Music & Culture

"This moment is surreal," Lalin St. Juste says. "Because here it is, this song that I've written about her — and now it's taking on a life of its own."

Music & Culture

Musician Lalin St. Juste On Writing Through Grief

8:26am October 23, 2016

by NPR Staff

The singer and lyricist of The Seshen wrote the song "Distant Heart" about the loss of a friend. And while it comes from a place of loss, she says it carries her friend's joy and light, too.

Music & Culture

Monthly Song Project Gives The Raveonettes Freedom Of 'A Blank Slate'

8:26am October 23, 2016

Members of the Danish rock band, Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, say their unconvential launch strategy will result in an album that may be "totally schizophrenic, but in a really wonderful way."

Heavy Metal Parking Lot's concept is simple: a snapshot of eager fans tailgating outside a 1986 Judas Priest and Dokken concert in a Maryland suburb.

Music & Culture

30 Years Of 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot,' The Classic 'Cult Classic' Film

3:51pm October 22, 2016

by Tom Cole

Shot outside an arena in suburban Maryland hosting a Judas Priest and Dokken double bill, the short documentary captured something vital about its moment in music history.

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After Stroke, Country Music Star Randy Travis Returns To Stage With 'Amazing Grace'

8:25am October 22, 2016

After suffering a stroke three years ago, Randy Travis had to learn to walk and talk again. This week he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, where he stood onstage and sang.

"Whatever the dream was about — becoming famous or becoming a big pop group or whatever those things are when you're a kid — it all happened," Barry Gibb says.

Music & Culture

'I'm In Defiance Of Time': Barry Gibb On Music, Family And Loss

5:37am October 22, 2016

by NPR Staff

The last surviving Bee Gee has released his first album in more than 30 years. In The Now is colored by the loss of Gibb's mother and brothers, but he says it's also about "the idea of having fun."

Warpaint visits the World Cafe performance studio.

Music & Culture

Warpaint On World Cafe

5:49pm October 21, 2016

On its new album, the L.A. band's atmospheric grooves are more extroverted than ever before. Hear a powerful performance recorded live in the studio.

Leonard Cohen (left) and Adam Cohen speak at an event for the release of You Want It Darker.

Music & Culture

Leonard Cohen's 'You Want It Darker' Is A Family Affair

5:04pm October 21, 2016

by Talia Schlanger

The album, one of the 82-year-old's best, was produced by his son Adam, who joins World Cafe to discuss what it's like to work with a living legend who just happens to be your dad.

Music & Culture

Across the Blue Ridge #43 - Bruce Molsky on connecting traditions and looking ahead

5:00pm October 21, 2016

by Paul Brown

World-renowned fiddler Bruce Molsky is a performer, a teacher (at Berklee College of Music) and a student of styles and cultures. His travels have brought him into contact with fiddlers from

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My Chemical Romance released its defining album, The Black Parade, on Oct. 23, 2006.

Music & Culture

Join The Black Parade: My Chemical Romance And The Politics Of Taste

4:36pm October 21, 2016

by Daoud Tyler-Ameen

To toast an iconic album's 10th birthday, a conversation about listening while black — featuring Another Round host Tracy Clayton and writer/poet Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib.

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Music & Culture

Leonard Cohen On Poetry, Music And Why He Left The Zen Monastery

1:49pm October 21, 2016

Now 82, Cohen has a new album, You Want It Darker, with songs that wrestle with mortality, question God and long for transcendence. Originally broadcast May 22, 2006.

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