Music

July 31, 2021 - 4:00am

Read full article: Pandemic Lessons: Elaine Welteroth And Jonathan Singletary Talk With Lara Downes

Fairy tales do come true, but sometimes not quite the way you've imagined. Last spring, Elaine Welteroth and Jonathan Singletary had to give up their plans for a dream wedding. The writer/Project Runway judge/fashion icon and the musician/producer had been planning epic nuptials to celebrate their epic love story (they...

Madonna, 'Open Your Heart (Extended Version)'

July 30, 2021 - 3:30pm

True Blue reminds us of the power, innocence and innovation that Madonna's music has always managed to provide. And today, just a month past its 35th anniversary, a new edition of the album adds instrumentals and remixes previously released on CD, cassette and vinyl — but new to streaming...

Billie Eilish, 'Happier Than Ever'

July 30, 2021 - 1:43pm

Billie Eilish released five singles in the long run-up to Happier Than Ever, but saved its best song for the album's drop date. The title track is really two songs in one — and, appropriately enough, it contains multitudes. Opening amid a deceptively easygoing acoustic strum, Eilish couches her...

Tobacco City, 'Never On My Mind'

July 30, 2021 - 10:22am

Tobacco City's debut album out today – Tobacco City, USA — mixes cosmic country with psychedelic choogle, but "Never On My Mind"... well, that's where the honky tonk meets the soul revue. Like the Chicago band's namesake, a slow smoke hangs in the air, heavy with heartbreak and feather-blue eyeshadow,...

Simply Superior, July 30, 2021

July 30, 2021 - 10:00am

On The Road Again: Musicians Return To The Stage At Exit Zero

July 30, 2021 - 9:12am

What a difference a year makes. This time last year, it was virtually impossible to imagine attending a live concert in person, let alone a festival. One of the first American jazz festivals to make a comeback and bring a little rejoice to the world, is Exit Zero in Cape...

How The Concert For Bangladesh Changed The Celebrity Fundraiser

July 30, 2021 - 6:00am

Fifty years ago, on August 1, 1971, the music world descended on Madison Square Garden for an event like no other. It was the first major charity concert of its kind — the Concert for Bangladesh. In that corner of South Asia, civil war, cyclone and floods had created a...

The First 100 Videos Played On MTV

July 30, 2021 - 4:00am

"Ladies and gentlemen, rock 'n' roll."

Those were the words spoken by Warner Cable executive John Lack on Aug. 1, 1981, at 12:01 am when MTV — Music Television — went on air for the very first time. It was accompanied by the image of an astronaut, modeled after...

Isaiah Rashad Returns, Burns And All

July 30, 2021 - 4:00am

Isaiah Rashad uses the word "surreal" a lot. It's hard to blame him.

Consider the trajectory of his life and career over the last decade: In 2013, Rashad was still a relatively unknown up-and-comer from Chattanooga, Tenn., before he signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, this century's most celebrated rap...

Shame: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

July 30, 2021 - 4:00am

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.

The first time...

Yola Takes The Whole Wheel With 'Stand For Myself'

July 29, 2021 - 5:13pm

When the artist Yolanda Quarterly, now better known as Yola, was just a bump in her mother's belly, she was already bopping to music. Yola's mother was a registered nurse, who used to DJ at a hospital's mental health unit. Disco and soul, sounds Yola would hear before entering...

Dominican Merengue Star Johnny Ventura Dies At 81

July 29, 2021 - 1:46pm

The popular Dominican merengue musician Johnny Ventura has died. According to Dominican news media, the 81-year-old musician died after a sudden heart attack in his home country on Wednesday. The news was later confirmed by Ventura's son on social media.

Ventura started life as Juan de Dios...

'It's Mutual': This Is How BTS' Fans Put Their Money And Hearts Behind The Band

July 29, 2021 - 12:51pm

How do these seven Korean men generate about half a percent of the entire South Korean economy? No, it isn't the boxes and boxes of hair dye BTS members must go through.

The answer: They do it through their intensely devoted fans.

NPR's The Indicator from Planet...

Watch Highlights From Exit Zero Jazz Festival's 10-Year Anniversary

July 29, 2021 - 11:37am

When the pandemic paused festivals around the world, the scrappy, first-rate Exit Zero Jazz Festival kept the music going. The organizers were nimble, producing an entirely outdoor experience including circle-pods in the grass for lawn chairs and special PA systems. "We found a new way to do things," says festival...

Newport Folk Festival Returns, In A Year Defined By Uncertainty

July 29, 2021 - 10:19am

When Cheyenne Shaffer walked onto the grounds of the 2021 Newport Folk Festival, she was dressed for the occasion. "I mean, it's so cheesy — but it's like a homecoming!" she gushed, wearing a Newport Folk trucker hat and a bandana emblazoned with the festival's logo, a flying seagull clutching...

Spectrum West, July 29, 2021

July 29, 2021 - 10:00am

Paula Poundstone, Musical Review, Symphony Season and Theatre Guild- Comedian Paula Poundstone returns to “Spectrum West.” The show also features interviews with a Chippewa Falls musician, the director of a Rice Lake symphony orchestra and the executive director of an Eau Claire theatre guild.

Neffy, 'Wait Up'

July 29, 2021 - 8:51am

This #NowPlaying discovery comes to us from this year's Tiny Desk Contest. You can see Neffy on the latest installment of the Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestreaming series with guest host Phoebe Bridgers.

Since the pandemic began, many have sought out nature as refuge...

Jack Antonoff And Bruce Springsteen Head Home To Jersey On Bleachers' 'Chinatown'

July 29, 2021 - 4:09am

Jack Antonoff has become one of the most in-demand collaborators in music, with credits on the latest albums by Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent and many others. His work has taken him all over the world, but he never strays too far from his home — at...

ZZ Top Bassist Dusty Hill Dead At Age 72

July 28, 2021 - 3:09pm

Dusty Hill, bassist for the enduring Texas blues rock band ZZ Top for over half a century, has died at age 72. The trio's other members, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard, announced Hill's death in a Facebook post. Gibbons and Beard said that Hill had died in his...

Joni Mitchell, 'The Dawntreader'

July 28, 2021 - 2:40pm

On March 19, 1968, an amateur recording engineer set up his gear at Le Hibou, a coffeehouse in Ottawa, Canada. He taped two sets by Joni Mitchell, who was 24 at the time. That recording engineer, a Mitchell fan, was none other than Jimi Hendrix, who'd played his...

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Pandemic Lessons: Elaine Welteroth And Jonathan Singletary Talk With Lara Downes

Madonna, 'Open Your Heart (Extended Version)'

Billie Eilish, 'Happier Than Ever'

Tobacco City, 'Never On My Mind'

Simply Superior, July 30, 2021

On The Road Again: Musicians Return To The Stage At Exit Zero

How The Concert For Bangladesh Changed The Celebrity Fundraiser

The First 100 Videos Played On MTV

Isaiah Rashad Returns, Burns And All

Shame: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Yola Takes The Whole Wheel With 'Stand For Myself'

Dominican Merengue Star Johnny Ventura Dies At 81

'It's Mutual': This Is How BTS' Fans Put Their Money And Hearts Behind The Band

Watch Highlights From Exit Zero Jazz Festival's 10-Year Anniversary

Newport Folk Festival Returns, In A Year Defined By Uncertainty

Spectrum West, July 29, 2021

Neffy, 'Wait Up'

Jack Antonoff And Bruce Springsteen Head Home To Jersey On Bleachers' 'Chinatown'

ZZ Top Bassist Dusty Hill Dead At Age 72

Joni Mitchell, 'The Dawntreader'

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