Music Features

At the Appalachian School of Luthiery in Hindman, Ky., days after July's catastrophic floods, luthier Kris Patrick searches through the mud-caked remains of instruments and materials.

Music & Culture

When the creek does rise, can music survive?

5:00am November 12, 2022

by Stephanie Wolf

How does a scene survive when disaster strikes its venues, music schools, rare instruments and priceless archives all at once? The musicians of flood-ravaged eastern Kentucky have a few answers.

Low's Mimi Parker (left) and Alan Sparhawk backstage at Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2007.

Music & Culture

Low's Mimi Parker had a voice that let the light in

2:53pm November 07, 2022

by Stephen Thompson

Parker's crystalline vocals and spare percussion gave Low's sound a grounding force and a leavening agent all at once. She died Saturday, but her voice is eternal.

Literally speaking, there would be no Migos without Takeoff.

Music & Culture

Takeoff knew who he was

12:45pm November 04, 2022

by Meaghan Garvey

The rapper, with his endlessly evolving flow, was the Migos' ultimate ambassador. He was at his most charismatic and comfortable going back and forth with his family.

Endure, the third album from New Orleans band Special Interest out Nov. 4, is an album marked by juxtaposition and contrasts.

Music & Culture

Special Interest dances on the edge of collapse

10:33am November 03, 2022

by Mia Hughes

The New Orleans dance-punk band's energetic third album Endure pushes the listener into sweaty nightclubs, rat-infested apartments and burning warzones.

Music & Culture

John Oates' 'Pushin' A Rock' has an important message for our time

10:00am October 28, 2022

by Bruce Warren

John Oates says "Pushin' A Rock," the first in a series of new digital singles, is "a rallying cry to everyone who strives to overcome life's struggles and challenges."

Tacuma (left) and his cousin Jerry at their family's tobacco fields

Music & Culture

Bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma reflects on his journey down a 'Dirt Road' in N. Carolina

4:24pm October 27, 2022

Hear music and field recordings from bassist, composer, and fashion icon Jamaaladeen Tacuma's residency in North Carolina, where he explores his familial and musical roots.

Bono, left, with Morning Edition co-host Rachel Martin.

Bono discusses his new memoir, 'Surrender,' and the faith at U2's core

4:04pm October 27, 2022

The veteran rock star speaks with Morning Edition about his new memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story — and in particular, his deep-rooted spirituality.

Queue Listen Now

Singer and songwriter iLe's third album, 'Nacarile,' finds a world deeply in flux

6:27am October 20, 2022

The Puerto Rican artist returns with a new album, her first since protests galvanized San Juan and beyond in 2019.

Queue Listen Now

Composer Julia Wolfe at the Nashville Symphony Orchestra's world premiere of her piece Her Story on Sept. 15, 2022.

Our biggest orchestras are finally playing more music by women. What took so long?

4:35pm October 17, 2022

by Tom Huizenga

As the new concert season gets underway, composers and orchestra administrators say they are feeling a shift in whose music gets heard.

Matty Healy performs with The 1975 at the Leeds Festival in August 2022.

Music & Culture

Love Songs of a Dirtbag

9:25am October 14, 2022

by Ann Powers

On Being Funny In A Foreign Language, the new album by his band The 1975, Matty Healy makes romantic music for cynical outsiders who insist they're ready to give love a try.