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The best new music releases out of Africa in 2009 reveal two strong trends. First, the whole notion of blues and rock intermingling with their ancestral precursors in West Africa continues to yield fruit, and the blends just keep getting better. New uses of technology provide the other big story, as hybrids of tradition and techno turn a new generation of listeners on to Africa.

Read an excerpt from The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz.

Not to be outdone by its fellow Top 10 listmakers, KEXP presents its Top 11 debut albums of the year. Seattle's Fleet Foxes headlines a deep class of great rock, pop, disco, hip-hop, folk and electro-dance records.

The story of Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner" is the stuff of grade-school history books. But the song has inspired some memorable interpretations in the recent past, as each performer imbues it with a personal take on patriotism.

Searchers say they have found no sign of Steve Fossett after his single-engine plane disappeared in the rugged mountains and sagebrush-filled desert of western Nevada.

Sunday is Father's Day. If you're a dad, congratulations; these songs are for you. If you're a son or a daughter, here's a list of dad-friendly jazz songs to let your father know you're thinking of him.

This is a list for the Age of the iPod Shuffle, as more people listen to more types of music than ever before. WNYC's John Schaefer mixes up his favorite CD picks for 2008, offering a wide-reaching smorgasbord of classical, pop, folk and world music.

This year proved once again that folk music is alive and thriving in all its forms: Americana, bluegrass, Celtic, country, blues, world and so on. Our top picks for 2008 not only illustrate the rich mix of folk music heard every day at FolkAlley.com, but also showcase the genre's ongoing diversity and vitality.

As a librarian and a reader, Nancy Pearl scours the shelves in search of hidden treasures — titles you may have missed. Her findings include two chilling thrillers, one exquisite 1960s memoir, a lively biography of George Orwell, an example of historical fiction at its very best, and much more fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

Many friends and colleagues of Bruce Ivins, a government researcher who was under investigation for the anthrax attacks of 2001, have said they are certain that investigators are pointing to the wrong man. But his estranged brother says he believes the allegations.

Republican Sen. John Warner says he will retire after more than 30 years in the U.S. Senate, concluding his fifth term in 2009. In a brief news conference, he thanked his state for granting him a have "a magnificent and very rewarding career."

A staple of the American road trip could be slowly disappearing. Owners of some roadside attractions are deciding that interest is waning in such treasures as the world's largest ball of string, Stinker the monkey or the Elvis Is Alive Museum.