Ideas' charming "You're Beautiful" barely bothers to exceed a full minute: Its 67 seconds barely dent the listener's psyche before they're over. But they're 67 glorious seconds, complete with 45 seconds of shambling and scene-setting that give way to a simple chorus.

Nellie McKay is a singer-songwriter known for her distinctive mix of jazz vocals and torch singing with cabaret pop, rock and a rap-inspired rants. Hear McKay in a full concert recorded live from Alexandria, VA.

When he was only 25, the word "legend" was already being used to describe Stanley Clarke. Now, he's a king of the acoustic and electric jazz worlds, having won every major award available to a bass player. Hear an interview with the jazz/fusion innovator.

Catalan musician Jordi Savall spends most of his time dusting off little-known music from around the time of J.S. Bach. But for his new CD, Orient-Occident, Savall says goodbye to the baroque, picks up the ancient bowed lyre and gathers an outstanding team of Afghan, Moroccan, Israeli and Greek musicians.

An ordained preacher at 15, Keite Young now aims to conquer the sinful world of secular music. At 27, he showcases all the tools on "E.N.S.," including a keening tenor, a sharp falsetto and a thorough knowledge of both the gospel idiom and the school of funk.

Pinback tells an odd story brilliantly in "Walters," capturing the innocence of a man who lived his dream in audacious fashion. Throughout the song, the band captures the thrill of daredevilry, as well as the letdown inherent in the mundane life that so often surrounds it.

Michael Bracewell's history of Roxy Music doesn't go for conventional thinking — not about the band, and certainly not about how to write a rock biography. Instead, his new book combines art history, music theory and a smashing sense of fashion.

In Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid, the maiden Lavinia marries a Trojan hero but barely gets to utter a word. Science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin picks up where the classic poet left off in her historical novel Lavinia. Le Guin recreates the life and times of a forgotten heroine.

Seems every little girl goes through a princess phase, but could it be harmful in the long run? A new book explores the negative effects of overdosing on pink.

If there's any conflict at all throughout these 13 tracks, it's purely an internal one for Pallett, a legit composer who also possesses the instincts to craft brilliant pop songs.

The Welsh singer's third album conjures images of Tom Verlaine's band Television and Velvet Underground collaborator Nico. But Cate Le Bon is no follower: She's a strong songwriter and a powerful, sultry singer with her own distinct phrasing.

What sets the Battles mastermind's new album apart is its playfulness — the feeling that experimenting with sound is a joyful game rather than an academic exercise.

Let this previously unreleased recording from Yes' 1972 tour take you back to when the band meshed jazz and rock in fresh, loud, exciting ways.

The Texas singer-songwriter revives the country archetype of the drifter in this reflective, gentle song about being in between homes.

Florent Ghys' An Open Cage springs from a recording of the maverick composer reading an excerpt from his Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse).

The latest single from the Americana Award-winning Mono is a melancholy road anthem — and its video paints French Quarter revelry as a place of lonely escape.

The improvisational rock guitar master and the electronic composer collaborate on a bittersweet, luminescent tune to usher in autumn.

The 19-year-old is ascending pop music's hierarchy by standing strong in herself.