Music Features

Live on YouTube, Bob Boilen and Bobby Carter will watch their favorites entries to the 2020 Contest and discuss what made them stand out from the thousands we saw this year.

The intersections of country music and LGBTQIA+ communities can sometimes come across as solitary acts of bravery. But the state of queer country is better measured by its full time residents.

In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. NPR Music intern Emma Bowers has been quilting.

Music has always been a vital part of protest and social justice. We asked our young Black listeners: Is there one song that's helping you address your feelings right now?

In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. NPR Music assistant editor Cyrena Touros has been re-reading a beloved book.

In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. NPR Music audience strategist Lyndsey McKenna recommends running.

To give you a sense of what our team saw in the thousands of Contest entries this year, we're counting down the 2020 Contest by the numbers. Plus, we have a supercut video of the Contest community.

In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Margaret Glaspy has been teaching music lessons.

"I did Nashville the Nashville way for so long ... with very little results," Guyton tells NPR. "So why am I holding out just in case?"

As demonstrations for racial equality continue across the U.S. and the world, artists have been shaping and sharing their grief, fury, resolve and vision for the future.