Music

Woody Guthrie with his parents, Nora Belle and Charley, and brother George, at their home in Okemah, Okla., in 1926.

Music & Culture

Coming Home: The Woody Guthrie Center Opens In Tulsa

8:43am May 29, 2013

by Kurt Gwartney

The folk music icon's relationship with his home state has always been complicated. To many in Oklahoma, Guthrie's progressive political views didn't fit with a strong conservative streak during the Cold War period. His reputation there is now closer to full restoration as Tulsa opens his archives.

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Music & Culture

Quincy Jones: The Man Behind The Music

9:33am May 28, 2013

Legendary music producer, arranger, composer and media mogul Quincy Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 18. In 2001, Fresh Air spoke with him about his career and working with the likes of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson.

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Keith Carradine (right) performs with the cast of Hands on a Hardbody during its spring 2013 run in New York.

Two Songs That Led Keith Carradine From Screen To Broadway

6:22pm May 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

One of Keith Carradine's most famous roles in recent years was as Wild Bill Hickok on the HBO TV show Deadwood. But Carradine is also a musician, and it was a song that jump-started his career — and another that drew him to his latest Broadway role.

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The Toronto band Kobo Town plays a mix of old-school calypso, ska and West Indian styles.

Music & Culture

Kobo Town: A Haunted 'Jukebox' Filled With Caribbean Sounds

6:03pm May 24, 2013

by Banning Eyre

The Toronto band plays a mix of old-school calypso, ska and West Indian styles. But its new album, Jumbie in the Jukebox, doesn't so much revive classic genres as reinvent them for a new time.

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The video for Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's newly released song starts by re-creating the conditions of his captivity during the 81 days he was held in police detention in 2011, and later dissolves into a dystopian nightmare.

China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal

8:18pm May 22, 2013

by Louisa Lim

In 2011, police detained Ai Weiwei for 81 days. Now, he's released a song that's turned the experience into a heavy metal protest song, along with a dystopian nightmare video. The lyrics are explicit and angry. Ai says his music is for the many political prisoners who remain jailed.

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Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter are the two men behind Daft Punk.

Music & Culture

Daft Punk: Accessing Electronic Music's Humanity

1:08pm May 22, 2013

by Ken Tucker

Random Access Memories finds the French duo changing its music-making process in an effort to make its songs sound more human. To that end, Daft Punk enlists guest stars such as Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.

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Best known for bright, accessible modern jazz, Pat Metheny takes on an experimental composer's work with the new Tap: John Zorn's Book of Angels, Vol. 20.

Music & Culture

Pat Metheny And John Zorn: A Vivid Sound World

5:43pm May 21, 2013

by Tom Moon

The two artists are known opposites in the world of instrumental music. On Metheny's latest, the jazz guitarist wrings an unexpectedly visual listening experience from Zorn's knotty compositions.

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Ray Manzarek (far right) stands with fellow members of The Doors Jim Morrison (from right), Robby Krieger and John Densmore in 1968. Manzarek died Monday in Germany. He was 74.

Music & Culture

The Doors' Keyboard Counterpoint Goes Silent: Remembering Ray Manzarek

1:43pm May 21, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

Raised on the South Side, Manzarek brought Chicago sound to L.A.'s beaches with the trailblazing band. He died Monday at age 74.

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Sarah Vaughan performs during the International Jazz Festival of Nice in southeast France in July 1984.

Music & Culture

Sarah Vaughan: A New Box Set Revels In Glorious Imperfections

5:43pm May 20, 2013

by Kevin Whitehead

Divine: The Jazz Albums, 1954-1958 packs four CDs with Vaughan's music, recorded live or in the studio with bands big and small. Two live albums from Chicago nightclubs are standouts, partly when a performance threatens to slide off the rails.

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Deke Sharon performs on the Chinese edition of The Sing-Off in 2012.

Music & Culture

Deke Sharon Makes A Cappella Cool Again

6:18pm May 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

The movie Pitch Perfect has plans for a sequel in 2015; NBC's reality show The Sing-Off is coming back for its fourth season after being cancelled, and Pentatonix has millions of hits on YouTube for making awesome videos like "The Evolution of Music." The father of contemporary a cappella explains the genre's appeal.

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