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Singer/songwriter Mason Jennings is a storyteller first and foremost, but he also combines folk, blues and rock with subtle, effortless grace. Alternately backed by a band and accompanied only by his own guitar, Jennings' acoustic pop songs are honest, intimate and inviting.

A federal judge upholds the FBI's search of the office of Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat at the center of a bribery investigation. The judge also denied a request to have the materials seized in the May raid returned.

At 18, Yundi Li became the youngest person ever to win the prestigious International Chopin Competition. The pianist, now 22, discusses his enthusiasm for the 19th-century Polish composer.

A privately financed rocket plane took its pilot to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere Monday, the first time a commercial venture has put a manned craft into space. SpaceShipOne landed at an airstrip in the Mojave Desert after reaching an altitude of more than 60 miles. The project is funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Dave Smith, a pioneer of the synthesizer, revolutionized pop music in the 1980s. David Bowie and Madonna are among the legions who used his Prophet 5 synthesizer. Smith died last week at age 72.

Played on three string instruments, this music was the country's soundtrack from the turn of the 20th century to the 1940s.

The critically acclaimed rock group Band of Horses has roots in South Carolina. But the band formed, made its name and recorded its first CD in Seattle. Now its members are back in the Palmetto State, and back with a new album called Cease to Begin.

One of the most controversial and acclaimed singers of the last 20 years, O'Connor continues to deny convention and expectations. Hear an interview and in-studio performance by the fiercely uncompromising singer-songwriter.

Citing Bob Dylan and Neil Young as influences, the 26-year-old Irish singer is a master of simple folk songs that focus on his gentle voice and guitar. Regan was raised in a family of musicians, who instilled in him a love of early folk and blues that continues to pervade his music.

Ballet dancer Carlos Acosta is known for powerful leaps that make him seem to fly. Those leaps have earned him comparisons with Nureyev and Baryshnikov. He grew up in a poor neighborhood outside Havana. How that boy became a man who dances with grace and power is the subject of Acosta's memoir, No Way Home.