Music Interviews

Music & Culture

All Songs +1: A Discussion With Neko Case And John Grant

4:23pm October 23, 2015

by Bob Boilen

Two of our favorite musicians talk about carnival rides, their ideal collaboration and being sexier than ever in their mid-40s. Eavesdrop on a conversation between Neko Case and John Grant.

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Pharrell Williams will sit down with NPR's Jason King on Monday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET for a live webcast.

Music & Culture

Live Monday: Pharrell Williams, In Conversation

3:37pm October 23, 2015

Watch the producer extraordinaire sit down for a rare, in-depth interview with Jason King, host of NPR Music's R&B channel "I"ll Take You There," at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Oct. 26.

Patti Smith Looks Back On Life Before She Became The Godmother Of Punk

1:29pm October 23, 2015

The singer joins Fresh Air for a conversation about her career and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith's new memoir is M Train. Originally broadcast in 1996 and 2010.

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Iris DeMent's version of the hymn "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms" was used at the end of the Coen Brothers' movie True Grit.

Music & Culture

For Iris DeMent, Music Is The Calling That Forces Her Into The Spotlight

3:15pm October 21, 2015

DeMent describes herself as extremely shy, but says that "when the songs started coming to me, I felt I didn't have the option to hide and avoid" the stage. Her latest album is The Trackless Woods.

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On top of the world: Tower Records founder Russ Solomon above his Sacramento, Calif., store in 1989.

The Life And Death Of Tower Records, Revisited

7:51pm October 20, 2015

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

A new documentary from Colin Hanks looks back on a business empire that helped shape the tastes of many music fanatics.

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Music & Culture

'It Bathes The Pleasure Centers': BORNS Channels 'Dopamine'

6:48pm October 19, 2015

by NPR Staff

The pop singer-songwriter and longtime performer has been endorsed by Taylor Swift. His debut album, Dopamine, looks to capture longing and fantasy.

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Teddy Abrams conducts the Louisville Orchestra in his first concert as Music Director in Spring 2014.

Music & Culture

In Louisville, A Young Conductor Seeks To Challenge And Delight

10:38am October 18, 2015

by NPR Staff

At 28, Teddy Abrams is the youngest-ever music director of the Louisville Orchestra. He speaks with Rachel Martin about the task of making classical music at once accessible and provocative.

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Grace Jones: 'I'm A Bit Split Personality'

3:04pm October 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

The gender-bending musician and supermodel discusses how her past and her personality inform her new book, I'll Never Write My Memoirs.

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Elvis Costello: 'There Is No Absolute Right And Wrong About Music'

2:22pm October 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

Throughout his memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello grapples with parallels to his father's life. "In the end, music was playing in the room when my father left this earth," he says.

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Zuhal Sultan is the founder of the Iraqi National Youth Orchestra.

Music & Culture

'We Need To Be Human': Zuhal Sultan On Starting The Iraqi Youth Orchestra

10:23pm September 28, 2015

by NPR Staff

The young woman who founded Iraq's youth orchestra believes in the enduring spirit of her musicians. The group planned to bring its act overseas until it was forced into hiatus by ISIS.

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