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Singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore is just 24, but last fall she released her fifth CD, Avalanche. Her thought-provoking material reflects the influences of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello and the Replacements. NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with Gilmore about her music.

The group Ollabelle came out of an open mike night in New York City called, "Sunday School for Sinners." Their music captures the sound and feeling of the American South, from it churches to its porches and honkytonks.

Motown founder Berry Gordy has decided to sell his stake in 15,000 Motown songs known as the Jobete collection to EMI Music Publishing. The catalog includes hits by the Supremes, Marvin Gay, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, as well as many songs never released. With the deal, Gordy breaks all ties to the Motown empire he created and nourished. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards.

Violinists with the Beethoven Orchestra in Germany sue for a pay raise on the grounds that they play many more notes per concert than their musical colleagues. Orchestra officials, however, say the violinists knew this when they began taking violin lessons -- and if they wanted to play fewer notes, they should have chosen a different instrument. Kyle James reports.

In the ninth century, the Buddhist sage Lin Chi told a monk, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." He meant that those who think they've found all the answers in any religion need to start questioning. The new book Killing the Buddha takes this advice to heart, examining American roadside distractions on the path to enlightenment. Chicago Public Radio's Jason DeRose reports.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Jack Weatherford about his new book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Weatherford has spent the past eight years in Mongolia researching the man he deems the greatest ruler the world has ever seen. He says that Khan was not the stereotypical barbarian of lore, calling him a statesman responsible for laying the foundations for global trade and diplomacy.

This week, a researcher revealed the ancestral homeland of Elvis Presley. Three hundred years ago, Andrew Presley worked as a blacksmith in the tiny village of Lonmay, Scotland, and the modern-day residents of Lonmay are bracing for the potential windfall of tourism. NPR's Liane Hansen speaks with Christina Gibbons, owner of the village's only hotel, the Bancar.

Host Scott Simon talks with Monica Mancini, the daughter of film score composer Henry Mancini and singer in her own right, about her father's music, his legacy... and his new postage stamp.

The 1970s movie Walking Tall, about a man who takes the law into his own hands after his town becomes a sinkhole of iniquity, became a B-movie classic, inspiring a TV movie and a short-lived network series. A new remake, starring wrestler-turned-actor the Rock, opens this weekend. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

The celesta, an instrument invented in 1896, gets its name for its "celestial," tinkling sound. It provides the distinctive music that accompanies the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. NPR's Bob Edwards discusses the instrument with Morning Edition music commentator Miles Hoffman, and Lambert Orkis of the National Symphony plays some celesta riffs.