Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Making The Label Matter: A Record Company's Return From Obscurity

8:07pm July 31, 2014

by Christopher Werth

Harvest Records used to be known for having a strong link to the progressive rock sound of 1970s London. After laying dormant for years, the label is back, and looking for a new identity.

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Music & Culture

Dom Flemons Holds On To Those Old-Time Roots

11:39am July 31, 2014

Prospect Hill is Flemons' first album since leaving the band Carolina Chocolate Drops. By coincidence, the multi-instrumentalist recorded the album the day Pete Seeger died.

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When "Cowboy" Jack Clement died in August 2013, he'd just completed what would be his final album, For Once and for All.

Music & Culture

A Fond Farewell From An Old Memphis Maverick

7:31pm July 29, 2014

by Meredith Ochs

"Cowboy" Jack Clement produced and wrote songs for the likes of Johnny Cash and George Jones. On his final album, the late visionary reclaims some of those tunes and makes them his own.

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Music & Culture

Jenny Lewis' 'The Voyager' Is An Album To Spend Time With

3:30pm July 28, 2014

by Ken Tucker

Jenny Lewis achieved musical fame as part of the indie band Rilo Kiley, which broke up in 2011. Her third solo album announces a new chapter in her career — and perhaps her life.

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"I never wanted to be your weekend lover": Prince and his Purple Rain costar Appolonia Kotero.

Music & Culture

'Purple Rain' Taught Me How To Be In A Band

4:16pm July 26, 2014

by Eric Deggans

For Eric Deggans, Prince's movie wasn't just a spectacle. Sitting in a theater packed with kids his age, he saw Purple Rain as "a validation of the musical world I was already seeking out."

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Music & Culture

Bobby Patterson's 'Got More Soul,' Heart And Spirit

1:32pm July 26, 2014

Soul singer Bobby Patterson got his start in the 1960s, and he's still singing. At 70 he's put out a new album, "I Got More Soul." NPR's Scott Simon talks to Patterson about the album.

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Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye, whose first single, "Girl In A Country Song," takes aim at one-dimensional representations of women in country music.

Music & Culture

Teenage Songwriters Take On 'Bro-Country'

11:17am July 25, 2014

by NPR Staff

In their first single, the young country singers Maddie & Tae make a splash by speaking up for the women in country songs who are expected to look good in the back of a pickup truck, nothing more.

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Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb has warned union workers of a lockout if a contract deal isn't settled by July 31.

Music & Culture

Labor Conflict May Lock Out Met Opera Workers

6:22pm July 24, 2014

by Jeff Lunden

If no contract deal is reached by July 31, Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb has warned union workers to plan for a work stoppage the next day.

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Jorge Drexler's new album, Bailar en la Cueva, ventures into new territory for him: dance rhythms.

Music & Culture

Finding The Anthropology In Latin Dance Music

10:36pm July 23, 2014

by Betto Arcos

The Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler, a former doctor, is known as a literate and introspective musician. But then he wondered how his brainy musings would translate to music for the body.

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Music & Culture

Jenny Lewis Stands Out With 'Voyager'

10:56am July 23, 2014

by Bob Boilen

All Songs Considered features "The Voyager," the new album from Jenny Lewis, a singer known for complicated, emotional lyrics and vivid storytelling. It's part of NPR Music's "First Listen" series.

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