Almost a decade ago, Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards gave up music and opened a cafe called Quitters Coffee. She returns now with Total Freedom, her first album in eight years.
Microphones in 2020 is a single 45-minute track written to "unburden myself from the weight of all this memory," says Phil Elverum, "even though I also think it has so much value."
The Dirty Projectors jettisoned the traditional album format this year for a series of five EPs. Each one features one of the band members as lead vocalist and they all come together on the fifth.
Host Ari Shapiro talks with Linda Diaz, the winner of this year's NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest. Her entry, "Green Tea Ice Cream" is a dreamy R&B song anchored by her skilled and soulful voice.
Composer Max Richter's new album drew inspiration from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt which he calls "a blueprint for a better world."
Singer Richard Butler talks about the power of '80s nostalgia, the state of rock and roll today and the freedom of making the band's new record, Made of Rain, on its own terms.
Ross, who died July 21, was a member of the jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. She wrote "Twisted," which was recorded by both Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler. Originally broadcast in 1990.
Swift's eighth studio album came as a surprise. In the isolation of the past months, she's cooked up a yeasty kind of sugar-free pop that rises above much recent music-making.
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with guitarist Charlotte Caffey and drummer Gina Schock of The Go-Go's about the new documentary that charts the band's rise to global stardom.
The artist Mike Hadreas talks about his experience performing in a dance project with Kate Wallich, how that influenced his latest record and perform songs from Set My Heart On Fire Immediately.
Author and music critic Maria Sherman talks about her new book, Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands from NKOTB to BTS and forgoingrock elitism to give into the joy of boy band pop songs.
The Kentucky singer-songwriter's debut album is a rocking country album called Old Time Feeling,and she talks about connecting with My Morning Jacket's Jim James to help co-produce the record.
Women rarely received credit for their creative work in Colonial America. But with a new album, one scholar is reviving the works of the women who lived and composed at the Ephrata Cloister.
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Rina Sawayama about her self-titled debut album, everyday racism against Asian women and going from a Cambridge student to a rising pop star.
Even before the age of social-distancing, composer and conductor Eric Whitacre had been leading an online chorus for a decade. Choir members say the connection they foster is more important than ever.
In the finale of the first season of Play It Forward, Ari Shapiro speaks to dubstep pioneer Mala about minimalism, freedom and an artist he was inspired by, the late Augustus Pablo.
The artist-producer behind albums from Dawes and Father John Misty and who's partly credited with revitalizing the Laurel Canyon music scene decided to pick up and head to Nashville for his new album.
The country artist talks to NPR's Ailsa Chang about how following her muse to make the hard-rocking That's How Rumors Get Started is a lesson to herself and her kids on following their dreams.
Folk singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright returned to LA, where he made his 1998 debut, to make his new record. He says the title comes from the idea of reexamining the world to make your own decisions.
Host Christian McBride and trumpeter/composer Wynton Marsalis reflect on Marsalis' studio recordings that address injustices and speak about the role music plays in speaking truth to power.
