Music

The Amazons performing live at Omeara in London, recorded live for World Cafe.

Music & Culture

The Amazons Embodies The Classic Spirit Of Rock and Roll

1:15pm August 30, 2019

The members of this Reading, Berkshire four-piece have gone from sneaking CDs into the bags of unsuspecting customers while working their day jobs to headlining tours across Europe.

"It's almost a dying art form in that people cherry-pick songs and put them on playlists and so, I don't know that the listening audience really ever gets the sense of the full artistic statement," Sheryl Crow says.

Music & Culture

Sheryl Crow Says 'Threads' Is Her Last Album. And She's OK With That

10:56am August 30, 2019

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Sheryl Crow about her latest album, Threads, and why this will probably be her last.

Queue Listen Now

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.