Fresh Air

The Oscar-nominated animated film 'Soul' imagines a place where souls are matched with unique passions. It follows Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher and aspiring jazz musician, who nearly dies right after securing the gig of his life. Filmmakers Pete Docter and Kemp Powers say their movie is meant to challenge conventional notions of success and failure.

There are 45,000 laws, policies and administrative sanctions in the U.S. that target people with criminal records...

Riz Ahmed plays a drummer who loses his hearing in 'Sound of Metal.' To prepare for the role, he immersed himself in deaf culture — an experience that changed the way he thought about communication and listening. The film earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Also, we listen back to our 2019 interview with actor Kathryn Hahn. She's known for her roles in 'Parks & Rec,' 'Mrs. Fletcher,' and 'I Love Dick.' Now she's co-starring in 'WandaVision' as a nosey and mysterious neighbor...

Elizabeth Neumann resigned from the Department of Homeland Security in April of 2020. She says the Trump administration ignored the threat — and fanned the flames — of violent domestic extremism. She's now co-director of the Republican Accountability Project, which pushes back on conspiracy theories and false claims that the election was stolen and is trying to hold accountable elected leaders who have supported those narratives.

John Powers reviews the Danish film 'Another Round.'

There are 45,000 laws, policies and administrative sanctions in the U.S. that target people with criminal records. University of Chicago sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller researches how they affect people's lives in 'Halfway Home.' "I want us to think about all these traps that we've created, we've produced, and I want us to unmake them," Miller says.

The Oscar-nominated animated film imagines a place where souls are matched with unique passions. It follows Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher and aspiring jazz musician, who nearly dies right after securing the gig of his life. Pete Docter and Kemp Powers say their movie is meant to challenge conventional notions of success and failure. We talk about lost souls, appreciating the small things, and early versions of the film...

The former first lady is often remembered as a genteel Southerner who promoted highway beautification, but author Julia Sweig says archival records show Lady Bird was a savvy political strategist and key advisor to her husband, President Lyndon Johnson. Lady Bird was a supporter of women's rights, and a sponsor of ambitious programs to protect the environment and address urban poverty and blight. Sweig's book is 'Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight...

Deborah Feldman's memoir, 'Unorthodox,' about leaving the Satmar Hasidic community in Brooklyn, inspired the Netflix series of the same name. Growing up, she wasn't supposed to pursue an education or career, and, at 17, she entered into an arranged marriage with a man she'd barely met. Her departure from the community earned the scorn of Satmar leaders and forced a break with family members she'd known all her life...

The country music star's 50th studio album, 'Still Woman Enough,' is out now. Lynn spoke with Terry Gross in 2010 about her memoir, 'Coal Miner's Daughter.'

Also, Justin Chang reviews 'The Father,' starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. And Lloyd Schwartz reviews a PBS special about Black contralto singer Marian Anderson.

'New Yorker' writer Jane Mayer talks about the criminal investigation into whether Donald Trump engaged in tax, banking and/or insurance fraud. If convicted, he could be sentenced to prison. "The thing that's most complicated about this case and makes it really hard is that in order for this to be a criminal act, they have to prove that there was criminal intent — that Trump intended to break the law and knew what the law was," Mayer says.

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist's new book, 'Klara and the Sun,' is set in the future and has an artificially intelligent narrator. "I wanted some of that childlike freshness and openness and naivety to survive all the way through the text in her," he says. We talk about his writing process, hitchhiking in the '60s, and his family history in Nagasaki.

Ken Tucker reviews Julien Baker's third studio album, 'Little Oblivions.'