Music & Culture

"It sounds like a friend now instead of an enemy," John Prine says of his singing voice.

Music & Culture

'Talking About Heaven': John Prine Proves That Old Trees Grow Stronger

5:05am April 13, 2018

by Jewly Hight

The venerated songwriter discusses learning to love his voice and how years of scribbled lyrics on yellow legal pads became The Tree of Forgiveness, his first album of new material in over a decade.

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Alison Krauss & Union Station perform in 2005 on Mountain Stage

Music & Culture

Alison Krauss & Union Station On Mountain Stage

5:58pm April 12, 2018

Listen to this retrospective, in which the bluegrass legend performs cuts from Lonely Runs Both Ways with her iconic band during a 2005 appearance.

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami is an intimate and personal look at the Jamaican megastar, who became a New Wave icon in the eighties.

A Diva Deconstructed In 'Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami'

5:00pm April 12, 2018

by Scott Tobias

Sophie Fiennes' film about the legendary performer "achieve[s] a level of intimacy and candor ... that's uncommon for documentaries about figures who control their images this closely."

The members of La Mecánica Popular eloquently cross genres on their new album.

Music & Culture

La Mecánica Popular: Radical Afro-Latin Futurism

3:12pm April 12, 2018

by Catalina Maria Johnson

With hints of chicha and electrified Miles Davis, La Mecánica Popular makes the ancient sound like the future on their new album, Rosa Cruz.

Music & Culture

Singer-Songwriter John Prine Draws On His Roots With 'Tree Of Forgiveness'

2:01pm April 12, 2018

by Ken Tucker

Prine keeps his earthiness alive on his first album of new songs in 13 years. Critic Ken Tucker says The Tree of Forgiveness features simple folk arrangements and a jaunty tone.

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This week's episode of The Thistle & Shamrock features music by John Doyle.

Music & Culture

The Thistle & Shamrock: New Writing

1:51pm April 12, 2018

Brand-new music, including festival commissions and soundtracks, from artists including Gillian Frame, Michael Rooney and The Macalla Orchestra, John Doyle, John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick.

Clockwise from top left: Anthony Lucius; Cecilia + the Broken Hearts; Kelly Hoppenjans; Stone & Snow; Anju; Kerrin Connolly

Music & Culture

Watch This Week's Outstanding Entries From The Tiny Desk Contest

1:00pm April 12, 2018

Our judges are one week closer to picking this year's winner — in the meantime, check out the entries that stood out to us this week.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe onstage with her guitar in 1957.

Music & Culture

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Gets Her Day In The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

12:08pm April 12, 2018

by Bruce Warren

The late gospel singer and guitarist will get an overdue recognition for her crucial influence on early rock and roll, joining a class of inductees that includes Bon Jovi, Dire Straits and The Cars.

Music & Culture

World Cafe Nashville: Dom Flemons

11:38am April 12, 2018

by Ann Powers

Flemons' latest work, Black Cowboys, explodes the stereotypes that have dominated one of America's founding mythologies and opens up the frontier for all to claim.

Ashley Monroe's Sparrow is out April 20 on Warner Bros.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Ashley Monroe, 'Sparrow'

11:30am April 12, 2018

by Jewly Hight

Be prepared to be swept up by Monroe's subtle and breathtaking Sparrow, a record fluent in the communal languages of folk, country, gospel and pop.