Programme Information

Bob Harris is joined by three-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams this evening.

Lucinda performed at the Americana Music awards in Nashville last September and joined Bob the day after the awards to record this session, previewing songs from her new album, Blessed.

Throughout her 30-year career, Lucinda has been a key figure in American roots music, embracing styles from folk and blues to country and rock. Her 1998 album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, gained Lucinda one of her Grammy awards and her songs have been covered by artists including Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmylou Harris.

During her conversation with Bob, Lucinda speaks about working with legendary producer Don Was and how her recent marriage has affected her writing. She also performs two live songs from her new album.

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Al Booth for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Jo Whiley presents a headline gig from Katie Melua, recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre on Friday 25 February.

Jo chats to Katie before the concert, which features some of her classic hits and tracks from her latest album, The House.

Listeners can also hear live music from British Sea Power, in this week's Support Slot, and Jo looks back at all the live music on Radio 2 over the week and has all the latest music news.

Presenter/Jo Whiley, Producer/Sarah Gaston for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Today's BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, presented by Penny Gore, features the Dutch recorder-player Erik Bosgraaf, who performs a selection of pieces from the 17th-century composer Jacob van Eyck's amazing collection, Der fluyten lusthof, alongside more contemporary works by Stravinsky and Louis Andriessen.

The programme also includes the world première of young Cheshire-born composer Matthew Bilyard's Impressions and the first performance of Jet, by Panayiotis Kokoras, which is for recorder and electronics.

Presenter/Penny Gore, Producer/Les Pratt

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Masankasankay are part of the thriving music scene in Congo's city of Kinshasa

Andy Kershaw and Lucy Duran continue to go in search of music from some of the world's remotest, as well as some more familiar, locations in Music Planet – a major series to accompany BBC One's Human Planet.

In tonight's final programme, Andy and Lucy focus on the music of cities.

Andy visits Congo and roams the streets of Kinshasa, where there is a thriving scene of young musicians who can't afford guitars and instead have made amplified thumb-pianos from old car parts.

Lucy, meanwhile, enjoys Dimanche a Bamako, the lively Sunday music scene of Mali's capital, and meets two musicians who are stars in Mali, but hardly known outside.

A prison is just about as far away from the natural world as it's possible to get. In South Africa, Andy visits the Central Correctional Facility in Pretoria to hear their world-class male choir.

Presenters/Andy Kershaw and Lucy Duran, Producers/Roger Short and James Parkin

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Andrew Hussey explains why so much of the artistic, cultural and intellectual grounding of the punk movement came from France.

The recorded histories of punk concentrate on two places – the USA and England. While much of the scene's most important activity took place there, one other key territory has been largely written out of the story – France. In this programme Andrew argues that, without the French, punk would simply have been pub rock with shorter hair.

Andrew explores how many of the ideas and much of the look of punk came from the French – for example, Malcolm McLaren and Tony Wilson were hugely influenced by the situationist movement, in particular, and deliberately and explicitly trawled it for images and lyrics that were to become iconic punk expressions.

Andrew proposes that not only did France influence the international scene but also contributed bands such as Stinky Toys, Marie Et Les Garçons and Starshooter – bands that often explored the potential of electronic music within the punk sound, an avenue seemingly unexplored by their US and UK equivalents.

Andrew also speaks with some of the key players in the French scene in the streets Le Punk Français took place, to bring this forgotten moment in Gallic culture vividly to life.

Presenter/Andrew Hussey, Producer/Geoff Bird for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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John Nettles, Clive Swift, Eleanor Bron and Rachel Atkins star in today's Afternoon Play offering, The Old Spies – a new play by Jonathan Holloway about three former spies in an old peoples' home.

They talk and remember their old missions and rage against the dying of their lights. They now have nowhere to go but hold on to the stories of their adventurous lives as they feel their own minds, memories and personalities shifting.

John Nettles stars as Derek, Clive Swift as Henry, Eleanor Bron as Doris and Rachel Atkins as Beryl and Harriet.

Producer/Tim Dee for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Marcus Brigstocke invites Kate Adie to try five things she's never done before, in this one-off edition of I've Never Seen Star Wars.

Kate has a reputation for fearless reporting from wars zones, riots and natural disasters – but, of all things, she has a mild fear of porridge.

In this programme, she manages to overcome her fear for the very first time and even has a small taste of the traditional breakfast food. She also tries some other things entirely new to her – yoga, the TV series The Sopranos, bingo and reading Swallows And Amazons.

Presenter/Marcus Brigstocke, Producer/Bill Dare for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Eleanor Oldroyd presents a comprehensive round-up of the day's sports news, in tonight's edition of 5 Live Sport.

Presenter/Eleanor Oldroyd

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard present a preview of the upcoming Formula 1 season.

Presenters/Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith investigates the adult entertainment industry and meets the men and women who make, watch and commentate on pornography – from the film-makers and actors, to feminists, philosophers, health professionals and politicians.

As she questions those involved, she is also forced to question her own opinions and experiences – does pornography damage the men and women who make it and watch it? And what should our responses be to the easy accessibility of porn on the internet?

Presenter/Jacqui Smith, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

BBC 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne

Lauren Laverne welcomes Guy Garvey and Pete Turner from Elbow, a band dear to the heart of BBC 6 Music, into the studio for a chat about their much-anticipated new album, Build A Rocket Boys!

Guy, who presents his Finest Hour show every Sunday night on 6 Music, accidentally revealed the name of the new album to Marc Riley at the end of last year, so Lauren may well encourage more revelations from him about what listeners can expect from the band in 2011 – especially with their first UK arena tour coming up.

Presenter/Lauren Laverne, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity