Music

Originally from Sweden, Anders Osborne left his home in Uddevalla at 16 to hitchhike through Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Eventually finding his way to the U.S., the singer-songwriter and guitarist settled in New Orleans in 1984. The Crescent City clearly came to inspire Osborne's music, which ranges from muddy backwater blues to upbeat country-rock, and fills in many of the gaps in between.

U.K Bass is a roughly defined umbrella term that music writers have used to describe a broad swath of British electronic music over the past couple of decades. Hyperdub, the U.K.-based label run by early dubstep proliferator Steve Goodman, has, for a little over half a decade, been my gateway into the complex contortions of U.K. Bass music.

Cathie Ryan makes her third Mountain Stage appearance in a show recorded on the shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minn.

There are many songs and tunes commemorating the landmarks that span our rivers and railways. Every bit as powerful as these physical structures, music is our bridge across time and place and our way to connect with one another. Cross all forms of bridges with us this week.

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Jobs, jobs, jobs. Who needs them, who's going to get them and who might lose them? It's a hot topic on the campaign trail. With the addition of only about 80,000 jobs last month, the June unemployment rate remained at a stubborn 8.2 percent.

We were late getting set up. As Deer Tick's John McCauley stood on the picturesque hillside of the Columbia River Gorge, about to strum the first chord of a song, another band started to blast us from the main stage nearby. We had to leave. It was a relief, really, because the natural majesty of the surroundings didn't seem at home with Deer Tick's music — especially not the Replacements-esque party attitude of the band's new album, Divine Providence.

Elton John has been writing music since the 1960s, and between then and now, he has had enough life experience to reach some remarkable conclusions.

"I certainly, if I'm being honest with you, don't think you write as good a song on cocaine as you do when you're normal," he tells Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep.