With its subtle strings and sly infectiousness, Heart Murmurs is no less than an attempt to craft a new batch of pop standards. Whether Messersmith succeeds depends mostly on how many people are lucky enough to hear him.
On her sixth album, the Bostonian singer-songwriter gets darker and more sinister than ever before. Its title must refer to a cold, polarizing kind of July, with the frigid climes that accompany an early-February release.
Whether she sings in English or Spanish, Chavez captures a healthy dose of American soul, country and rock music, and she could hold her own with any Mexican ranchera singer, past or present.
Wonderland is, at times, superficially soothing and fun, an almost hedonistic paean. But not far beneath the surface lies something more unsettling and challenging: a statement about isolation and loneliness and a delicate search for meaning.
Ellis eludes categorization within either mainstream country or Americana music by going the route of both formats’ greatest maverick craftsmen; you’ll hear Merle Haggard here along with Willie Nelson, and a bit of Rodney Crowell’s sparkle.
Often, great words are the secret ingredient in great songs: the emotion, the insight, the connection hidden beneath the surface. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen shares the lyrics that caught his ear this year.
At the end of a year in which pop songs were a constant, provocative part of the national conversation, NPR Music critic Ann Powers sifts through the 100 most popular songs of the year to highlight 10 pure pop pleasures worth remembering.
Finding new and excellent R&B is a scavenger hunt, one that winds through blogs, Tumblr and Twitter. Here are the 10 songs that didn’t make the pop charts, but should have got more love.
Discover 10 surprising, sophisticated and stellar albums released this year by artists around the globe, from electronica by way of Sudan to 1960s-style French/Brazilian cool.
2013 was a big commercial year for all things R&B and soul music. But you can’t exactly call it a banner year artistically. From throwback to eccentric to gut-wrenching, these songs suggest the state of R&B in 2013.
It’s been a banner year for classical box sets. Deceptive Cadence hosts Anastasia Tsioulcas and Tom Huizenga tell us why and choose a few of their favorites.
The songs were a byproduct of slavery in the U.S. But after being passed along by generations of African-American musicians, they were later embraced by a variety of improvisers, including Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Grant Green and John Coltrane.
Fifteen years before the first East London warehouse party, young Brits congregated in dancehalls and partied all night to rare American R&B music. Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Northern Soul all-nighter with a 24/7 channel devoted to the best R&B you’ve likely never heard.
Download two handfuls of our favorite new songs, including music by British producer Tourist., German pop act Claire, New York City dance duo Holy Ghost!, rapper Jean Grae, punk-pop trio Upset, fiddle prodigy Sarah Jarosz and more.
The Alt.Latino crew stops by Weekend Edition Sunday to talk about one of Latin music’s most pervasive rhythms.
Soon-to-be London correspondent Ari Shapiro whipped up a playlist for NPR Music that’s especially for commuters who travel by bicycle. Even though you should totally never listen to music and bike at the same time.
KPFK’s global music DJ recently visited Brazil, and he brings NPR’s Arun Rath a stack of new music he discovered there.
From pulsing techno to alluring ambient, hear what happens when two seemingly opposite musical realms collide on the dance floor and in the chill room. Hear Madonna collaborator William Orbit’s take on Beethoven, a beatified version of Barber’s Adagio and a techno take on the Carmina Burana.
Fiona Ritchie, host of The Thistle & Shamrock, picks a handful of Celtic songs that will get you rockin’ and reelin’ — from fiddler Eileen Ivers to Irish guitar master Arty McGlynn.