Music Interviews

Music & Culture

Collection Showcases Leonard Cohen Was 'Preoccupied With Brokenness'

1:58pm November 22, 2019

by Terry Gross

Musician Leonard Cohen left behind many unpublished poems and lyrics when he died in 2016. Now his son Adam, who spoke to Fresh Air in 2018, has a new album of his dad's songs, Thanks for the Dance.

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Kris Kristofferson's publicist, Tamara Saviano, offered Kelsey Waldon an internship after listening to her cover Townes Van Zandt.

Music & Culture

Kelsey Waldon Represents The Neo-Traditional Scene Burgeoning In Nashville

11:37am November 22, 2019

Waldon's new album, White Noise / White Lines, was released on John Prine's Oh Boy Records. She is the first signee to the label in 15 years.

Listen in for a snippet of Sonny Landreth's live cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from his recent tour with Peter Frampton.

Music & Culture

Sonny Landreth Announces A New Album And Shares Stories About Peter Frampton

1:12pm November 20, 2019

The slide guitar maestro announces a new album in his World Cafe session. It's tentatively scheduled for release in February 2020 and includes a song called "Mule."

The Head and the Heart performed live for World Cafe.

Music & Culture

An Audience Q&A Leads To Surprising Answers From The Head and the Heart

12:05pm November 19, 2019

You don't want to ask silly questions, but sometimes a silly or lighthearted question is a great way to learn something about a band. Our audience takes over in this interview.

Pete Townshend originally wrote the songs on The Who's new album for Roger Daltrey as a solo artist. "I wrote them for Roger because I knew that Roger would sing them best," he says.

Pete Townshend On Creativity, 'The Age Of Anxiety' And The Who's New Record

10:10am November 18, 2019

Townshend talks about his debut novel, how it relates to The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and what he'd say now to his younger self – the one who wrote the lyric "I hope I die before I get old."

Music & Culture

Joe Henry On 'The Gospel According To Water'

8:02am November 16, 2019

Musician Joe Henry was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. He tells NPR's Scott Simon that the news set into motion a songwriting flurry, creating a new album, The Gospel According to Water.

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"If you think of music like Legos," Harry Connick Jr. says, Cole Porter's music "was like the greatest set of Legos, ever. You could build anything because the songs were so structurally sound."

Music & Culture

Harry Connick Jr. Celebrates The Music Of Cole Porter On 'True Love'

5:02am November 14, 2019

The singer and pianist says he's loved Porter's music since he was a little kid. Connick's latest album pays tribute to an enduring influence.

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Flutist Eugenia Zukerman sets her struggle with Alzheimer's to verse in her new memoir.

In 'Like Falling Through A Cloud,' Eugenia Zukerman Explores Her Changing Mind

8:12am November 09, 2019

The classical flutist came back from the hospital after receiving an Alzheimer's diagnosis and felt compelled to write. The result is a stunning memoir that mixes poetry and prose.

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Four years between albums is not a very long time, says FKA twigs, if that artist writes all the lyrics and melodies and produces their own music.

Music & Culture

'I Found The Key': FKA Twigs Learns To Write For Her Voice On 'Magdalene'

4:22pm November 08, 2019

On songs like "Cellophane," the British artist steps out of her self-imposed cage and tests the limits of her tremendous soprano.

Noah Gundersen inside the World Cafe Performance Studio

Music & Culture

How Psychedelics Influenced Noah Gundersen's Latest Album, 'Lover'

10:46am November 08, 2019

Psychedelic drugs are just the jumping-off point for our conversation about the songs on Gundersen's rich, exquisitely crafted album.