Music Features

Two members of Tennessee State University's Aristocrat of Bands — Marro Briggs, left, and Curtis Olawumi.

How to fit a top-tier HBCU marching band and the gospel tradition onto one album

2:49pm September 27, 2022

by Jewly Hight

The massive sound of The Aristocrat of Bands, a highly respected HBCU marching band, and the overflowing history of gospel combine on a single album (with a great title) — 'The Urban Hymnal.'

In his queer reworking of sertanejo, Gabeu flips the image of the macho cowboy on its head.

Music & Culture

Challenging traditional sertanejo, Brazil's Gabeu creates space for queer love songs

6:01am September 26, 2022

by Carolina Abbott Galvão

Part of a new scene called 'queernejo,' the Latin Grammy-nominated Gabeu is reworking the conservative, macho stylings of sertanejo.

Pianist Sean Mason, one of five young jazz artists included in Jazz Night's inaugural class of Youngbloods.

Music & Culture

Youngbloods: Pianist Sean Mason

4:29pm September 22, 2022

Jazz Night in America talks to pianist and composer Sean Mason about his musical journey from North Carolina to New York, and how the South never really left his music.

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The Oakland artist Spellling is one of countless musicians this year to have tours disrupted by a band member catching COVID-19, with costly and draining consequences.

Musicians are back on the road, but every day is a gamble

10:37am September 19, 2022

by Nastia Voynovskaya

For bands on tour, one positive COVID test can spell disaster. With audiences increasingly unmasked and institutional support drying up, safety is left mostly to the artists themselves.

Each track on Rina Sawayama's Hold The Girl is extremely, outlandishly major, proceeding at an exhausting intensity.

Music & Culture

On 'Hold the Girl,' Rina Sawayama's stadium sound obscures her signature appeal

5:51pm September 16, 2022

by Laura Snapes

The pop singer has superstar ambition and a knack for clever genre collisions. But while her new album sometimes matches intensity with innovation, it more often grinds her nuanced story to a paste.

Music & Culture

Devon Gilfillian's 'Brown Sugar Queen' is 'a tribute to Black and Brown women'

10:56am September 16, 2022

by Bruce Warren

"I wanted it to feel nostalgic and new at the same time, to combine sexy nostalgia with new grooves," Devon Gilfillian says of his new song, "Brown Sugar Queen." It more than succeeds on both counts.

Over the years, Gaby Moreno has shared the stage with a wide array of artists, including Tracy Chapman, Calexico and Punch Brothers.

Gaby Moreno is making music on her terms

5:21pm September 15, 2022

by Betto Arcos

The L.A.-based artist will embark on a big tour of Europe. She'll be doing 28 shows in six weeks, covering 11 countries, including Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Ireland.

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With his 11th album, The Man From Waco, Charley Crockett is reaching his broadest audience yet by doing the same thing he's always done — telling his own idiosyncratic story of America and its music.

Music & Culture

The Man From Everywhere

3:30pm September 15, 2022

by Natalie Weiner

Charley Crockett's story sounds larger than life, but the singer — who just released his 11th album in seven years — says, "Everything I ever said I am is true and then some."

Music & Culture

Youngbloods: Saxophonist Sarah Hanahan

12:49pm September 15, 2022

Meet Sarah Hanahan, a rising star on alto saxophone

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Composer Julia Wolfe's latest work, Her Story, receives its world premiere in Nashville on Sept. 15, 2022.

Music & Culture

Big risks and adventurous friends: How composer Julia Wolfe became a renegade

6:00am September 15, 2022

by Tom Huizenga

The Pulitzer-winning, MacArthur "genius" co-founder of Bang on a Can looks for the grit in music, whether she's writing a string quartet or one of her history-based oratorios.