Music Features

"I was told by the world I wasn't allowed to write classic country, even though I'd written so much of it and I loved doing it," Mya Byrne says of her new album, Rhinestone Tomboy, which melds her punk sensibility with polished songwriting

How Mya Byrne paved her long, winding road to country music with grit and sparkle

1:30pm May 01, 2023

by Jewly Hight

Mya Byrne loved country music since her childhood in New Jersey. But it took years of searching and traveling to lead to the place where she could make her new album, Rhinestone Tomboy.

Benjamin Matthews, one of the founders of Opera Ebony.

Opera Ebony broke boundaries in classical music for 50 years — but what comes next?

5:36pm April 29, 2023

by Brandon Gates

Opera Ebony was formed when opportunities for Black singers were few and far between. The company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, but may not survive its 81-year-old founder.

From the outside, The Source in the 1990s was the gold standard in hip-hop. But from the inside, Kim Osorio discovered it was something more grimy: an entrenched boys' club that normalized sexism.

Music & Culture

'Is this what it had to be?'

9:54am April 27, 2023

In 2005, Kim Osorio sued The Source for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work environment, retaliation, defamation. Responses to the case reinforced hip-hop's culture of silence.

Writer Neil Gaiman (center) makes music with FourPlay (L-R: Peter Hollo, Shenton Gregory aka Shenzo Gregorio, Lara Goodridge and Tim Hollo)

Writer Neil Gaiman debuts his first music album with an Australian string quartet

6:27am April 27, 2023

by Olivia Hampton

British writer and comic book author Neil Gaiman launches first studio music album with Australia's FourPlay String Quartet.

Queue Listen Now

The "digital portrait" of Ludwig van Beethoven that appears in the new Apple Classical streaming app.

Apple Music Classical aims to reach music lovers the streaming revolution left behind

9:18am April 24, 2023

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

Apple recently launched a standalone streaming service for classical music exploration, including guided playlists, exclusive content and detailed metadata. Does Apple Music Classical deliver?

Queue Listen Now

While rooted in Chicago's jazz community, the past few years have found Natural Information Society opening for indie stalwarts like Yo La Tengo, Kurt Vile and Big Thief.

Music & Culture

Natural Information Society celebrates its idiosyncrasies, warts and all

3:01pm April 17, 2023

by Andy Beta

The urge to build a community of sound, first found on the streets of Philly playing with The Roots, still drives bandleader Joshua Abrams. Since Time is Gravity deepens the jazz band's own roots.

National

The Lullaby Project helps incarcerated mothers connect with their kids through music

5:38pm April 16, 2023

NPR speaks with Claire Bryant, Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Music, and "Ashley," a woman who is currently incarcerated and creating lullabies for her children.

Gianandrea Noseda talks with Marissa Regni about the loaned instruments.

Music & Culture

A music director goes public with a secret stash of private instruments

11:19am April 14, 2023

by Olivia Hampton

National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Gianandrea Noseda is reshaping the ensemble's sound with the help of 17th and 18th century instruments he purchased secretly.

Queue Listen Now

Rappers Danny Brown (left) and JPEGMAFIA embrace their abrasive sides on Scaring the Hoes, a joyously chaotic collaboration glued together by JPEG's collage-like production.

Music & Culture

JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown are here to blow up your function

5:01am April 14, 2023

by Sheldon Pearce

The joyously chaotic rap team-up Scaring the Hoes is less Watch the Throne and more Wedding Crashers: a pair of motormouthed eccentrics running wild trick plays and daring you to stick around.

Atlanta rapper Latto belongs to a lineage of women inspired by Miami icon Trina, whose sexually explicit bars have both challenged gendered double standards and shown their staying power.

Music & Culture

'When I changed as a woman, my music changed'

9:57am April 06, 2023

Like her idol Trina two decades earlier, Latto saw her creativity open up when she started rapping explicitly about sex. But with her frankness came harsh new standards to live up to.