Accessibility links
Music News Current music news, artist interviews, album reviews, and music industry news from NPR Music.

Music News

'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Shines A Light On August Wilson's Vision

August Wilson at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Co., 2004. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc hide caption

toggle caption
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc

Arts & Life

'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Shines A Light On August Wilson's Vision

The late August Wilson's first Broadway hit, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," has been adapted for the screen, starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in his final film role.

'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Shines A Light On August Wilson's Vision

Listen · 5:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/947649431/947918317" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Beethoven's Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment

A portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, painted in 1804 by W.J. Mähler. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

toggle caption
Wikimedia Commons

Deceptive Cadence

Beethoven's Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment

Growing up in a progressive city, Ludwig van Beethoven embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement that shook Europe and helped shape the composer's music.

Beethoven's Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment

Listen · 7:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/945428466/947440121" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Making Revolution Irresistible

Noname. Dale Edwin Murray for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Dale Edwin Murray for NPR

Louder Than A Riot

Making Revolution Irresistible

Yo Gotti grew up in Memphis just across the state line from Mississippi State Penitentiary (aka Parchman) — so this year, when he learned about the squalor its inmates were living in, he wanted to help. Gotti enlisted Jay-Z and Roc Nation to sue the department of corrections for human rights violations. In our finale episode, we ask how much celebrity activism really helps the prison reform movement, and sit down with rapper Noname and organizer Mariame Kaba to consider the alternate solutions proposed by prison abolition.

Listen.

Listen · 1:08:02
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/947147392/947342270" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In New Orleans, Music Education Programs Cautiously Fall Back In Step

Students rehearse outdoors at The Roots of Music. The education nonprofit has kept its marching band going throughout the pandemic and resumed in-person rehearsal over the summer. Phoebe Jones hide caption

toggle caption
Phoebe Jones

In New Orleans, Music Education Programs Cautiously Fall Back In Step

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio

After months of silence, music programs are attempting to resume limited in-person rehearsals at NOLA public schools, where the stakes go far beyond what kids do with their after-school time.

In New Orleans, Music Education Programs Cautiously Fall Back In Step

Listen · 4:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/946679228/947261217" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In Pandemic, The Most Wonderful Time For Christmas Songs Turned Out To Be ... In July

A toy reindeer is shown on a white background. Radio stations, looking to boost ratings and provide comfort in a pandemic-marred year, started playing songs as early as July. And listeners loved it. mattjeacock/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
mattjeacock/Getty Images

Business

In Pandemic, The Most Wonderful Time For Christmas Songs Turned Out To Be ... In July

Stations have been playing Christmas music earlier than ever this year, as a way of luring in listeners during the pandemic. One Indiana station was doing it in July.

In Pandemic, The Most Wonderful Time For Christmas Songs Turned Out To Be ... In July

Audio will be available later today.
50 Years Later, 'Feliz Navidad' Still Delivers On Its Bilingual Message

José Feliciano's bilingual Christmas song, "Feliz Navidad," celebrates 50 years. TK hide caption

toggle caption
TK

Editors' Picks

50 Years Later, 'Feliz Navidad' Still Delivers On Its Bilingual Message

Puerto Rican singer José Feliciano first came up with the Spanish/English Christmas song because he missed his family. Now, 50 years later, he's recorded a new version with 30 friends.

50 Years Later, 'Feliz Navidad' Still Delivers On Its Bilingual Message

Listen · 5:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/945401085/946189641" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Charley Pride, Country Music's First Major Black Star, Dies At 86

Country music legend Charley Pride died on Saturday at age 86 from complications of COVID-19. Pride, who gave his final performance last month at the CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn., was the first Black performer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for CMA hide caption

toggle caption
Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for CMA

The Coronavirus Crisis

Charley Pride, Country Music's First Major Black Star, Dies At 86

Pride died Saturday from complications of COVID-19 in Dallas. The baritone-voiced singer was the first Black man inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Composer John Luther Adams On The Arctic Sounds That Shaped His Work

Composer John Luther Adams wrote his memoir, Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska, based on the decades he spent living and working in the Arctic. Pete Woodhead/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Pete Woodhead/Courtesy of the artist

Deceptive Cadence

Composer John Luther Adams On The Arctic Sounds That Shaped His Work

The Pulitzer winner has released his first memoir, Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska. It's a personal account of Adams' formative decades making art in the Artic.

Composer John Luther Adams On The Arctic Sounds That Shaped His Work

Listen · 5:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/943825736/944903699" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Captured By The Game: Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle. Dale Edwin Murray for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Dale Edwin Murray for NPR

Louder Than A Riot

Captured By The Game: Nipsey Hussle

After LA rapper Nipsey Hussle was murdered in 2019, city officials praised him for his community advocacy. But NPR has learned that behind the scenes, some law enforcement officers branded Nipsey as a gang member, and that label meant another man from Nipsey's neighborhood would be sent to jail — just for interacting with him. So why did California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation lie to us about it? And what does that say about the impact of law enforcement categorizing thousands of Black and brown men as potential criminals?

Listen.

Listen · 1:05:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/944595600/945121456" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
4 Teams Head Into Finals Of Collegiate A Cappella Championship

The Harvard Opportunes is one of the four groups to advance to the final stages of UpStaged National Collegiate Performing Arts A Cappella Championship. Dylan Zhou /Twins Talent Casting hide caption

toggle caption
Dylan Zhou /Twins Talent Casting

4 Teams Head Into Finals Of Collegiate A Cappella Championship

Described as Pitch Perfect meets March Madness, the competition received performance videos from hundreds of groups. Groups can win cash prizes for charities.

4 Teams Head Into Finals Of Collegiate A Cappella Championship

Listen · 3:48
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/944528472/944528473" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
NPR Music's Listening Party For The Top 5 Songs Of 2020

From left to right: Megan Thee Stallion, Bad Bunny, Mickey Guyton, Christine and the Queens, Cardi B. Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artists

All Songs Considered

NPR Music's Listening Party For The Top 5 Songs Of 2020

NPR Music critics and contributors take us from Bad Bunny's dizzying opus "Safaera" to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's gloriously raunchy "WAP."

NPR Music's Listening Party For The Top 5 Songs Of 2020

Listen · 40:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/943197765/945394463" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Bob Dylan Sells Songwriting Catalog In 9-Figure Deal

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 1965, when he was at the epicenter of the counterculture. Evening Standard/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Evening Standard/Getty Images

Bob Dylan Sells Songwriting Catalog In 9-Figure Deal

Universal Music Publishing Group announced Monday that it had bought the lucrative publishing rights to over 600 Bob Dylan songs. The deal is worth a reported $300 million.

Bob Dylan Sells Songwriting Catalog In 9-Figure Deal

Listen · 3:48
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/943818966/944007654" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'Tripping With Nils Frahm': 4 Sweaty Berlin Nights Captured Onscreen

Four nights onstage in Berlin in 2018 are the subject of Nils Frahm's new concert film and soundtrack album, Tripping With Nils Frahm. Thomas Lallier/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Thomas Lallier/Courtesy of the artist

'Tripping With Nils Frahm': 4 Sweaty Berlin Nights Captured Onscreen

The new concert film, shot in 2018, shows one of the stars of the electronic and indie classical worlds in his element: a homebrewed nest of traditional and modern instruments working together.

'Tripping With Nils Frahm': 4 Sweaty Berlin Nights Captured Onscreen

Listen · 5:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/943264212/943264213" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'Song Of The Avatars' Resurrects Guitarist Robbie Basho's Lost Recordings

Robbie Basho helped pioneer the American Primitive style of guitar playing. Now his personal recordings — long thought lost — are being released for the first time. Jeff Dooley/Tompkins Square Records hide caption

toggle caption
Jeff Dooley/Tompkins Square Records

Editors' Picks

'Song Of The Avatars' Resurrects Guitarist Robbie Basho's Lost Recordings

Basho helped invent the playing style known as American primitive, but his music was nearly forgotten after his death. Then a few years ago, a trove of never-before-heard recordings suddenly surfaced.

'Song Of The Avatars' Resurrects Guitarist Robbie Basho's Lost Recordings

Listen · 5:26
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/940190972/942777547" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer

Billie Holiday performs in New York City in 1947. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer

The film continues writer Linda Kuehl's unfinished investigation into Holiday's life through never-before-heard interviews with jazz luminaries, and explores her experiences with institutional racism.

New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer

Listen · 3:48
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/940104383/941941462" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'Prison To Prison Pipeline': Isis Tha Saviour

Isis Tha Saviour. Dale Edwin Murray for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Dale Edwin Murray for NPR

Louder Than A Riot

'Prison To Prison Pipeline': Isis Tha Saviour

Hip-hop loves a hero's come-up, but the culture often has a hard time seeing women as heroes. Two years ago, when Louder Than A Riot editor Chiquita Paschal discovered she had a sister — who rapped — she quickly saw how that double standard can take shape. Chiquita's sister is Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, aka Philly rapper Isis Tha Saviour. In this episode, Chiquita takes us on Mary's hero's journey — from her time as a ward of the state to finding her voice in rap. And together, they delve into incarceration's ripple effects on families like theirs, and how hip-hop can help transform trauma into freedom.

Listen.

Listen · 1:04:32
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/941319607/941825846" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Jazz Standard, One Of New York's Top Clubs, Closes Due To Pandemic

The quartet James Farm (pianist Aaron Parks, saxophonist Joshua Redman, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Eric Harland), playing at New York City's Jazz Standard in 2011. Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images

The Coronavirus Crisis

Jazz Standard, One Of New York's Top Clubs, Closes Due To Pandemic

It is the first major jazz club in New York City to shut its doors permanently due to the coronavirus crisis. Its owners announced the club's closing on Wednesday, after more than two decades.

Browse archive or search npr.org