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Jerry Lee Lewis was the first interview I ever did, back in college radio, 1969. I’ve talked to him a couple of times in the nearly fifty years since. It’s always memorable. In 1999, American Routes went to his Nesbitt, MS ranch near Memphis for the Killer’s 64th birthday celebration. The next afternoon, a just-awakened Jerry Lee kindly came to the back kitchen screen door in his robe and glasses, barefoot with Chihuahuas nipping at his heel.

This week Continuum features Rolf Lislevand, playing the Renaissance style of early music, Diminuito.

Lonnie Holley from Birmingham, Alabama is a self-taught artist and musician who uses everyday objects as sculpture that tells stories. Lonnie had a rough childhood, living with an abusive foster family who ran honky-tonk, where he was nicknamed “Tonky” McElroy. Lonnie tried to escape, hopping a train to New Orleans at nine. He was arrested at eleven and taken to the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, where Lonnie was made to pick one hundred pounds of cotton. His grandmother rescued him from the school and told him his name wasn’t Tonky McElroy but Lonnie Bradley Holley. For the last forty years, Holley has constructed artworks that have been seen at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, New York’s American Folk Art Museum, the High Museum in Atlanta, and the White House. After making home recordings for more than two decades on a keyboard Lonnie bought at a pawnshop, he released his first album at age sixty-two. His sound is experimental with lyrics improvised on the spot. Lonnie Holley explained how his artistic appreciation and ability stemmed from life at home with a large family.

Today on Louisiana Considered, we hear about a new plan to plant 100,000 trees in New Orleans by 2040. We also dig into the lawsuit issued by former juveniles in detention centers over their treatment. And, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, we encore a conversation with survivor Irving Roth.

Today on Louisiana Considered, we take a look at Martin Luther King’s time spent in Louisiana. We hear first-person accounts about the lessons he learned from the Baton Rouge Bus boycott and how he would apply similar frameworks to the boycott in Montgomery.

Today on Louisiana Considered, The New Orleans Opera follows the dream of a jazz icon with its debut of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird. And Italian Mezzo-Soprano Mattea Musso returns to the Marigny Opera House for a concert performance of the Salve Regina.

Today on Louisiana Considered, we learn how Mardi Gras is celebrated across the border in Alabama. Plus, we continue our book ban conversation with a look at Louisiana’s history of censorship. And, we hear a remembrance of the recently deceased New Orleans actor, producer and director, Luis Q. Barroso.

New Orleans chefs Susan Spicer and Frank Brigtsen are both culinary icons. They are also back-to-back recipients of the coveted Ella Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award, presented each year by the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. On this week's show, we sit down with both honorees – who each have culinary careers spanning over 40 years – to learn about their successes and the challenges they overcame to become the legends they are today.

On this week’s edition of Le Show Harry brings us News of Crypto-Winter, News of a Smart World, News of the Godly, News of Bees, News of the Atom, News of the Olympic Movement, The Apologies of the Week, plus music from the late David Crosby.

Today on Louisiana Considered, we get an inside look at the new National Treasure TV series that takes place and was filmed in Baton Rouge. Plus, NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with two Louisianans fighting for financial compensation after being exonerated for crimes they did not commit.