Music & Culture

Characters Scarlett O'Connor and Gunnar Scott are young, unknown artists in Nashville, just like the songwriters behind their song, "When the Right One Comes Along."

Music & Culture

When The Right One Comes Along: How 'Nashville' Tells Stories In Song

9:28am May 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

The mostly unreleased songs on the TV show Nashville are easily woven into the drama. They appear organically in living room songwriting sessions, late night honky-tonks or stadium dress rehearsals. But someone has to track them all down.

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Dawes, from left to right: Griffin Goldsmith, Taylor Goldsmith, Wylie Gelber and Tay Strathairn.

Music & Culture

Dawes Knows Where It's Been And Where It's Headed

9:27am May 19, 2013

by Ken Tucker

Dawes has just released its third album, Stories Don't End. The band has cited Neil Young and Crosby, Stills & Nash among its influences, but channels them with good humor and confidence that its own distinctiveness will shine through.

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On Monday, the team behind Lee Brice's "I Drive Your Truck" gathered in Nashville to celebrate the song's reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. From left: co-songwriters Jimmy Yeary, Connie Harrington and Jessi Alexander, military father

Music & Culture

A Songwriter And An Army Dad Share One Touching Story

9:26am May 19, 2013

by NPR Staff

The song "I Drive Your Truck" is a No. 1 country hit. It began with a father's remembrance of his son, who was killed in action in Afghanistan — and a songwriter who just happened to be listening.

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Audra McDonald's new album, Go Back Home, marks a return to her roots in musical theater.

Music & Culture

Audra McDonald, A Broadway Star Gone Roaming, Comes Home

9:24am May 19, 2013

by Jeff Lunden

After extended jaunts in TV and on the road, McDonald's first new album in seven years marks a return to her roots in musical theater.

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Former bandmates Draco Rosa and Ricky Martin, seen here on stage at Univision's 2013 Premio Lo Nuestro awards celebration, reunite on Rosa's new album, Vida.

Music & Culture

Draco Rosa: A Pop Survivor Returns From The Brink, With Friends

7:47pm May 18, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

In the 1980s, he was Robi Rosa, the lead singer of Menudo at the boy band's peak of popularity. Rosa went on to write hits for bandmate Ricky Martin and develop a solo career. When Rosa was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, some of the biggest names in Latin music assembled to support him.

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Music & Culture

After Health Issues, Influential Conductor Back At Met Opera

7:23am May 18, 2013

Host Scott Simon speaks with New York Times classical music critic Anthony Tommasini about conductor James Levine's return to the Metropolitan Opera after a series of health problems kept him away for two years.

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Bobby McFerrin's new album is titled Spirityouall.

Music & Culture

Bobby McFerrin: Spirituals As Sung Prayers

6:52pm May 17, 2013

by NPR Staff

On Spirityouall, McFerrin performs classic black spirituals with roots in enslaved communities, as well as songs he composed himself. Throughout the album, he says, he hears the influence of his father, Robert McFerrin Sr., a renowned operatic baritone.

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Sam Amidon's new album is titled Bright Sunny South.

Music & Culture

Sam Amidon: Reshaping An American Folk Tradition

9:55am May 17, 2013

by NPR Staff

Shape-note singing is a communal form of music that began in New England 200 years ago, mostly from townsfolk without any musical training. Sam Amidon says the melodies of shape-note hymns are some of the "deepest-seated for me."

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Laura Mvula's debut is ambitiously confident, as if she and her band had perfected their sound years ago.

Music & Culture

Laura Mvula's Velvet 'Moon' Is A Revelation

9:33am May 17, 2013

by Oliver Wang

Mvula's debut is ambitiously distinct and confident, as if she and her band had perfected their sound years ago but only now decided to share it with everyone else.

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Egyptian folk singer Dina El Wedidi performs at Qasr El Nil Theater during the Downtown Cairo Arts Festival. Wedidi says efforts to revitalize venues like the Qasr El Nil are important because there aren't enough places for musicians of the post-revolutio

From The Heart Of Egypt's Revolt, The Pulse Of Artistic Life

8:34pm May 16, 2013

by Leila Fadel

Egypt's capital has been associated with protest and political upheaval. But an arts festival attempts to clear away the dust and revitalize a once-glorious cultural hub.

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