Vince Gill And Paul Franklin Ain't 'Foolin' Around' With Bakersfield Sound
The country-music star and steel guitarist's new album features Merle Haggard and Buck Owens covers.
Music & Culture
Violinist Amanda Shires Picks Up The Pieces
Shires has had a rough year: First she was sidelined by a broken finger, then her 150-year-old violin was broken while she looked on. She discusses her recovery and her new album, Down Fell The Doves.
Samberg, Taccone And Schaffer: Three's Not A Lonely Island
As the brains behind the hip-hop parody group responsible for digital shorts like "D--- in a Box," Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer have produced some of the funniest Saturday Night Live material in recent memory. Here, they talk about comedy, Yo! MTV Raps and adolescence.
Songs Of Africa: Beautiful Music With A Violent History
Part of understanding African sacred music means thinking about its colonial context. It's the music of oppressed people combined with the music of their oppressors. For decades, Fred Onovwerosuoke has collected and arranged this music for choral groups.
On The Road To Rock Excess: Why The '60s Really Ended In 1973
In the new book What You Want Is in the Limo, author Michael Walker argues that a peak year in the careers of Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and The Who also marked a cultural shift — from the peace, love and understanding of 1960-era music to '70s rock decadence.
The High, Heavenly Voice Of David Daniels
Daniels is one of the world's most celebrated countertenors: male vocalists who sing in a range usually associated with women. Hear a sneak preview from the new opera Oscar, starring the famous countertenor as Oscar Wilde.
Shout Bands Stir Up Tubular Fervor In Charlotte
In the Bible, Psalm 150 tells the faithful to praise the Lord with trumpet, harp, tambourine, stringed instrument and cymbal. In the United House of Prayer for All People, it's all about the trombones. No one knows exactly how trombones ended up in church, but it's an intensely vocal sound.
The Wu-Tang Clan's 20-Year Plan
The group's 1993 debut was the opening shot of an audacious plan to open the music industry to hip-hop made way outside the mainstream.
The Ghostface Killah Rises Again
A high-concept collaborative album by a veteran rapper and a film composer knits together hip-hop and soul music.
'The Chronic' 20 Years Later: An Audio Document Of The L.A. Riots
Our series about rap's greatest year begins with the album that drew directly on cultural and social upheaval to make one of the most popular rap albums of all time.