Music & Culture

Lizzo's latest EP is called Coconut Oil.

Music & Culture

Marching Flute And Fantasy Fiction: The Education Of Lizzo

8:44am December 04, 2016

by NPR Staff

The Minneapolis singer and rapper spent her early life deep in the Pentecostal church — and shut away from secular music. When she moved to Houston, Texas, everything changed.

Music & Culture

Heavy Rotation: 10 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing

5:52am December 04, 2016

A panel of public-radio DJs recommends music for the end of your 2016 — including songs from Third Root, Regina Spektor and Sylvan Esso.

Music & Culture

The Birth Of 'Nueva Trova Cubana' And Other Music Styles In Castro's Cuba

5:05pm December 03, 2016

Various music styles, from singer-songwriters to dance music to hip-hop, emerged over the many years of Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba.

Music & Culture

'O Emmanuel' Composer Mixes In Jazz To Provide 'Respite' Within Traditional Hit

9:14am December 03, 2016

Composer J.J. Wright combines sacred music with jazz for a project based on texts and melodies of Advent. NPR's Scott Simon speaks to him from Rome where he now interns with the Sistine Chapel Choir.

"I speak about the mindsets of these characters," composer Kaija Saariaho says. "What does it mean that we love somebody? And do we really love another person, or do we love our idea of love?"

Music & Culture

'Half Of Humanity Has Something To Say': Composer Kaija Saariaho On Her Met Debut

8:41am December 03, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

Saariaho isn't the first woman composer to stage an opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera — just the first in more than a century. Her opera, L'Amour de Loin, has its New York premiere this week.

Hear songs from The Rolling Stones' Blue & Lonesome and these other albums in this playlist.

Music & Culture

Weekend LISTening: The Rolling Stones' Blues Covers, Before And After

8:00am December 03, 2016

by Bruce Warren

Compare the songs on the Stones' new covers album, Blue & Lonesome, to the original recordings.

Music & Culture

Across the Blue Ridge #49 - Curly Seckler, dean of bluegrass harmony singing

7:35pm December 02, 2016

by Paul Brown

This week we examine the career of bluegrass singer Curly Seckler, who turns 97 on Christmas Day 2016. A new biography is out by Penny Parsons, titled Foggy Mountain Troubadour: The Life

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Music & Culture

Pinegrove: Tiny Desk Concert

4:32pm December 02, 2016

by Bob Boilen

There's a confessional quality to the songs of Pinegrove that feels reassuring. Watch the New Jersey band squeeze four songs into a scrappy, warmhearted 13-minute set.

Toots Thielemans onstage at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands in 2005.

Music & Culture

As 2016 Winds Down, Remembering The Jazz Giants We Lost

4:12pm December 02, 2016

by NPR Staff

Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride honors Bobby Hutcherson, Toots Thielemens and Victor Bailey, three prominent jazz musicians who passed away this year.

Chris Tomson in a scene from his music video for Death Wish.

Music & Culture

First Watch: Dams Of The West, 'Tell The Truth'

1:27pm December 02, 2016

by Anna Marketti

The Vampire Weekend drummer has a new solo project called Dams of the West. "Tell The Truth" is the second single off Youngish American, due out early next year.