Legendary keyboardist Benmont Tench will release his new solo album, The Melancholy Season, on March 7. It's his first solo album in a decade. This week he's at Cafe Carlyle through Saturday. Tench stops by to play some music live from our studio.

*This segment is guest-hosted by David Furst.

[REBROADCAST FROM Feb. 3, 2025] National Book Award-winning author Imani Perry previews our February Get Lit with All Of It book club event. We are spending the month reading her latest, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People. It's an exploration of the relationship between Black Americans and the color blue, from the indigo dye trade to R&B. Perry will join us for a book club event on February 26. Grab tickets here!

Called "gritty, glittering and exuberant" by the Boston Globe, the new novel, Dream State, tells the story of love and family over a 50 year period. We speak to author Eric Puchner.

In her new exhibition, Allison Janae Hamilton draws on her upbringing in the rural American South to explore environmental justice, folklore, and mythology through immersive sculptures, photography, and video. She joins us to discuss her show, Celestine, which is on display at Marianne Boesky Gallery through March 8.

Bartees Strange embraces fear on his new album, Horror. He joins us for a Listening Party, before a show at Rough Trade on February 21.

[REBROADCAST FROM Jan. 21, 2025] The Pulitzer Prize-winning play "English" is now on Broadway. The story follows a group of people practicing for their English proficiency exam. Playwright Sanaz Toossi discusses the show alongside actor Marjan Neshat and Tala Ashe, who star in the comedy. "English" is running at the Todd Haimes Theater through March 2.

Recently, the National Endowment of the Arts announced it is eliminating fundraising programs that support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and underserved communities. New York Times theater reporter Michael Paulson discusses his reporting around the news and what it means for local arts organizations, as well as a recent unionization push in off-Broadway theaters. Plus, he previews the spring Broadway season and takes your calls.