Fresh Air Weekend: Comic W. Kamau Bell; Musician Frank Newsome

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

Comic W. Kamau Bell On The 'Shades Of America' And Not Feeling 'Black Enough: Bell's new Netflix special is called Private School Negro. He says the word "negro" offends some people, but he has embraced it: "It takes me right back to the height of the civil rights movement."

'Lost Album' Offers A Fresh Look At Peak Coltrane: A new album revives the lost tracks of a studio session Coltrane recorded with his quartet in 1963. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album is solid — but not revelatory.

Black Lung Disease Can't Keep Frank Newsome From Singing Hymns: Newsome, a former coal miner who has black lung disease, started singing when he joined a church in 1963. His sings a cappella in a lined-out hymn style — one of America's oldest music traditions.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

Comic W. Kamau Bell On The 'Shades Of America' And Not Feeling 'Black Enough

Black Lung Disease Can't Keep Frank Newsome From Singing Hymns

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