Music

Questlove Revives 'Black Woodstock' In 'Summer Of Soul' Documentary

2:04pm September 01, 2021

by Terry Gross

The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival featured some of the biggest names in Black music, but it had largely faded from history. The Roots co-founder sought to change that. Originally broadcast July 2021.

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Lord Huron's "Not Dead Yet" is featured in August's edition of Heavy Rotation.

Music & Culture

Heavy Rotation: 10 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing

12:36pm September 01, 2021

This August, NPR member stations bring you a mix of the most popular songs on their airwaves, featuring music from Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast, Lucy Dacus and more.

Music & Culture

Lucas Debargue, 'Nostalgie du pays' (Miłosz Magin)

9:35am September 01, 2021

by Tom Huizenga

A simple, wistful daydream of a piece that will make you wonder where this undervalued composer has been all your life.

The Staves perform a Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Music & Culture

The Staves: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

5:00am September 01, 2021

by Bob Boilen

The three sisters play songs from their latest album, Good Woman, from the house they grew up in.

Music & Culture

'Fresh Air' Pays Respect To Aretha Franklin, The Queen Of Soul

2:12pm August 31, 2021

by Terry Gross

To mark the debut of the biopic RESPECT, we listen back to archival interviews with Aretha, as well as with Jerry Wexler, producer of the hit "Respect," and Dan Penn, who co-wrote "Do Right Woman."

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Music & Culture

On 'Drama,' Rodrigo Amarante Reconsiders Masculinity Through Childhood Memories

1:57pm August 31, 2021

Inspired by a memory of Rodrigo Amarante's father asking the young singer-songwriter — as a child — to cut his hair, Drama is the perfect slice of lush, tropical jazz-inspired pop.

American jazzman Louis Armstrong plays trumpet in his dressing room before a show in 1947 in a New York jazz cabaret. Hurricane Ida destroyed the Karnofsky Shop in New Orleans, which was a formative influence on Armstrong's musical life.

Ida Leveled The Karnofsky Shop, Louis Armstrong's Second Home

1:06pm August 31, 2021

The Karnofsky Shop was listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its outsized impact on Louis Armstrong's life. The family that lived there encouraged him to pursue music.

Composer and sound artist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, photographed during a screening of Candyman on Aug. 17, 2021 in New York.

'Candyman' Composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe Sings, Scares The Body Electric

12:49pm August 31, 2021

by Tim Greiving

The sound artist and composer took a deeply unique, and wonderfully successful, approach to the composing of his score for the new Jordan Peele-written horror reboot.

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Music & Culture

Tyshawn Sorey & Alarm Will Sound, 'For George Lewis'

12:29pm August 31, 2021

by Tom Huizenga

Composer Tyshawn Sorey's symphonic salute to one of his mentors, For George Lewis, evolves gradually in tranquil, multi-textured waves of sound.

Little Simz performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Music & Culture

Little Simz: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

5:00am August 31, 2021

by Bobby Carter

The London rapper performs songs from her new album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert from a living room dropped inside a void.