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The tradition of rock stars singing about the bottom rung of the working-class ladder has been around as long as rock itself. But few did it with such heartbreaking empathy and iridescent beauty as Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane did on 1977's "Heart to Hang Onto."

Saxophonist and clarinetist Ned Rothenberg has always been a musical cosmopolitan. Early on, he studied jazz with George Coleman and shakuhachi flute in Japan. Rothenberg's new album, Inner Diaspora, sends him back to his roots.

Formerly half of the iconic country duo The Louvin Brothers, Louvin is the latest country war horse to see his career resurrected by well-meaning hipsters. Revisiting his gospel-influenced, early-'50s classic, "Great Atomic Age" neatly conjures up the twin menaces of nuclear angst and eternal damnation.

Love seldom comes easy in Macy Gray's ballads. Betrayal, abandonment and even physical violence often pepper her songs, as she offers vivid accounts of love affairs that sometimes seem too real for comfort. On "Strange Behavior," she dives into a lurid melodrama.

For some musicians good song writing is elementary. For others it's elementary school. A CD called Kid Pan Alley collects tunes created in classrooms around the country and recorded by top Nashville artists, including Amy Grant.

The Serious Monkee had chops as a songwriter, as well as an unusual sound: a glossy merger of country and rock that took what The Byrds had been doing a step closer to pop. Magnetic South foreshadows the country-rock of The Eagles, whose debut arrived two years later.

LCD Soundsystem's new album, called Sound of Silver, broadens the project's sound to make singer-writer-producer James Murphy's rhythms even more accessible.

Beach House's sleepy "Saltwater" never feels weary or tiresome. Instead, it floats along in a wispy haze of skittering drumbeats that rise and fall like heartbeats. As Victoria Legrand sings, "Love you all the time / even though you're not mine," her voice sounds powerful and stripped bare.

Singer-songwriter James McMurtry visits NPR's studios to play from his 12-string guitar and discuss politics, family and his latest album Childish Things.

Author Dinaw Mengestu is among a generation of Ethiopian Americans whose families fled the East African nation in the 1970s and '80s. Now their writing, music and art are adding a new chapter to the epic of American immigration.