Nicki Bluhm needed space and time, and Nashville offered both. The leader of Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers had built a rich musical world and a fan following that spanned far beyond her California base. Unfortunately, that world and that band were inextricably entwined with the man she was divorcing after a ten-year marriage and musical partnership. She even still carries his name. But with more than five years in her new home and two distinguished solo albums to her credit, the metamorphosis of Nicki Bluhm feels complete.

There haven’t been more than a handful of repeat guests on The String in these six years, but with Mary Gauthier it’s a no-brainer. She’s one of the most interesting figures in Nashville - a philosopher of song and a gifted teacher and speaker. A 2021 memoir allowed her to lay her remarkable story out end to end, mingling memoir with songwriting insights and laying bare her vulnerabilities and struggles. A new album ruminates on new love and the loss of friends with radical empathy.

Like a carrot dangling from the end of a stick in those old cartoons, Friday beckons us through the week and keeps us hopping forward. And there’s no carrot more tasty than Americana music, performed by sincere and excellent artists. This week’s root vegetable medley features progressive bluegrass from We Banjo 3 and vulnerable neo-country music from Jessica Willis Fisher.

This week's episode of Finally Friday from Home features We Banjo 3 playing songs from their latest release, Open the Road, and Jessica Willis Fisher, who will be playing song's from her 2022 release, Brand New Day.

Nashville's Mabilene and Oklahoma's The Damn Quails share songs from their respective new albums on Finally Friday from Home.

Recorded in New Orleans, Sara Syms explores the sounds of the Crescent City through themes of survival, love and hope on her new album, The Darkest Light, out today.

CNN's new chief Chris Licht told Stelter the show would be canceled after more than three decades on air. It comes amid a great deal of cost cutting - and ideological criticism during the Trump years.

Governments are watching lucrative alcohol tax revenues dry up, as people drink less. In Japan, a plan to counter that trend is running into controversy.

At least 29 people have fallen ill from the E. coli outbreak in Michigan and Ohio, and that number is likely an undercount, the CDC says. The source of the outbreak has not been found yet.