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Earl Scruggs' name is almost synonymous with the banjo. And for a good reason, too — he helped pioneer Bluegrass music with his three-finger banjo picking technique, now known as "Scruggs Style."

Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Freddie Hubbard has died at the age of 70. He collaborated with such greats as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Hubbard had been hospitalized since a heart attack last month.

With so many classic Christmas carols to choose from, creating brand new ones can be daunting, but English conductor-composer John Rutter has been at it for nearly 50 years. He shares his tips on what makes a good carol.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new album from the prolific composer and pianist Fred Hersch. It's called Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra, Live at the Jazz Standard.

Before he died, the great pianist donated a treasure trove of privately made recordings to Yale University. Now some of those very public recitals are being issued on CD, including searing 1940s performances from Carnegie Hall.

Folk music's Mike Seeger was an adventurer who wanted nothing more than to share his discoveries. He found overlooked musical treasures, polished them off a little and wondered at them. He sought out undiscovered or disappeared musicians in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina — including Dock Boggs. Seeger died Friday at 75.

In 1968, Van Morrison released what would become a seminal recording in the history of popular music: Astral Weeks. It is Van Morrison's most praised album — although it was almost shelved by his record label. This year, he's performing every song from the album in select cities, and host Guy Raz caught up with him during his stop in Washington, D.C.

The Fiery Furnaces' new album, I'm Going Away, features pared-down songs to reflect the darker national mood, the brother-sister duo says. For the listener, it's a transporting experience.

The Meat Puppets, a punk rock band led by brothers Cris and Curt Kirkwood, played with Nirvana on MTV Unplugged in 1994, and released the hit single "Backwater" the next year. Two years later, Cris plunged into a decade of heroin addiction, and the band fell apart. Now the Kirkwoods are back with Sewn Together, the band's second album since Cris' return.

Astatke is a well-born Ethiopian who fell in love with jazz in the early '60s and has been making music ever since. His most impressive effort, critic Robert Christgau says, is his latest album Inspiration Information, which he created in collaboration with the British experimental funk musicians in The Heliocentrics.