Music & Culture

Lana Del Rey. Her latest release, Norman F****** Rockwell, is on our shortlist for the best new albums out on Aug. 30.

Music & Culture

New Music Friday: Our Top 7 Albums Out Aug. 30

10:40am August 30, 2019

Our shortlist for the week's best new albums includes Lana Del Rey's odyssey-length adventure Norman F****** Rockwell, Sheryl Crow's final album, Threads, new Black Belt Eagle Scout and more.

Marian Anderson's story reveals a longstanding legacy of black women amplifying black women's perspectives through the politics of concert performance.

Music & Culture

Lift Every Voice: Marian Anderson, Florence B. Price And The Sound Of Black Sisterhood

10:01am August 30, 2019

by Alisha Lola Jones

The famous contralto made a practice of amplifying black artists, especially black women artists, as seen through her collaborations with composer Florence B. Price.

Hey majesty Missy Elliot returned with Iconology in August.

Music & Culture

NPR Music's Top 16 Songs Of August

8:46am August 30, 2019

Missy Elliott reminded us just how vital and future-seeking she continues to be, Normani offered a late-summer dominator and Big Thief got raw.

Music & Culture

'Santana' At 50

7:20am August 30, 2019

by Felix Contreras

Santana's debut album was released on this day 50 years ago. NPR's Felix Contreras considers it a game-changing moment in the marriage of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and rock 'n' roll.

Queue Listen Now

The-Dream plays a Tiny Desk Concert on April 12, 2019 (Laura Beltrán Villamizar/NPR).

Music & Culture

The-Dream: Tiny Desk Concert

5:00am August 30, 2019

by Rodney Carmichael

The singer and mega-hit songwriter showcases three of his own tracks, including "I Luv Your Girl" and two songs from Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3.

Dan Tepfer plays a Tiny Desk concert on July 30, 2019 (Olivia Falcigno/NPR).

Music & Culture

Dan Tepfer: Tiny Desk Concert

5:00pm August 29, 2019

by Colin Marshall

The pianist and programmer has transformed the acoustic piano into his duet partner.

Marian Anderson is known more for two events than for the talents that made them possible. But there is more to be told, and so she asks us to listen again for who and what we know her to be.

Music & Culture

Listening For Marian Anderson In The Past And Present

2:31pm August 29, 2019

by Shana L. Redmond

Anderson was an early inspiration for scholar Shana Redmond, who explores the places she still feels the diva's presence: an inscrutable photo, a scrap of silent film, a concert borne on her legacy.

Music & Culture

The Thistle & Shamrock: Mícheál Ó Domhnaill

9:00am August 29, 2019

We remember one of Ireland's most influential artists with the music he recorded and produced over three decades.

World Cafe Host Talia Schlanger (left) with Nile Rodgers. (right)

Music & Culture

Nile Rodgers On Writing Smash Hits And Reworking David Bowie's 'Let's Dance'

9:00am August 29, 2019

Hear a very rare demo of the first time David Bowie ever sang the title track to his 15th studio album after Rodgers rearranged it.

An undated portrait of America contralto Marian Anderson at her home.

Music & Culture

Marian Anderson: The Most Modest Trailblazer

4:44pm August 28, 2019

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The Black contralto put European art music and African-American spirituals in parity — and in her art, paved the way for generations of singers after her, both inside and outside classical music.