Music & Culture

A still from Karl Blau's "That's How I Got To Memphis" video.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: Karl Blau, 'That's How I Got To Memphis'

9:42am June 20, 2016

by Bruce Warren

The Washington singer-songwriter reworks a Tom T. Hall classic with warmth and respect. In the video, Blau picks up hitchhikers here and there, until he becomes one himself.

The Avett Brothers' new album, True Sadness, comes out June 24.

Music & Culture

First Listen: The Avett Brothers, 'True Sadness'

9:37am June 20, 2016

by Stephen Thompson

The band's sound has changed markedly over the years, but its songs remain rooted in a search for self-improvement, and in a kind of fundamental decency.

Lucius performs vibrant pop music live at the 9:30 Club.

Music & Culture

Watch Lucius, Live In Concert

11:36pm June 19, 2016

Watch Lucius bring its vibrant pop spectacle to the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Music & Culture

Elizabeth Cook Says 'Exodus Of Venus' Is 'An Album Of Extremes'

5:24pm June 19, 2016

Country singer Elizabeth Cook's new album Exodus of Venus took six years to make, after deaths in the family, divorce, rehab and a whirlwind romance. All that turmoil is reflected in her new songs.

Mitski's latest album is called Puberty 2.

Music & Culture

Mitski On 'Puberty 2' And The Nature Of Happiness

10:20am June 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

On her latest album, one of the most talked-about young artists in rock ponders just what kind of happiness is worth chasing. She speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin.

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"Collaboration is one of the finest gifts of artistry," k.d. lang (center) says. Together, she, Neko Case (left) and Laura Veirs (right) are case/lang/veirs.

Music & Culture

Neko Case, k.d. lang And Laura Veirs On The Art Of Working Together

7:59am June 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

For the three singers, collaborating on the new album case/lang/veirs brought surprises, slip-ups and, finally, satisfaction.

We asked eleven writers to share the songs that helped them make the dance floor home.

Music & Culture

I Was Born On The Dance Floor: A Playlist For Pulse

10:57am June 18, 2016

by Ann Powers

The mourning process reminds those who love to dance together that to gather on a dance floor is to open one's arms to life. We asked 11 writers to share the club song that changed their lives.

Music & Culture

Luke Bell Returns To Wyoming In Debut Album

10:54am June 18, 2016

NPR's Scott Simon talks to the ranch-hand turned songwriter. He comes from a long line of Wyoming homesteaders and studied agroecology before becoming a country singer.

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Music & Culture

As Led Zeppelin Faces Copyright Charges, The Line Between Plagiarism And Homage

8:40am June 18, 2016

Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were in court this week answering charges of copyright infringement. Forensic musicologist Joe Bennett and NPR's Scott Simon discuss.

Timothy Laughlin (Aaron Blake, left) meets Hawkins Fuller (Joseph Lattanzi) in Cincinnati Opera's world premiere production of Fellow Travelers, based on the novel by Thomas Mallon.

Music & Culture

A New Opera Illuminates The 'Lavender Scare,' A Little-Explored Era In Queer History

8:21am June 18, 2016

by Naomi Lewin

Fellow Travelers is based on Thomas Mallon's historical novel of the same name. It takes place during the McCarthy 1950s, when intense scrutiny fell not only on suspected communists but gays as well.