First Listen: Sturgill Simpson, 'A Sailor's Guide To Earth'
For Simpson's first album since his 2014 breakthrough, the inventive country singer crafts a highly personal song cycle about order and insubordination.
Music & Culture
First Listen: Graham Nash, 'This Path Tonight'
This record is the sound of a rock 'n' roll legend facing his place on the planet head-on, and doing his best to figure it all out as he goes along.
First Listen: Santana, 'Santana IV'
The reunion of Carlos Santana's mid-'70s-era band captures the musicians' intense chemistry, while still updating the massively influential sound they created.
First Listen: Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop, 'Love Letter For Fire'
With the help of producer Tucker Martine and a smart, subtle band, Hoop and Beam achieve a fine balance — of songwriting sensibilities and of time in the spotlight.
Remembering A Country Legend: Merle Haggard On World Cafe
The "Okie from Muskogee" talks life, music and songwriting in this 2003 interview. Haggard died Wednesday morning.
Judge Dismisses Kesha's Hate-Crime Claims Against Producer Dr. Luke
The pop star said the producer sexually and emotionally abused her. In addition to the hate-crime claim, the judge also dismissed the human rights claim brought by Kesha.
Dig Through Label Founder Josh Rosenthal's 'Record Store Of The Mind'
The head of reissue label Tompkins Square discusses his new memoir, which tracks a lifetime of music discovery.
Country Legend Merle Haggard Dies At 79
Outlaw, "Okie from Muskogee," poet of working-class values and a fixture in country music for 50 years, Merle Haggard died Wednesday, April 6, his 79th birthday.
Sunflower Bean On World Cafe
The psychedelic rock trio from Brooklyn lays down new songs in the studio.
Robbie Fulks Sings His Way Home In 'Upland Stories'
The raucous singer turns thoughtful on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls Upland Stories a "marvelous mongrel mixture" of bluegrass banjo-picking, honky-tonk pedal steel and stark folk phrasings.