Music

The new Lifetime movie The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel tells the story of the one of the most important gospel groups of the 20th century.

Music & Culture

In New Film About Gospel Pioneers The Clark Sisters, The Music Comes First

5:02am April 17, 2020

Director Christine Swanson's new film is about the celebrated Detroit gospel group, The Clark Sisters. She talks to host Rachel Martin about being adamant about casting women who could actually sing.

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Music & Culture

Lang Lang: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

5:00am April 17, 2020

by Tom Huizenga

Watch the superstar pianist at home in Shanghai, China, play a soothing Chopin Nocturne and Bach you can dance to.

Music & Culture

Celebrate Public Radio Music Day

5:50pm April 16, 2020

This Thursday, tune in to your local station both online and on-air to enjoy exclusive programming and celebrate the vital role that public radio plays in the music world.

Appalachian Road Show's new album is fittingly called Tribulation. Banjoist Barry Abernathy and fiddler Jim VanCleve spoke to NPR about playing traditional songs of hardship during a modern crisis.

Music & Culture

Appalachian Road Show's New Album Confronts 'Tribulations' Past And Present

4:20pm April 16, 2020

by Art Silverman

The people of Appalachia have traditionally relied on music in times of hardship. A new bluegrass supergroup is putting a 21st-century spin on old-time music in an album perfect for our dire times.

Bruce Springsteen's song "Radio Nowhere" is featured in our Public Radio Music Day playlist of songs about the radio.

Music & Culture

Stream Our Public Radio Music Day Playlist, Featuring Songs About The Radio

1:50pm April 16, 2020

by Raina Douris

From Steely Dan's "FM" to Donna Summer's "On The Radio," from R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" to LL Cool J's "I Can't Live Without My Radio," stream our playlist to celebrate Public Radio Music Day.

Music & Culture

Joe Pug On Mountain Stage

12:50pm April 16, 2020

by Dave Lavender

Songwriter Joe Pug returns to Mountain Stage to share songs from his latest album, The Flood in Color.

Though she only came to his work after his death, Phoebe Bridgers has listened to Elliott Smith's Figure 8 more times than she can count. Her second album, Punisher, is out in June.

Music & Culture

Learning From Elliott Smith, 20 Years After 'Figure 8'

12:05pm April 16, 2020

by Lindsay Zoladz

A conversation with Phoebe Bridgers, a devout student of Smith's music, about how the final album of his lifetime lit a path between basement grit and polished studio splendor.

Stacey Joy entered the song "Can't Be Found" for the 2020 Tiny Desk Contest

Music & Culture

Tiny Desk Contest: Celebrating Creative 2020 Entries Filmed In Quarantine

12:01pm April 16, 2020

We're impressed by the ingenuity we've seen from Contest entrants making great music under less-than-ideal circumstances. If you have a song you'd like us to hear, you can enter until April 27.

Music & Culture

Courtney Marie Andrews' Quarantine Recommendations: Gardening And Poetry

11:02am April 16, 2020

by Courtney Marie Andrews

In Our Daily Breather, we ask artists how to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Courtney Marie Andrews recommends gardening and poetry, and shares a new song from her forthcoming album.

Laura Marling plays a Tiny Desk Home concert.

Music & Culture

Laura Marling: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

10:59am April 16, 2020

by Bob Boilen

Laura Marling delivers an intimate performance of songs from her just-released record Song For Our Daughter in her living room.