Music Features

Music & Culture

An Immortal Reflection Of Bessie Smith, In Feeling And Form

9:59am August 07, 2019

by Emily Lordi

Precision isn't the word most associated with the blues, but Romare Bearden's 1974 collage depicts Bessie Smith in a way that illuminates her expressiveness and her high level of artistic control.

Bessie Smith poses for a portrait circa 1925.

Music & Culture

How Bessie Smith Influenced A Century Of Popular Music

4:14pm August 06, 2019

by Maureen Mahon

Bessie Smith's songs are tales of liberated women who are not afraid to speak openly about what they want, what they need and what they are tired of.

Bessie Smith poses for a portrait circa 1924.

Music & Culture

From The Tent Show To The Parlor: Bessie Smith's Travels In Her Time

2:06pm August 06, 2019

by Jayna Brown

Bessie Smith could wrap the blues around anything. She was the voice of freedom and of dislocation, heard by black audiences on the vaudeville circuit and white ones at Manhattan parties.

Ras G, photographed on Jan. 10, 2017 in Los Angeles. The respected musician died at home there on July 29, at the age of 40.

Music & Culture

Spacebase Was The Place: The Life Of Ras G, Blunted Saint Of The L.A. Beat Scene

1:32pm August 06, 2019

by Max Bell

The prolific and beloved musician, born Gregory Shorter Jr., died last week at the age of 40 — but not before helping found a musical movement in his hometown that has since spread worldwide.

The Impressions circa 1970. Left to right: Curtis Mayfield, Fred Cash and Sam Gooden.

Music & Culture

'We're A Winner' Married Black Pride To An Irresistible Beat

11:26am August 02, 2019

by Eric Deggans

Curtis Mayfield's previous songs for The Impressions had often been broadly inspirational — but here, he aimed his pen directly at black listeners, pledging that better times were ahead.

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The original lineup of Creedence Clearwater Revival, at London's Heathrow Airport. L-R: Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook, Doug Clifford, John Fogerty.

Music & Culture

Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Green River' At 50: Our Essential Guide To Early CCR

5:00am August 02, 2019

by Tom Moon

On the 50th anniversary of the band's landmark album Green River, we dig into how the band formulated its singular sound, its legacy and how Creedence's music still resonates today.

Music & Culture

The Motherlode

1:12pm July 31, 2019

A collection of glowing reviews, heartfelt remembrances, poems and tributes in celebration of the legacies of the eight women we're honoring in the third season of Turning the Tables.

Music & Culture

Turning The Tables: 8 Women Who Invented American Popular Music

9:37am July 31, 2019

by Ann Powers

These women made some of the most significant music of the past century. They originated genres, broke political boundaries, nurtured generations of followers and in most cases, became icons.

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A Puerto Rico Protest Song: 'Afilando Los Cuchillos'

8:23pm July 28, 2019

by Felix Contreras

The song "Afilando Los Cuchillos" was a major feature during the protests in Puerto Rico that led to the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello last week.

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The Edge and Bono perform in the Netherlands during U2's The Joshua Tree tour in 1987. The U2 song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," inspired by gospel, has become a rock 'n' roll hymn, even finding its way into real-life church services.

Music & Culture

In U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' A Restless Search For Meaning

4:28pm July 26, 2019

by Elizabeth Blair

Inspired by gospel, the standout from U2's American experiment, The Joshua Tree, has become a rock 'n' roll hymn, even finding its way into real-life church services.