Music Interviews

Today, you can pretend it's 2001: John Mayer visits the World Cafe just after the release of his debut album Room For Squares, which sold over 4 million copies and won him his first Grammy award.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Tracee Ellis Ross about starring in The High Note, a movie about an over-40 superstar singer navigating the music industry with her assistant, who has her own music dreams.

Growing up in Aledo, Ill., the singer-songwriter longed to live somewhere "more romantic." Then she moved away: "Now, when I go back, I see the beauty in it," she says. Originally broadcast in 2017.

Mikel Jollett shares how 'Hollywood Park,' his book and album of the same name, came to be.

Professional songwriting sessions in Nashville can often have the appearance of a lively social call. What happens when that work has to go virtual?

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Steve Earle about his new album Ghosts of West Virginia. Much of the music was written for a play about a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 coal miners.

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to the singer-songwriter about stepping out from under her family's shadow, the end of the universe and the influence of her grandfather's gospel music on her songs.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to Jeremy Earl about his band Woods and its new album, Strange to Explain, which he wrote in the months following the birth of his daughter.

A songwriter beloved by songwriters, Jurado just released a new album called What's New, Tomboy? on May 1. Holed up at home in Washington state, he's furiously writing three more.

The first woman composer to win an Oscar for best original score is releasing her first album of music not written for a film or stage production.

The leader of The War on Drugs, Adam Granduciel, talks from his LA home about how the band perfected performing together, even though they were recording from places all across the country.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to the experimental musician about his new genre-defying, double album grae, his decision to move from Los Angeles to Asheville, N.C. and not shaving down the edges of himself.