Children's writer, Patrick Carman, self publishes his latest book, Towervale, which is LitRPG. Continue Reading The Quest for Children’s Literacy with LitRPG and Patrick CarmanRead More
Music
A review of Northwest author Jeff Jone's latest work, "Bloodshot Stories." Continue Reading A Memory Box of Craft: Moscow Writer Jeff P. JonesRead More
Though often associated with the Vietnam War, Buffalo Springfield's signature song was inspired by a confrontation back home, which erupted on a few famous blocks in Los Angeles. Continue Reading American Anthem: How Read More
The mayor of Cremona, Italy, blocked traffic during five weeks of recording and asked residents to please keep quiet so master musicians could play four instruments — note by note — for posterity. Continue Reading An Italian Town Read More
How did Samuel Barber's stirring, lush work for strings — music that has become America's semi-official music of mourning — morph into a beloved and endlessly remixed dance floor anthem? Continue Reading American Anthem: Read More
Bob Dylan has called Izzy Young's Folklore Center "the citadel of Americana folk music." It was at the center of the folk music revival in New York City in the 1950s and '60s. Young died Feb. 4 at 90. Continue Reading Izzy Young, Center To The Folk Music Read More
After last year's Grammys, the president of the Recording Academy said that women needed to "step up" in the business. Women and men in the business pushed back, but what's actually changed? Continue Reading A Year After The #MeToo Grammys, Read More
The warm-voiced, and much admired, singer eschewed the glitzy life of an opera star to concentrate on the art of vocal communication. Continue Reading Sanford Sylvan, A Baritone On His Own Terms, Dies At 65Read More
Lubbock, Texas, hasn't always been fond of its best known son, Buddy Holly. But 60 years after his death, the town has a park with a bronze statue of him, and a street and a museum named after him. Continue Reading Buddy Read More
Behind musical legends like Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and Ray Charles is one timeless genre that spans across lifetimes: gospel music. Continue Reading The Power Of Gospel Gets Explored In New Documentary SeriesRead More
The two were arrested Tuesday night in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and are awaiting extradition to Texas. A young singer has accused the pair of drugging and raping him in 2010. Continue Reading Opera Star David Daniels And Husband Arrested On Read More
Lady Gaga's 2011 megahit has been praised as inclusive and criticized as exploitative. But there's a little history to the song's origins that isn't often discussed. Continue Reading American Anthem: How ‘Born This Way’ Was Born Read More
Together, the women of Lula Wiles are giving folk music a new reputation with band's sophomore album, What Will We Do. Continue Reading Lula Wiles Trio Flips Notions About American Folk Music On Its HeadRead More
The musician worked across genres, collaborating with American stars like Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. Continue Reading Michel Legrand, Oscar-Winning Composer Who Lived ‘Surrounded by Music,’ Dies Read More
The breakout song from Disney's Frozen has inspired many marginalized groups — but its message of rejecting stigma holds special resonance for disabled people and their families. Continue Reading American Anthem: For Read More
Yo-Yo Ma, the world's most famous living cellist, performed formally and informally in Mumbai this week, part of a long-term project to play Bach's six suites for cello in 36 places around the world. Continue Reading Yo-Yo Ma Surprises Bystanders In Read More
Born as a vessel for one person's trauma, the song by MILCK became an anthem overnight after the 2017 Women's March. But it wasn't done growing. Continue Reading American Anthem: ‘Quiet’ Struck A Chord With Women. Read More
Founded by composer Giuseppe Verdi and funded by royalties from his popular operas, Casa Verdi in Milan opened a century ago as a home for opera musicians in their golden years. Continue Reading For Opera Singers, Life After Read More
Baltimore Symphony music director Marin Alsop traces her discovery of the rollicking 75-minute symphony and the man behind the music. Continue Reading Finding God, Love And The Meaning Of Life In Messiaen’s Read More
The new year has just begun, and NWPB music hosts are eagerly anticipating a few events, concerts and interviews in 2019. Continue Reading Here’s What NWPB Music Hosts Are Excited About In 2019Read More
Composers of color have long had to compete with dead white men for space on the concert stage. A new project, spearheaded by Rachel Barton Pine, seeks to correct that for the next generation. Continue Reading For One Violinist, Read More
All it took for The Hu to have an Internet breakthrough was a dramatic video and screaming guitars — plus a horsehead fiddle and throat singing. Continue Reading How A Mongolian Heavy Metal Band Got Millions Of YouTube ViewsRead More
Half a century later, 1968 continues to resonate as a landmark year for rock, pop and soul — in part, say musicians who were there in the studio, because artists were trying things no one had before. Continue Reading Why Is The Music Of 1968 So Read More
The son of country music legends Johnny Cash and June Carter has compiled a book of Southern recipes handed down in his family through the years. Continue Reading Ring Of Kitchen Fire: Eat Like Johnny Cash With This Read More
PHOTO: In Head, the Monkees made a play for creative and cultural respect. Did it work? No. Was it a strangely great movie? Heck yeah. CREDIT: Moviestore/Shutterstock BY PETRA MAYER, NPR I don’t think, as a teenage fangirl, that I realized exactly how bitter, how cynical, how teeth-grittingly furious the Monkees’ 1968 movie Head is. How it starts with… Read More
Finding the right pair of headphones is a pain. Having engineered more than 400 of our Tiny Desk Concerts, NPR's Josh Rogosin knows audio — and he's here to help. Continue Reading An Incomplete Guide To The Perfect Headphones Read More
This winter, think pink. The guardians of roséwave spent the summer guiding y'all through newfound singledom, messy young adulthood, crying, summer romance, child rearing and boutique fitness, all through the power of pop music and a glass of rosé (or iced coffee, or seltzer, or whatever inspires carefree sipping). Roséwave is the soundtrack for living your best life, no Read More
It's a bit of a cliché, but the kitchen can really feel like the heart of things. But this warm, welcoming kitchen environment is not what you would find 150 years ago. Continue Reading Like Moths To A Flame: Why Modern-Day Guests Read More
Amy Grant maps her fabulous, four-decade career with some of her coziest and heartfelt Christmas songs, not to mention a delightful version of "Jingle Bells." Continue Reading Tiny Desk Concert: Amy Grant Shines In Normal Read More
More than 40 years after its release, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama is still one of the most recognized rock anthems celebrating the deep South. It's also a song with a complicated legacy. Continue Reading American Anthem: Read More
Wilson, who won three Grammy awards and recorded more than 60 albums, died at her California home Thursday after a long illness. From 1996-2005, she hosted NPR's documentary series Jazz Profiles. Continue Reading Nancy Wilson, Read More
‘Tis the season for all manner of festivities, from celebrations of the holidays at home to premieres of new works for the theatre. In fact, many productions enjoyed their first performances at this special time of year. Continue Read More
The country legend talks about creating the soundtrack to Dumplin', the new Netflix film starring Jennifer Aniston that's inspired by her music. Continue Reading ‘Dream It On Through’: Dolly Parton On Her Read More
An elite music college in Princeton, N.J., is up for sale. Its prospective buyer is a for-profit Chinese company — which is partially owned by the Beijing municipal government. Continue Reading Why Is The Chinese Government Read More
When NPR asked listeners for their personal American anthems, many responded with Simon & Garfunkel's "America." We asked them to tell us why. Continue Reading What’s Your Favorite Anthem? America Answered: Read More
Pianist Jason Moran calls James Reese Europe "basically the 'big bang' of jazz." Moran's tribute to the composer and WWI "Hellfighter" pulls his contributions to the genre out of history. Continue Reading A Century Later, Jazz Pioneer James Reese Read More
Even in a studio, backed by a symphony orchestra as they survey their long career in pop music, these guys know how to work a room. Continue Reading In ‘String Theory,’ Hanson With Orchestra Delivers The Read More
Turn on your radio, pour a cup of tea, cozy up to a warm fire, and enjoy uplifting music, heartwarming stories and inspiring performances to celebrate the season. Here’s a list of special programs coming your way throughout the month of December. Read More
The celebrated young pianist Daniil Trifonov steals aboard a steam locomotive, chugging through the Rockies to the strains of Rachmaninov's Fourth Concerto. Continue Reading No Humdrum Affair: Dreaming Of Rachmaninov On A Train Read More
The Spanish singer studied traditional cante flamenco in college and now mixes it with pop music influences in a way that's led some to call her the "Spanish Beyoncé." Continue Reading Flamenco Fusion: Rosalía Offers A Modern Take On Spanish Read More
Sometimes it takes an outsider to see a culture clearly. Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's Ninth Symphony was an ode to what American music could become. Continue Reading How Dvorak’s ‘New World’ Symphony Introduced American Read More
From bourgeois turkeys to Mother Goose, music commentator Miles Hoffman introduces us to classical music about fowls. Continue Reading ‘Ballad Of The Fat Turkeys’: Talking Fowl But Festive Music In The Classical Read More
It's been worth the long, long wait: Amazing Grace, made in January 1972, is an extraordinary document that depicts an artist at her technical, creative and spiritual heights. Continue Reading Aretha Franklin Touches Read More
The singer and multi-instrumentalist, known for his fleet guitar work and big smile, began his career as a teenage prodigy and rose to become a regular presence in the living rooms of America. Continue Reading Roy Clark, ‘Hee Haw’ Read More
Producer Giles Martin shares the remarkable stories, early demos, outtakes and stunning new mixes from the just-released deluxe version of the album. Continue Reading 50 Years Since A ‘Revolution’: How The Beatles Made ‘The Read More
Armistice Day: Music from the Trenches This program commemorates the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of World War I. You’ll hear music from both sides of the Atlantic related to the historic period spanning the start of WWI through the signing of the armistice. It includes pieces by Ravel, Holst, Butterworth, Farrar… Read More
November 11 marks the centennial of the end of World War I, otherwise known as the “Great War” and the “War to End All Wars.” Simply put, it was a cataclysm, a conflict that marked a threshold in modern history. In the world of classical music, composers responded in many different ways. Read More
For the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, writing rhyming poems called calaveras literarias — mocking epitaphs for the dead or satire targeting the living — has become a proud tradition. Continue Reading These Wicked Dia De Los Read More
From family memorials to jam sessions to every show at the Grand Ole Opry, the familiar singalong helps people feel connected to those who have died — whether legendary musicians or loved ones. Continue Reading ‘Will The Circle Read More
One of the best-known anthems of second-wave American feminism might not have become a No. 1 hit without an obnoxious display of macho behavior. Continue Reading You’re Gonna Hear Them Roar: ‘I Am Woman’ Is An Anthem Beyond Read More
