Regina Spektor On World Cafe
The Moscow-born singer turns back to her roots for her latest record, Remember Us To Life. Hear her tell the stories behind the songs and perform an old Russian lullaby.
Music & Culture
Songs We Love: Low, 'Some Hearts (At Christmas Time)'
With its buzzy loops, clean guitar lines and a soaring Mimi Parker vocal, the band's exquisite new holiday song feels, appropriately enough, like an actual gift.
Folk Alley's 10 Favorite Albums Of 2016
Folk Alley's Elena See and Linda Fahey share their takes on the best Americana, roots and folk records of the year.
The 84-Year-Old Grandmother Who Fronts D.C.'s Coolest House Band
For the past several years, a dive bar in the District has drawn crowds of eager millennials to see Granny and the Boys, a funk act led by Alice "Granny" Donahue.
Meet H.E.R., A Rising Voice Whose Face Remains A Mystery
Despite her anonymity, the R&B singer and songwriter has already made waves with her debut EP, H.E.R. Volume 1.
5 Essential Hip-Hop Albums You Slept On In 2016
Chance the Rapper and A Tribe Called Quest received deserved accolades, but there were many more rap records worthy of celebration this year.
'Bars Medley': Classic Literature Remixed Into Hip-Hop And Verse
Hamilton's Daveed Diggs and accomplished poet and performer Rafael Casal have taken scenes from classic literature and reworked them in contemporary style. "We haven't dumbed it down," Casal says.
Neil Diamond On Loving Christmas Music As A Jew
Diamond says that for him and other Jewish artists, Christmas music is a way to catch up on what they missed as kids.
Weekend LISTening: The Evolution Of Music In 1980
Recent World Cafe guests The Pretenders' debut album came out that year, along with more than a few other classic, influential records.
5 Essential R&B Albums You Slept On In 2016
While you were watching Frank Ocean build a staircase, NPR Music contributors Bobby Carter and Kiana Fitzgerald were listening to these records.