Stan Ridgway

By Liane Hansen

Published September 19, 2004 at 12:00 AM EDT

Host Liane Hansen speaks with Stan Ridgway, the iconoclastic singer/songwriter and former frontman for the early 80's new wave band Wall of Voodoo. Devotees of his two-decade solo career have described his songs as "four minute pulp novels" full of vivid characters from the American southwest. His new cd, "Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads & Fugitive Songs" is on his redFLY Records and available through his website, stanridgway.com. (12:10)

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Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.