Terry Gross

Emmy Award-winning musician Geoff Muldaur has collaborated with artists from Jerry Garcia to Bonnie Raitt. His latest album with his band the Texas Sheiks draws on his jazz and blues background. He shares more from his past -- as well as a few tunes -- in the Fresh Air studio.

The British are crazy for actor and comedian Russell Brand, but he's not content to stop with his compatriots. With a comic triumph as a bad-boy rocker in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and a startlingly frank memoir called My Booky Wook, Brand is shooting for Stateside stardom.

This interview was first broadcast on April 6, 2009.

Actress Jane Lynch has spent 2009 animating Glee's ruthless cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester. But Lynch began building her career well-before she started stealing scenes on Fox. In this memorable interview from earlier in the year, Lynch opens up about her life on- and off-screen.

This interview was originally broadcast November 4, 2009.

Woody Allen may have played his share of mousy intellectuals in his films, but he says that growing up, he was always "picked first for the team." On the occasion of his 40th movie, Whatever Works, Allen joins Terry Gross to talk about his inspiration and life behind the lens.

This interview was first broadcast on June 15, 2009.

The star of NBC's 30 Rock talks to Terry Gross about his tough childhood, how he made the grade in the comedy college that was Saturday Night Live, and why even though he may cry a little on the radio, "the funny bus is still sitting downstairs." (Rebroadcast from Oct. 22, 2009)

Take one part spaghetti Western and one part war film, and mix them together in a project helmed by acclaimed, eccentric filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. What do you get? Inglourious Basterds, one of the most unique films of the year. Tarantino talks about style and narrative — in both his personal life and his films — in this interview from Aug. 27, 2009.

When Cash was 18, her father (you know him as Johnny) gave her a list of 100 essential country songs to help the budding singer-songwriter understand the music that came before her. After holding on to it for decades, Rosanne Cash has turned that gift into an album. This interview first aired on Oct. 5, 2009.

What does it mean to be Good Without God? Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, asks this question in his new book, which explores the faith of the nonreligious. It may sound like a contradiction, but Epstein believes that human ethics are independent of belief in a supernatural power.

Bob Hunter, a member of the secretive religious group The Family, responds to a November Fresh Air interview about the group's role in both U.S. and Ugandan politics. Hunter is credited as the liaison between the Family and leaders of the current Ugandan administration, which has proposed a brutal anti-gay law.

Even before he had a band, Jon Bon Jovi delivered demos with the confidence of a superstar. He joins Terry Gross for a conversation about his new album, The Circle, and a companion book and movie.