Music & Culture

The debut album from the New York trio Guards is big on atmospherics, but also features a grandness of intent that connects the group to acts as varied as U2, Arcade Fire and The Beach Boys.

The Richmond, Va., neighborhood of Fulton was once home to a large number of the city's middle class African-American families. But by the 1960s, it had fallen on hard times. A new album by bluesman Corey Harris pays tribute to the Southern neighborhood with a haunted past.

Playing frozen instruments requires lots of improvisation. Norwegian musician Terje Isungset has a new set for every performance, freshly made to get the most sound out of each instrument before it melts.

Working as a DJ at his local radio station in 1981, NPR's Don Gonyea snagged the interview of a lifetime. Johnny Cash stopped to answer questions before taking the stage at the Monroe County Fair in Michigan.

The man who wrote "The Charleston" also had orchestral music played at Carnegie Hall. Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop retraces her detective work in uncovering lost symphonic works by jazz piano pioneer James P. Johnson.

Rock writer Jonathan Cott met John Lennon in 1968 and formed a working relationship with him, as well as with Yoko Ono, that would span more than two decades. Cott was the last journalist to interview Lennon, just three days before the singer was killed.

Described as the greatest living Wagnerian tenor, Kaufmann is using the Richard Wagner's bicentennial to reacquaint listeners with the controversial composer's work.

For centuries composers have written love letters, but not by scratching words on paper. Their language is music. Hear five passionate outpourings by the likes of Mahler, Elgar, Janáček and Peter Lieberson.

The Roxy Music singer gives his classic songs a jazz makeover on his new album, The Jazz Age.

The singer-songwriter often writes songs about his complex relationships with women. On his new Electric, Thompson is still coming to terms with the sources of his frustrations, which ought to give him material for many years to come.