Tunes from old Appalachia with a new bluegrass twist. The hit folk band “Crooked Still” plays for us in our studio.

We talk with classical guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk, about the guitar as bridge between cultures. Plus: video of Fisk performing an encore in our studio.

We’ll look back on Leonard Bernstein, who took the helm of the New York Philharmonic 50 years ago, and changed American music.

Bob Dylan talked at length with historian Douglas Brinkley for Rolling Stone. We talk with Brinkley about Dylan and America now.

A new documentary captures jazz now, from the living icons of modern jazz to those pushing the music in new directions.

Novelist Arthur Phillips on music, muses, mixtapes and his new novel, “The Song Is You.”

We talk with the Blind Boys of Alabama about their new album, and making music, “Down in New Orleans.”

We hear from underground artist Jon Nelson, who uses musical mashups to tap into our media-age dreams.

The craze for karaoke. Equalizer or embarrassment? One devotee tells the uninitiated what they’re missing.

We’ll talk with the director of “Notorious” about the life and death of rapper Biggie Smalls — and the state of hip hop.

Aretha Franklin sang on the Capitol steps. Who’s next in the world of soul? We’ll talk with rising star Alice Smith.

Jazz legend Count Basie helped make the American soundtrack of the 1930s. We listen back, and ask if America has a soundtrack today.

We hear the story of one writer’s magnificent obsession with the great American ballad, House of the Rising Sun.

In an archive edition of On Point, we jam with guitar legend Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon of Phish.

In an archive edition of On Point, we look at Sacred Harp music, a centuries-old American tradition of shape-note singing and its revival around the country today.

The Christmas Revels invade our studio for old Wessex carols, a Somerset Wassail, and Thomas Hardy’s “Under the Greenwood Tree.”

Hip-hop activist Sister Souljah is back — with a new novel, “Midnight,” about love, race, and the gangster life.

Rock critic Amanda Petrusich and her long, strange trip into the roots of a new, authentically American, music.

Fifty years ago, Motown Records crossed racial lines and helped define an era. We listen back to the music and those who made it.

50 years ago Leonard Bernstein took the helm of the New York Philharmonic — and changed American music. We’ll celebrate the irrepressible maestro.