Songs That Bend Time: A Musical Time Machine For 2019
A playlist of 50 notable songs from this year, paired with older ones that connect with them spiritually or sonically.
Music
Viking's Choice: Burger Punk, Hard-Swung Free Jazz, Bioluminescent Ambient
A few late-year greats, including tracks from Dark Thoughts, Irreversible Entanglements and Shorelights. Plus, a nine-hour playlist of the year in Viking's Choice.
Unprecedented: Is A Threat Protected Speech?
How necessary is it for a "reasonable" person to correctly interpret rap music?
The Thistle & Shamrock: Gifts
The music of Andrew Finn Magill, Dick Gaughan and Caitríona O'Leary will help ease the tension and the pressure of the holidays.
World Cafe's Best Songs Of 2019
Some of World Cafe's favorite songs of the year include music by Strand of Oaks, The Head and the Heart, Clairo, Sharon Van Etten and more.
Los Lobos: Tiny Desk Concert
When Los Lobos gathered behind the Tiny Desk, it felt like they were cramped in the back room of a family Christmas party, calling up tunes from the Latin holiday song book.
Why Are There No New Christmas Songs?
Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is back at the top of the chart a quarter century after it was first released. So why haven't there been any lasting Christmas songs to take its place?
Difficult Truths Best Whispered: Joan Shelley Sees The Beauty In The Fading
Joan Shelley tries to write about love like it's "something that's got its own motion and inevitabilities outside our own plans and desires and fantasies."
NPR Music Staff Picks: The Best Albums Of 2019
This list of lists is made up of favorites picked by members of NPR Music's staff. It's a sprawling and deeply personal selection of albums to celebrate and send off 2019.
Station Breaks: Our Favorite Live Sessions Of 2019
Staff from public radio music stations handpicked their favorite performances, including music from the Grammy-nominated band Black Pumas, upcoming Americana artist Yola and Courtney Barnett.