"Come on, baby, let me pay your rent": Songwriter Jack Logan wrote the year's most romantic verse.

From Mariah Carey to Run-D.M.C., the most critically acclaimed pop of the last 60 years was shaped by black rock

From "It Ain't the Meat" to "Let Me Play with Your Poodle," the sneakiest sex songs in the history of music

Mystic and record collector Harry Smith knew life was cruel, yet his folk "Anthology" promised a way to "see America changed by music."

Christina Ricci wows opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake in the exhilarating "Black Snake Moan." Plus: The film stubborn Bush supporters need to see.

The hardscrabble musician and his filthy mouth were our last link to raw, profane blues of the early 20th century

What the Boss' new box set and Dylan's "Basement Tapes" reveal about the (often murky) origins of rock legends

Sharps & Flats is a daily music review in Salon Magazine

Prince accomplished a staggering amount since his 1978 debut, embracing both the sacred and the profane

The author of "It Still Moves" discusses her road trip through America's musical past and future -- and why we still yearn for the music of yore.

Woody Guthrie's "Dust Bowl Ballads" drew the road map for Bob Dylan and Ramblin' Jack. A reissue recaptures the parched glory.

His voice belongs not solely to the chart-making pop star but also to another, secret singer, who sang in the margins when practically no one was listening.

The Irish singer-songwriter has identified himself with poets from Blake to Yeats, and like those "poetic champions," he has searched for the right words, the right feeling, as if for the Holy Grail.