Music & Culture

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Stray, Joni Mitchell, and more.

A family of Afghan musicians in the U.S. wants to raise awareness about their plight.

For decades, Rosanne Cash has soared through the ranks of music with her powerhouse poetic skills and wistful reflections on her past. This hour we explore Rosanne's life and legacy through her music.

The new album pulls from '70s disco, '80s synth-pop, '90s house and afro-beats. In other words, it makes you want to dance. This is only the first act — there will be two more sister records.

More than six years after the lauded visual album Lemonade, Beyoncé returns, evolves and responds to a very different world.

Underground musician Sam Mehran died four years ago, but his music continues to be published. His entire found body of work now lives online.

Each player in this trio addresses the beat in a spontaneous way, without constant chaos. A casual romp like this session makes for breezy listening.

The folk-punk unit performs hopeful, shout-alongable songs about seeking freedom in the face of tyranny, exhaustion and everyday nonsense.

Filled with pop mosaics, Surrender feels like a quintessentially summer album. Naturally, we asked Maggie Rogers for a roséwave playlist.

You can see the singer's animated story come to life in the 22-page book Female Force: Stevie Nicks. Rumors are she's being reimagined in her signature witchy style and long blond hair.

Cousins struggle with debts and may have to sell property long held by their family in a work created by former poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith and composer Gregory Spears.

The beloved Boston indie-rock band has remastered Alam No Hris for a 10-year anniversary reissue. "Solitaire," a fan favorite, is song about malaise feel nearly anthemic.