Music

Music & Culture

The Highwomen: Reimagining An '80s Supergroup

5:24pm September 10, 2019

by Will Hermes

Four female country stars — Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby — are hitting the road as The Highwomen, a reinterpretation of the '80s supergroup The Highwaymen.

Music & Culture

'It Rains Love' On Lee Fields And The Expressions

2:01pm September 10, 2019

Run your finger across the song titles and liner notes of Lee Fields' latest album and you might guess Fields is a singer invested in spreading love through soulful music.

Music & Culture

Singer/Composer Jazzmeia Horn Is A Double Threat On 'Love & Liberation'

1:53pm September 10, 2019

by Kevin Whitehead

Horn pulls together her sundry influences — including jazz, pop, gospel and vintage Broadway — on her second album. The resulting tunes are so good, other singers are sure to try them on.

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Mary Lou Williams began arranging in 1929. By 1942, she was among the most renowned arrangers in the business.

Music & Culture

How Mary Lou Williams Shaped The Sound Of The Big-Band Era

12:57pm September 10, 2019

by Natalie Weiner

In jazz, arranging — designing parts to fit together and creating new spins on familiar songs — is often unglamorous. But Williams' incomparable success as an arranger only further proves her genius.

Will Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, be filled with music this weekend? Musicans and management continue to argue over a new contract.

Music & Culture

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra And Musicians Continue To Clash As New Season Approaches

12:43pm September 10, 2019

by Tom Huizenga

After nearly a year, the 103-year-old orchestra's musicians and management are still at odds over a new contract. Its new season is scheduled to begin on Saturday.

San Francisco's Aquarius Records wrote over 500 New Arrivals lists from 1995 until the store closed in 2016.

Music & Culture

Viking's Choice: What I Learned From Aquarius Records, A Record Store For Big Ears

11:55am September 10, 2019

by Lars Gotrich

Feedback-worshiping drone, tranced-out occult rock, gamelan music played by elephants — Aquarius Records embodied the idea that you can always dig deeper for weirder, louder music.

Music & Culture

Watch Black Pumas Perform 'Colors' Live In The Studio

10:31am September 10, 2019

by Tyler Hale

The members of Black Pumas craft a psych soul throwback sound and have a blast doing so. The band's debut album is full of choice cuts. Check out the recent studio performance of "Colors."

John Coltrane performs with drummer Elvin Jones and saxophonist Eric Dolphy in 1961. Impulse! Records is set to release the "lost" Coltrane album Blue World on Sept. 27.

Music & Culture

Not All 'Lost' Jazz Albums Are Created Equal

8:17am September 10, 2019

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Nate Chinen of member station WBGO and Jazz Night in America about three rediscovered jazz albums from Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Stan Getz.

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Music & Culture

'It's Soul Music Without The Sex': Fat Possum Records' Bruce Watson Goes Gospel

8:16am September 10, 2019

by Bruce Warren

Bible & Tire Recording Co. is the work of Bruce Watson, who has spent a lifetime helping to create, preserve and resurface notable soul, blues and R&B music. Now, he's turned his eye towards gospel.

Clockwise from upper left: Arthur Moon, Overcoats, Wynton Marsalis, Thom Yorke, Ride

Music & Culture

New Mix: Thom Yorke, Wynton Marsalis, Ride, Overcoats, More

5:00am September 10, 2019

by Bob Boilen

The tracks Bob Boilen shares on this week's All Songs Considered all have a cinematic quality, from a new Thom Yorke cut for the film Motherless Brooklyn, to Ride's best new album in 20 years.