>EVERYTHING BUT OPERA
TELEVISION OFFERS A SUPERABUN-dance of musical styles this week. On Wednesday, May 5, PBS has a triple-header (check local listings). A Beatles Songbook brings together motley talents (Dr. John, Kathy Mattea, Los Lobos and more) to perform Fab Four faves. It's followed by Let the Good Times Roll, a celebration of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, garnished with spicy performances by Buckwheat Zydeco, the Indigo Girls and many others. Then PBS's new jazz series, Club Date, kicks off with sublime saxophonist Frank Morgan in concert. That same night over on MTV, Rod Stewart makes his now obligatory appearance on Unplugged (10 p.m. FT). One highlight is Rod's irresistibly moving version of Tom Waits's "Tom Traubert's Blues." On Thursday, May 6 (8 p.m. FT), CBS presents The Women of Country, during which young bloods such as Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin-Carpenter and Suzy Bogguss pay musical tribute to foremothers including Kitty Wells and Patsy Montana. Finally, on Sunday, May 9 (10 p.m. ET), Fox delivers Aretha Franklin: Duets, in which Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Smokey Robinson, Gloria Estefan and Rod Stewart join the Queen of Soul onstage in various permutations to sing classics like "Chain of Fools."
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