Music & Culture

The U.S. leg of Weezer's Hella Mega tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy has yet to be canceled due to the coronavirus, leaving fans who purchased tickets in limbo when it comes to refunds.

Music & Culture

Why Ticket Holders Are Struggling To Get Refunds For Concerts And Live Events

5:06pm April 24, 2020

by Andrew Limbong

Entertainment companies Live Nation and AEG have modified their refund policies for postponed events. Getting money back would depend on whether a concert or a game has a firm rescheduled date.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Remembering Trailblazing Jazz Saxophonist Lee Konitz

2:32pm April 24, 2020

by Kevin Whitehead

Konitz, who died April 15, had one of the longest careers in jazz. He was an intuitive soloist, with a mercurial tone, a quick mind and lifelong commitment to improvisation.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Fogerty's Factory - John Fogerty + Family: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

1:57pm April 24, 2020

by Bob Boilen

John Fogerty plays three Creedence Clearwater Revival classics with some help from his family for his Tiny Desk home concert.

Ansel, age 11, plays Fortnite featuring Travis Scott's in-game event, "Astronomical," on April 23, 2020 in South Pasadena, Calif.

Music & Culture

Travis Scott's Fortnite Event Draws Record Audience

12:28pm April 24, 2020

by Jason Slotkin

More than 12 million players of the wildly-popular online game logged on for the rapper's "Astronomical" performance.

Lucinda Williams sees her new album Good Souls Better Angels as part of a long line of political country music. "Go back and listen to Woody Guthrie. It is my job, as far as I'm concerned," she says.

Music & Culture

'I Get Angry, Too': Lucinda Williams On Her Politically Charged New Album

12:10pm April 24, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to Americana artist Lucinda Williams about her new album Good Souls Better Angels and the spirit of protest that she says has "always been in my blood."

Queue Listen Now

Lucinda Williams's iconic fifth album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, defined Americana, but it's just one peak in a career that stretches 20 years forward and back in time from that moment.

Music & Culture

Lucinda Williams: A Guide To Her Best Songs

12:05pm April 24, 2020

by Ann Powers

Williams's new album, Good Souls Better Angels, is another remarkable entry in a catalog that has, across more than a dozen albums, shaped Americana. Here's a map of her career's many high points.

Music & Culture

Fred The Godson, New York Hip-Hop Fixture, Dead At 35 From COVID-19 Complications

10:47am April 24, 2020

by Jon Lewis

The Bronx-based rapper made the XXL freshman class of 2011 on the strength of his 2010 mixtape, Armageddon. Fred had been hospitalized earlier this month with the coronavirus.

To pass the time during the pandemic, Billy Porter has been reading, writing and working on music.

Music & Culture

Hear A New Song From Billy Porter, Plus His Quarantine Recommendations

10:00am April 24, 2020

by Billy Porter

In Our Daily Breather, we ask artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Actor and singer Billy Porter has been reading, writing and working on music.

The Rolling Stones. From left: Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts.

The Rolling Stones Finished A New Single While Safely Distanced From Each Other

2:55pm April 23, 2020

by Lars Gotrich

"It's sort of eerie when suddenly it's coming to life," Keith Richards said of "Living In a Ghost Town," which they wrote in one world and completed in another.

David Roode and his wife, a concert pianist, have done some recording while on lockdown in Cincinnati. And they've tapped into savings they typically rely on during the slower summer months.

A Trombonist Wonders When An Audience Will Gather To Hear Music

2:06pm April 23, 2020

by Scott Horsley

David Roode's musical career went abruptly on hold when stay-at-home orders took effect. He predicts that when the crisis passes, people will want to enjoy the experience of attending concerts again.