Norman was one of the leading African American opera figures in a time when there were fewer than now. The soprano won four Grammys and the National Medal of Arts.Read More
The creators of a new musical work called “Nuclear Dreams” highlight the dreams and nightmares of people who work and live near Hanford in Washington’s Tri-Cities. Read More
In his second visit to the Tiny Desk, Josh Ritter had America on his mind. "We all have to fight against this notion that we're not all human beings."Read More
Recorded after a traumatic period in the singer's life, Gloria Gaynor's disco hit quickly found its true audience: LGBT communities, survivors of domestic violence and others pushed aside by society.Read More
The battle between management and musicians, which reached a low point with a June lockout by management, ended Monday with the ratification of a new one-year contract.Read More
As a true diva, Cruz was of her time and capable of transcending it. Her voice carried lessons in presence and stamina, and her enduring legacy has created a space for feminist interventions in salsa.Read More
Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires talk about the formation of their new all-female supergroup, a gutsy move within a male-dominated genre.Read More
In his latest compendium of American culture, filmmaker Ken Burns, along with writer Dayton Duncan, explores the history of “Country Music” in a new 16-hour documentary. Burns said that story-songs are a phenomenon that can be traced back centuries, to long, multi-verse ballads that were handed down from generation to generation.Read More
In 1954, after several draining decades as a jazz composer, performer and mentor, Mary Lou Williams quit. When she returned, she claimed her true power as one of jazz's fiercest advocates.Read More
Ella Fitzgerald's musical genius and influence is still being felt today. Latinx musicians Mabiland and Daymé Arocena explain how Fitzgerald inspires their music. Read More
Watch a young cellist on the rise, offering music of virtuosity, sweet lyricism and a little fire from his Persian roots.Read More
The early recording – and a remixed version of the song – are being shared ahead of a 50th anniversary edition of the band's penultimate studio album, Abbey Road.Read More
The reasons for the sudden end of Dan Maher's "Inland Folk" are murky, and have led to speculation and questions among fans and associates.Read More
Hold music is camouflaged sound — it needs to obviously exist, while also barely doing so. Small wonder, then, that its biggest "hit" does none of that.Read More
In the 1970s, Fitzgerald became the face (and glass-shattering voice) of Memorex tapes. It fueled a career revival that extended her relevance and positioned her to pass the torch to a new generation.Read More
On her new album, Fire in My Mouth, the Pulitzer-winning composer documents the tragedy behind New York City's 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.Read More
The Black contralto put European art music and African-American spirituals in parity — and in her art, paved the way for generations of singers after her, both inside and outside classical music.Read More
After first shooting to fame in the 1970s, Tucker is back with her first full-length studio album in more than a decade called While I'm Livin'.Read More
A trio of critics discuss the mercurial pianist's personal take on Beethoven and Rachmaninoff and what it means to color outside the lines in classical music.Read More
Coltrane recorded the album in New Jersey, at the admiring behest of a Québécois filmmaker named Gilles Groulx, who used it to score his docufictional film Le chat dans le sac.Read More
Augustin Hadelich dazzles in an album of odd bedfellows, which pairs Johannes Brahms' romantic war horse with György Ligeti's modernist stunner. Read More
Isata Kanneh-Mason, one of seven siblings in a British family bursting with promising music careers, showcases the long-overlooked music of Clara Schumann on her debut.Read More
Bessie Smith's songs are tales of liberated women who are not afraid to speak openly about what they want, what they need and what they are tired of. Read More
On the 50th anniversary of the band's landmark album Green River, we dig into how the band formulated its singular sound, its legacy and how Creedence's music still resonates today.Read More
These women made some of the most significant music of the past century. They originated genres, broke political boundaries, nurtured generations of followers and in most cases, became icons.Read More
American Anthem: In U2’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,’ A Restless Search For Meaning
Inspired by gospel, the standout from U2's American experiment, The Joshua Tree, has become a rock 'n' roll hymn, even finding its way into real-life church services.Read More
In December of 1968, some of the biggest names in rock and roll came together to film The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus. The film was recently given a 4K restoration.Read More
In the wake of Napster's downfall, but before the iTunes Store began to legitimize digital music, Audiogalaxy emerged from the darkness to (illegally) fill the void.Read More
Twenty five years after he scored the original The Lion King, which won an Oscar, Hans Zimmer returns to Pride Rock to revisit the classic musical themes for a re-imagined tale.Read More
A recent Pop Culture Happy Hour trip to New York took the team to see Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. A jester in a rat pack? We saw it.Read More
The pioneering South African singer, songwriter and activist died Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer.Read More
Dolly Parton's classic singalong aims a catchy beat at a serious point, listing the ways the daily grind exploits and exhausts people — some more than others.Read More
Don and Marianna Matteson visited the NWPB studios to dedicate the Don and Marianna Matteson Digital Music Library on July 2. You may have heard it announced on air, or […]Read More
The Brazilian singer and guitarist, who won wide acclaim for his abundant technical skill and minimalist style, was behind one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, 1964's Getz/Gilberto.Read More
The official anthem of the capital city, "En Mi Viejo San Juan" also serves as a nostalgic lament, evoking memories of the island for the many forced to leave it behind.Read More
A prolific force in Americana, beloved and emulated by Nashville royalty, the couple is back with its first album together in a decade — guided, as always, by a powerful but adaptable partnership.Read More
The PBS NewsHour recently spoke to Erika Ryann, who is based in Larskpur, Colorado, while on a solo tour. She has been performing and writing for the last 15 years, currently plays both solo and in five other bands, and is releasing her first solo album this coming winter.Read More
NPR's Sarah McCammon speaks with Adrian Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd and Regina Strayhorn, members of the band Bandits on the Run and stand-out entrants in this year's Tiny Desk Contest.Read More
Rider University had planned to sell Westminster Choir College to the China-based Kaiwen Education, but now says it will only move Westminster out of its valuable property in Princeton, N.J.Read More
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with legendary South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim about his latest album, The Balance.Read More
Ever since a 17-year-old Lesley Gore sang it in 1963, the coolly mutinous song has moved women to reject passive femininity. Its writers, though, say there are layers of resistance in its words.Read More
Music historian James Karst explains his recent research into the early life of the legendary Louis Armstrong.Read More
The bestselling 1970s book The Secret Life of Plants has been effectively debunked — but that hasn't stopped Stevie Wonder, Solange and scores of ambient musicians from chasing its leafy muse.Read More
Springsteen's new album connects to a stream of pop balladry that emerged in tandem with Hollywood's turn in the late 1960s toward hippie antiheroes and modern masculinity's fatalistic drift.Read More
Seattle's music scene has produced a diverse and talented crop of up-and-coming musicians, each of whom makes bold contributions to this vibrant city.Read More
Los Angeles-based jazz vocalist Judy Wexler recently released her fifth album, Crowded Heart. Why, in the age of streaming, did she choose to release it solely as a CD?Read More
Relying on a wealth of research and documents, Casey Rae deftly maps out how one of America's most controversial literary figures transformed the lives of many notable rock musicians.Read More
Compared with monkeys, humans have a brain that is extremely sensitive to a sound's pitch. And that may reflect our exposure to speech and music.Read More
Musicals get Tony Awards. Scores get Tony Awards. Orchestrators get Tony Awards. But this year, a number of Broadway musicians are stepping out of the pit and onto the stage.Read More
Over a career stretching back to the 1950s, Malcom John Rebennack came to be a living symbol of the city of New Orleans and its bottomless musical character.Read More
