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Public radio's favorite cowboy poet, philosopher and former large-animal veterinarian lost his father at an early age. But Black has a vivid memory of being regaled by a certain song about a young cowboy at bedtime.

Backspacer is Pearl Jam's first studio album since the musicians became free agents, finally fulfilling a seven-album contract with Sony. That process took 15 years. The band is now on its own, striking distribution deals with major corporations, a turnaround for the once very anti-corporate band.

He has been making music for 50 years now. He played with bluegrass great Ralph Stanley when he was still in his teens, went on to have a streak of country hits and then went back to bluegrass. Now he's returned to the songs he learned from his father when he was a young boy in eastern Kentucky.

NPR Music's Song of the Day features a new track every weekday, with analysis of the music, links to each artist's Web sites and, of course, a chance to hear the song itself. Here, Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson talks about recent selections by Malcolm Middleton, Japandroids and My Morning Jacket's Jim James.

Supergroups have a long tradition in popular music. Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson once joined forces as The Highwaymen. There were the Fania All-Stars, The Four Tenors and Audioslave. Now Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, Jim James and M. Ward, calling themselves Monsters of Folk, have released their debut album.

All summer long, we've been hearing personal stories inspired by songs of summertime from musicians, writers and listeners. The series comes to an auspicious end with submissions from two listeners, who offer memories of music overheard: The Four Seasons' "Sherry" and The Four Preps' "Big Man."

What differentiated the Ramblers from the commercial folk groups was their interest in the music's origins. They were tireless chroniclers and ambassadors of vernacular music, the blues, bluegrass and Cajun music of rural America. Hear the entire first disc of the band's new 50th anniversary, three-CD compilation.

When Heap composes a song, you never know what she might decide is an instrument. For Ellipse, she used every piece of her elliptical-shaped house as a sound. Her fans followed along online as she wrote the album.

The 4-year-old black cat with green eyes escaped her cage on June 24. She eluded airport and airline personnel, animal experts and safe-release traps until Wednesday.

From the late 1940s to the mid-'60s, Latin music was hugely popular in America's Jewish community. Entire albums were recorded as testaments to the phenomenon. One of them, which put Jewish classics to a Latin beat, has just been reissued. This weekend, it will be re-created in concert at Lincoln Center in New York.