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Fresh Air Weekend: Musician Meshell Ndegeocello; Actor Betty Gilpin

"I was really struck by how much I look like myself," Betty Gilpin says of her role as a public defender on The Lowdown. "It was very emotional for me in a really exciting way."
Kurt Iswarienko
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FX
"I was really struck by how much I look like myself," Betty Gilpin says of her role as a public defender on The Lowdown. "It was very emotional for me in a really exciting way."

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from the past, as well as new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and it often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Meshell Ndegeocello reflects on her musical influences: "I'm the child of many": Often called the mother of neo-soul, Ndegeocello doesn't see herself that way. On her new album Synonym, she's turning familiar songs inside out, from the Human League to Bob Dylan.

Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life turns 50 — and gets a refresh: To mark the anniversary of his seminal album, Wonder released a four-song EP of previously unheard performances. These half-century-old songs evoke a zealous emotion all too rarely heard these days.

Betty Gilpin seeks out "anti-algorithm" projects, like The Lowdown and Widow's Bay: "There's an understandable pull in my industry to make things ... super safe, super familiar," Gilpin says. She wants to go the other way. Gilpin currently stars in the noir drama The Lowdown.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.