Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Across the Blue Ridge #137 - Two Youthful Bands Evoke Classic Sounds Of The Past With New Interpretations

5:03pm August 03, 2018

This week we enjoy a selection of powerful traditional old time, pre-bluegrass and bluegrass music. As we take a little tour of the evolution of bluegrass from old-time mountain music, gospel and

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Colin Kaepernick (left) kneels alongside teammate Eric Reid during the national anthem before a game in 2016. Kaepernick initiated a series of protests against police brutality that continue to roil the NFL.

EA Sports Says It 'Messed Up' By Scrubbing Colin Kaepernick From Game's Soundtrack

3:54pm August 03, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Madden NFL 19 plays a version of the song "Big Bank" that goes quiet for a moment as if censored. But the missing phrase isn't an obscenity: It's the name of the player who began a protest movement.

Music & Culture

Boz Scaggs On World Cafe

2:28pm August 03, 2018

by Talia Schlanger

Boz Scagg's new music traces back to an early love of the blues that he first fell in love with growing up in Texas and Oklahoma.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JUNE 22: H.E.R. performs onstage at the ASCAP 2017 Rhythm & Soul Music Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on June 22, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images for ASCAP)

Music & Culture

H.E.R. Prepares For Debut Album With 'I Used To Know Her: The Prelude' EP

2:01pm August 03, 2018

by Summer Holmes

The rising R&B singer peels back another layer of her artistry and shows an aptitude for rap and spoken word.

Singers and musicians from Fania Records including Celia Cruz (bottom, center), Ruben Blades (directly above Celia Cruz) and label co-originator, Johnny Pacheco (top row, fifth from left).

Music & Culture

Fania Records' Legacy Lives On With New Owners: 'It's The Culture'

12:26pm August 03, 2018

by Felix Contreras

The historic Latin record label has been sold to Concord Music. Sig Sigworth, president of Concord Music's Craft Recordings, talks about preserving Fania's legacy.

Magda Davitt — formally known as Sinead O'Connor — is working on a new album called No Mud No Lotus.

Music & Culture

Magda Davitt, Formally Known As Sinead O'Connor, Releases 'Milestones' Demo

11:24am August 03, 2018

by Lars Gotrich

Davitt says her new album, No Mud No Lotus "won't be out before October 2019."

Lone Bellow performing at the 2018 Newport Folk Festival.

Music & Culture

The Lone Bellow, Live in Concert: Newport Folk 2018

11:08am August 03, 2018

by Carmel Holt

The Nashville-by-way-of-Brooklyn band repeatedly took the Newport audience from joyful, foot-stomping singalongs, to a rapturous hush.

KCUR hosted a "Best of KC" concert that featured local Tiny Desk Contest entrants.

Music & Culture

More Tiny Desk Contest 'Deskoveries' From Across The Country

9:01am August 03, 2018

by Pilar Fitzgerald

All spring and summer, NPR Member stations hosted concerts featuring local favorites from the 2018 Tiny Desk Contest. We asked them to give us a recap.

Music & Culture

Rachel Z On Piano Jazz

8:02am August 03, 2018

On this 1999 episode of Piano Jazz, Rachel Z performs her original "Gently Sleeps the Pear Tree" and she and McPartland switch gears with "All the Things You Are."

Haley Heynderickx performs a Tiny Desk Concert on July 2, 2018 (Eric Lee/NPR).

Music & Culture

Haley Heynderickx: Tiny Desk Concert

6:53am August 03, 2018

by Bob Boilen

One of our favorite new artists of 2018 visits the Tiny Desk.