Trey Kay

In the 1960s and ‘70s, Porter Wagoner was Nashville royalty. His television variety show helped keep the Grand Ole Opry alive. This month, a new Wagoner album comes out on a rock label, but don’t call it crossover: as Waylon Jennings once said, “Porter couldn’t go pop ...

Folk-rocker Michelle Shocked is a kind of a godmother to a young generation of singer-songwriters. For her, sleepless nights are sometimes the only way to write a song -- so she keeps a guitar right beside her bed. Produced by Trey Kay.

Sherman Alexie stays up all night too. The author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and the new novel Flight says it all started when he was a kid when he would stay up waiting for his father to come home. Produced by

Aerial photographer David Maisel shoots environmental messes -- like cyanide leaching fields and dried-out lakes. But his color prints are big, gorgeous, and mysterious. Maisel talks about his pictures of Los Angeles, just published in the book Oblivion, and how he seduces and betrays viewers at the ...

Avant-garde composer and vocalist Diamanda Galás brings her “Valentine’s Day Massacre” to the Knitting Factory in New York City later this week. The concert is billed as a “spellbinding night of tragic and homicidal love songs.” Enough said. Produced by Trey Kay.

You've heard it in the mall this season -- the 1981 song "Christmas Wrapping," by the Waitresses. Bandleader Chris Butler wrote the song as a goof, and it never went away: the Waitresses had a New Wave classic on their hands. But after their surprise hit, Butler's ...

Rock star, movie actress, widow of Kurt Cobain - Courtney Love has been attached to a number of labels over the years. At the age of 42, she is trying to put all that hard living behind her. Her new book Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney ...

Alyssa Lamb sings in a Brooklyn-based band called Las Rubias del Norte, 'the Blondes of the North.' But her path to singing was circuitous-she was playing the accordion when an injury kept her home alone. She found her calling by singing along with the powerful voice of ...

Catherine Russell has been a back-up singer to the stars -- like Madonna, David Bowie, Paul Simon and Dolly Parton. Russell traces her rich musical journey from her legendary father's gig with Louis Armstrong to her new solo album, entitled Cat. Produced by Trey ...

The Danish filmmaker set Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and Manderlay in America. But they were all shot on sound stages in Europe, because von Trier won't set foot in the United States. Produced by Trey Kay.

The New Zealander grew up on blockbusters like Jaws, and as a director she has had wide commercial success with Whale Rider and North Country. But she remains wary of the hunger of the American market. Produced by Trey Kay.

Rockabilly revivalist Brian Setzer was rummaging in the Sun Records vaults, looking for unknown gems he could cover. He struck gold with Gene Simmons' "Peroxide Blonde in a Hopped-Up Model Ford," but half the tune was missing, and Gene couldn't remember the other half. What's a rockabilly junkie ...

Bob Marley was the undisputed king of reggae music. When he died of cancer in 1981 he was just 36 years old. Marley left behind many songs, a legion of adoring fans, and quite a few talented children to carry on his legacy. This summer, for the first time ever, ...

In the dark fall of 2001, images from Moby-Dick surfaced in the press, as a strange literary footnote to the most shocking event of the last half century. Producer Trey Kay speaks with Professors Andrew Delbanco and Samuel Otter about a metaphor that is undeniably powerful and impossible to capture.

This month Crown books released Life Interrupted, the last monologue of Spalding Gray, best known for his autobiographical stories Swimming To Cambodia and Gray’s Anatomy. In the final monologue, Gray speaks about the severe head and leg injuries he sustained in a car accident while vacationing in Ireland. ...

Billy Joe Shaver created romantic depictions of rambling, gambling, hard-living men, performed by the likes of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, and Elvis. Waylon Jennings’ classic album “Honky Tonk Heroes” consists entirely of Shaver’s material. Trey Kay grew up with Shaver’s songs, and recalls how Shaver could touch the ...

A playwright, a poet, and a jazz musician all weigh in on the artists that mean the most to them. Produced by Trey Kay.

Photographer Sheila Metzner praises the quiet genius of photographer Aaron Rose. Produced by Trey Kay.

A choreographer and a country music legend talk about the people who inspired them. Produced by Trey Kay.

Rockabilly revivalist Brian Setzer was rummaging in the Sun Records vaults, looking for unknown gems to cover on his new album. He struck gold with Gene Simmons' "Peroxide Blonde in a Hopped-Up Model Ford," but half the tune was missing, and Gene couldn't remember the other half. What's ...