FRESH AIR
The singer, songwriter and producer T-Bone Burnett says his approach to making music is simple: “Just listen until it sounds right.” Burnett has been getting it right for a long time, and his latest project is the critically acclaimed film Crazy Heart, for which he wrote several songs for the main character — a broken-down musician played by Jeff Bridges. The film offered Burnett the chance to take audiences back to his Texas roots with a varied score. (Burnett’s collaborator was the late guitar-player and songwriter Stephen Bruton.) The movie recently picked up two Golden Globe nominations — one for Bridge’s performance and a second for Burnett’s hit theme song “The Weary Kind.” The accolade comes as just the latest in Burnett’s storied career. He’s toured with Bob Dylan and worked as a producer for renowned artists like Elvis Costello and B.B. King; he was founder of the indie label DMZ, and as a songwriter he’s earned several Oscar nominations. Fresh Air talks to Burnett about music, about Crazy Heart and about collaborating with Stephen Bruton.
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RADIO TIMES
Hour 1
According to journalism professor Jay Rosen, Sunday morning talk shows are broken. The guests are far too polarized and get away with distorting the truth. His fix — fact check them and hold them accountable. This hour we talk to NYU’s Jay Rosen, and Politifact’s Bill Adair about truth and accuracy in the news media.
Hour 2
JULIAN E. ZELIZER, Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University, joins Marty to discuss his new book, Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security, From World War II to the War on Terrorism, which looks at how American foreign policy has influenced domestic partisan politics over the last 70 years.