Music & Culture

Johnny Cash: The Life delves more deeply into Cash's dark side than the 2005 film Walk the Line.

Biography Doesn't Hold Back On Darkest Years Of 'The Man In Black'

7:49am October 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

Through all the pain and redemption, "Johnny Cash was a good man," author Robert Hilburn tells NPR's David Greene. Hilburn's new biography of the late country singer is titled Johnny Cash: The Life.

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"[Lou Reed] really saw the beauty of life, and wanted to be a person who could live in that beauty as often as possible," longtime publicist Bill Bentley says.

Music & Culture

Never Back Down: Fresh Air Remembers Lou Reed

2:43pm October 29, 2013

by NPR Staff

"In Lou Reed's world, when you were Lou's friend you knew it," his longtime publicist Bill Bentley tells Terry Gross. Fresh Air dedicates an entire hour to the transgressive and transcendent Velvet Underground co-founder, with music and commentary by original Velvets John Cale and Maureen Tucker.

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Music & Culture

Arcade Fire On Its Brand-New Beat

5:22pm October 28, 2013

by NPR Staff

NPR's David Greene speaks with members Regine Chassagne and Win Butler about the band's new album, Reflektor, and how it was influenced by their cultural connections to Haiti.

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Church elder Elwood Cornett preaches at a recent reunion of Old Regular Baptists. Brother Don Pratt is seated behind him in a blue shirt and tie.

Before Churches Had Songbooks, There Was 'Lined-Out' Gospel

10:12am October 28, 2013

by John Burnett

Hidden deep in the hills of Appalachia, there's a tradition of worship music that has not changed since the 18th century. The hymnody is still practiced by congregations of the Old Regular Baptist Church, where a leader calls out a line and the people respond in a mournful, soaring chorus.

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A Teenage Music Phenom, Infographics, Motorcycles In Vietnam

9:45pm October 26, 2013

Ozy co-founder Carlos Watson tells NPR's Arun Rath about a teenage singer with a grown-up voice, two tutors turned bloggers, and Vietnam's Harley Davidson craze.

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Katy Perry's new album, Prism, is out now.

Music & Culture

Katy Perry On The 180 That Saved Her Career

8:22pm October 26, 2013

by NPR Staff

Perry is among the world's biggest pop singers, but fans know her current career is actually a second take. She speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about failing to break out as a Christian artist, and how she rose again as the star we know today.

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Alexander Ebert is best known for his band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, a folk band with a dozen members. His latest project is the score for All Is Lost, a film about one man lost at sea.

Music & Culture

For 'All Is Lost,' A Songwriter Embraces Silence

7:05pm October 26, 2013

by NPR Staff

Alexander Ebert is the singer and songwriter of the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Now, he's also a film composer. He speaks with NPR about his work on All Is Lost, which stars Robert Redford as a solitary man lost at sea.

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Doc Pomus, pictured here in the 1980s, was an obscure, yet prolific songwriter who died in 1991. A.K.A. Doc Pomus is a documentary about his life.

Music & Culture

The Life Of Doc Pomus, Songwriter To The Stars

7:40pm October 24, 2013

by NPR Staff

NPR's Melissa Block speaks with director Peter Miller about his recent documentary, A.K.A. Doc Pomus, about the obscure songwriter behind Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas," The Drifters' "This Magic Moment" and many more pop hits.

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The members of Caravan Palace are practitioners of electro-swing.

Music & Culture

Europe Swings The Body Electric

5:46pm October 23, 2013

by Milo Miles

What had been an infrequent novelty — mixing electronic and '30s beats with scat and big band-ish horn solos — has become more and more common among European dance musicians and producers. Critic Milo Miles looks at two compilations that highlight this European dance trend.

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Music & Culture

Lucy Wainwright Roche: In The Family Business

7:13pm October 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

But on her new album, There's a Last Time for Everything, Roche doesn't feature any of her famous family of musicians. She tells NPR's Melissa Block it was "great to do it in a little bubble away from the family." The album includes an unlikely cover — the Robyn anthem "Call Your Girlfriend."

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