Feist On World Cafe
The Canadian indie-pop singer-songwriter and guitarist set out to make her latest record alone, but says she ended up experiencing a whole lot of togetherness.
Music Interviews
'Turning The Tables': Behind The List
In a conversation with World Cafe, Ann Powers discusses the artists included in NPR Music's list of the 150 greatest albums made by women and reveals surprises and controversial picks.
The Songs Of Sylvan Esso, Like You've Never Heard Them Before
For one day only, members of Wye Oak, The Mountain Goats, Hiss Golden Messenger, Mountain Man and Megafaun joined Sylvan Esso to reimagine and record the electronic duo's music as a full band.
Jason Isbell On World Cafe
Isbell discusses the ways his daughter Mercy's childhood differs from his own and how being a dad has influenced his new music. Hear the conversation, including a surprise cameo from Mercy herself.
Jessica Hernandez On Her New Motor City Sound
For her latest project, the Detroit native wrote a double album in both English and Spanish. It's a nod to the sounds of her city and to the cultures of her Cuban dad and Mexican-American mom.
One Giant Leap For Music: NASA's Sonic History Inspires This Duo
As the electronic duo Quindar, Wilco's Mikael Jorgensen and art historian James Merle Thomas make music out of the sounds of space missions from the Apollo and Skylab eras.
Songs We Love: Becca Mancari, 'Arizona Fire'
Suspended in an undulating soundscape of guitar effects, the emerging Nashville songwriter sings as though she's accessing once-overwhelming sensations from a great distance.
Jon Batiste Fashions A Soulful New 'Battle Hymn' For The Atlantic
The Late Show bandleader explains how he made a quintessential American anthem forged in national divisions new and how it speaks to the strength and diversity of our own society.
Billy Bragg On Skiffle, The Movement That Brought Guitar To British Radio
The singer describes skiffle as "a bunch of British school boys in the mid '50s playing Lead Belly's repertoire ... on acoustic guitars." Bragg's new book is Roots, Radicals And Rockers.
Can't Prog Rock Get Any Respect Around Here?
Critic Lester Bangs once declared progressive rock "musical sterility at its pinnacle." David Weigel, author of The Show That Never Ends: The Rise And Fall Of Prog Rock, begs to differ.