Music & Culture

Paul and Lakeya Mazant met in 2007, during Mardi Gras, as New Orleans was reeling from the flooding after Hurricane Katrina. The couple — pictured with their son Paul, 1, and daughter Logan, 5 — say they couldn't imagine falling in love with someone w

A Decade After Flood's Devastation, Love Keeps New Orleans Afloat

10:51am August 31, 2015

by Gwen Thompkins

New Orleans lost much since Hurricane Katrina, and the failed levees that flooded the city. But Gwen Thompkins says the passions that survived the flood kept her city alive too.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Kanye Is Running For President And One Other Must-Watch VMA Moment

9:20am August 31, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

Perhaps the most controversial moment came when Nicki Minaj took on Miley Cyrus. It'll be the talk of the water cooler today, so you might as well take a look.

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats.

Music & Culture

Nathaniel Rateliff, Honky-Tonk Soul Man, Stumbles Into A Hit

5:40pm August 29, 2015

by NPR Staff

Along with his band The Night Sweats, Rateliff is the voice behind "S.O.B." — a new song with an old sound that's catching a lot of people off guard.

Queue Listen Now

Cellists with the Playa Pops Symphony warm up before performing at Burning Man in 2014.

Music & Culture

Beethoven, Flaming Tubas And 5,000 Kazoos: Classical Music At Burning Man

10:37am August 29, 2015

by April Dembosky

More than 60,000 people will gather in the Nevada desert next week for the annual festival — and the Playa Pops Symphony, which made its debut last year, will be ready for them.

Queue Listen Now

Tony Turner, a physical scientist and folksinger who lives in Ottawa, is on paid leave while Canada's environmental agency determines whether he broke the agency's ethics code.

Scientist Who Wrote Protest Song About Canada's PM Is Put On Leave

8:44pm August 28, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Tony Turner wrote and sang "Harperman," leading a (barefooted) choir through lyrics that ask questions such as "Who squashes all dissent?" and "Who muzzles all the scientists?"

Three years ago, Carly Rae Jepsen dominated the summer with a hit no one saw coming. Her new album is called Emotion.

Music & Culture

'It's Fun To Get A Little Deeper': Carly Rae Jepsen Walks The Pop-Star Tightrope

6:31pm August 28, 2015

by NPR Staff

When you have a hit like "Call Me Maybe," there's no escaping the pressure to follow strong. Jepsen says the moody shimmer of her new LP, Emotion, emerged only after she'd written more than 200 songs.

Queue Listen Now

Bassist Christian McBride syncs up with drummer Lewis Nash in 2011.

Music & Culture

All About That Bass, But Give The Drummer Some

6:31pm August 28, 2015

Bassist Christian McBride, host of NPR's Jazz Night In America, explains the complicated dynamics between the bass and the drums in jazz — and James Brown.

Queue Listen Now

Stock prices fluctuated wildly this week after a sharp plunge on Monday — but what does that sound like?

Music & Culture

Jace Clayton Translates Stocks Into Sound

6:16pm August 28, 2015

by Neda Ulaby

As a wild week on Wall Street comes to a close, experimental musician Jace Clayton shares his current work-in-progress: a composition that translates stocks' movements into sound.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Jazz Vocalist Issues A Convincing Calling Card With 'Nothing But Soul'

1:35pm August 28, 2015

by Kevin Whitehead

In her debut album, Tiffany Austin puts her own improvisational, jazzy spin on songs by the late composer Hoagy Carmichael. Critic Kevin Whitehead calls Austin "a singer to keep an ear on."

Queue Listen Now

Doudou N'Diaye Rose was a brilliant musician and a brilliant dresser as well, with a custom-made wardrobe of vivid, billowing outfits. Above, wearing Senegal's national colors, he sets the beat at a concert in Dakar on Dec. 10, 2010.

His Drum Talked And Everyone Listened: Remembering A 'Human Treasure'

8:40pm August 27, 2015

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Senegalese percussionist Doudou N'Diaye Rose has died at age 85. He mastered his local drum language and brought it to the world, creating rhythms for the likes of Miles Davis and the Rolling Stones.