Music Interviews

Bernice was Glenn Copeland's choice of an artist he's thankful for in All Things Considered's series Play it Forward. In this edition, Bernice's lead singer Robin Dann chooses Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Music & Culture

Play It Forward: Bernice's Robin Dann On Writing Music With A Sense Of Surprise

6:08pm April 29, 2020

In the third episode of Play It Forward, Ari Shapiro interviews Robin Dann of the Canadian band, Bernice. She talks about redefining success and how the freedom of jazz informs her music.

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Sheryl Crow won three Grammy awards in 1995, including record of the year for "All I Wanna Do" off her album, Tuesday Night Music Club. For this session, we revisit her 1993 interview about her debut.

Music & Culture

Classic World Cafe: Sheryl Crow On Her Debut Album, 'Tuesday Night Music Club'

3:31pm April 28, 2020

Today, you can pretend it's 1993: One month ago, a new singer-songwriter named Sheryl Crow released her debut album called Tuesday Night Music Club, but it wasn't an immediate success.

Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes both grew up in southeast London, but have made very different music in their solo careers. What Kinda Music, their debut as a duo, blends jazz, electronic and hip-hop.

Music & Culture

Tom Misch On Making 'What Kinda Music' And Seeing Yussef Dayes At A Talent Show

10:53am April 25, 2020

NPR's Scott Simon talks to the British producer, guitarist and vocalist about What Kinda Music, his new album with drummer Yussef Dayes.

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DJ Premier is a purist at heart. He picks samples based on feeling and the beats he creates from them are all about honoring that vibe. That lineage has played out from his parents record collection growing up in Houston to his own expansive discography o

Music & Culture

Behind The Beats: DJ Premier's Sonic Inspiration In Three Samples

9:01am April 25, 2020

DJ Premier is a purist at heart. Watch the producer unpack samples inspired by the feelings he got from his parents' record collection that led to classic beats for Gang Starr and Biggie.

Music & Culture

Old Language, New Clothes: Sweet Crude On Singing Modern Pop In Louisiana French

5:07pm April 24, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks to the New Orleans-based band about their project to preserve the centuries-old Louisiana French dialect through music and how the city is coping with the coronavirus crisis.

Lucinda Williams sees her new album Good Souls Better Angels as part of a long line of political country music. "Go back and listen to Woody Guthrie. It is my job, as far as I'm concerned," she says.

Music & Culture

'I Get Angry, Too': Lucinda Williams On Her Politically Charged New Album

12:10pm April 24, 2020

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to Americana artist Lucinda Williams about her new album Good Souls Better Angels and the spirit of protest that she says has "always been in my blood."

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The title of Fiona Apple's Fetch the Bolt Cutters started as a line from a TV crime drama, but became the album's central message: "Fetch your tool of liberation. Set yourself free," Apple says.

Music & Culture

'Fetch Your Tool Of Liberation': Fiona Apple On Setting Herself Free

5:07pm April 22, 2020

Fiona Apple talks about Fetch the Bolt Cutters, her first album in eight years, getting advice from King Princess to release her record early and what she would say to her teenage self.

A second line in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, photographed on April 15, 2018. The parades, along with much else in the city, have been suspended amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music & Culture

NOLA Amidst COVID: Learning From A Tough Past To Cope With An Uncertain Future

12:48pm April 22, 2020

by Alison Fensterstock

The city has recovered from its fair share of disasters and displacements, but the situation it currently finds itself in is unprecedented.

Music & Culture

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

12:36pm April 20, 2020

by Terry Gross

DeMent describes herself as extremely shy, but says, "when the songs started coming to me, I felt I didn't have the option to hide and avoid" the stage. Originally broadcast in 2015.

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NPR's Scott Simon spoke with Marin Alsop about the end of her tenure as musical director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and a less heralded part of her career: her 1980s swing band.

Music & Culture

Marin Alsop On Her Swing Orchestra And Stepping Down From The Baltimore Symphony

4:07pm April 18, 2020

We learn all kinds of interesting things when we're at loose ends during a pandemic lockdown. Did you know that Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop co-founded a swing band?

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