Music Interviews

On Spirityouall, McFerrin performs classic black spirituals with roots in enslaved communities, as well as songs he composed himself. Throughout the album, he says, he hears the influence of his father, Robert McFerrin Sr., a renowned operatic baritone.

Shape-note singing is a communal form of music that began in New England 200 years ago, mostly from townsfolk without any musical training. Sam Amidon says the melodies of shape-note hymns are some of the "deepest-seated for me."

Singer Ezra Koenig says the band's new album, Modern Vampires of the City, is the final part of a trilogy — and the product of a lot of reflection on time and aging.

Rudresh Mahanthappa's work always seems to be filed under jazz, but it's hard to find a style he doesn't touch: hip-hop, country, metal and soul fused with traditional sounds from India, Africa and Indonesia. And he makes it rock.

"The last thing that I want to do is be a hack," says the rapper and actor. His latest album, his first since splitting with the record label that launched his career, is called Authentic.

Malmsteen is the king of the neoclassical shred guitar. The Swedish musician and composer has somehow bridged centuries, from Paganini to his own arpeggiated acrobatics. Here, the guitarist speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about being a family man and growing up on Bach and Jimi Hendrix.

In overseeing the new film's soundtrack, music supervisor Anton Monsted says he hoped to create a "sliding door" effect between the Jazz Age and the hip-hop era.

A dance band called Dur-Dur Band ruled the nightclub scene in 1980s Mogadishu, thanks to a unique sound made possible by access to Western culture and instruments.

A decade after the Dixie Chicks' frontwoman came out against the Iraq War — the response to which brought the band's career to a halt — Maines returns with her solo debut, Mother.

Stream the band's new EP, and hear the drummer and founding member's thoughts on longevity, epitaphs and iTunes.