The X

Lumineers Co-Founder Jeremiah Fraites Releases First Solo Album

By editor • Jan 17, 2021

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Jeremiah Fraites is best known as the co-founder, drummer and songwriter with the indie rock band The Lumineers.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GLORIA")

THE LUMINEERS: (Singing) Gloria, I smell it on your breath. Gloria, booze and peppermint.

Jazmine Sullivan On 'Heaux Tales,' Dirty Laundry And The Value Of Taking Breaks

By Michel Martin • Jan 16, 2021

For all that feels unstable in the world right now, artists have kept making art — describing life and helping us make sense of things, each in their own way. Jazmine Sullivan, the Grammy nominee behind R&B hits like "Bust Your Windows" and "Need U Bad," has taken the past few years to herself, away from the spotlight, but she returns now with her first album since 2015, Heaux Tales.

Not My Job: We Quiz Singer Songwriter Phoebe Bridgers On Feeble Bridges

By editor • Jan 16, 2021

We've invited singer songwriter Phoebe Bridgers to play a game about feeble bridges: three questions about bridges that have fallen over, collapsed or otherwise done a bad job of spanning things.

Click the audio link above to find out how she does.

DakhaBrakha: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By Bob Boilen • Jan 16, 2021

Every January, I attend globalFEST at a New York City nightclub and see some of the most fantastic music I'll experience all year. Now, given the pandemic's challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST moved the 2021 edition from the nightclub to your screen of choice and shared the festival with the world. We called it Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST.

Sofia Rei: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By Bob Boilen • Jan 16, 2021

Every January, I attend globalFEST at a New York City nightclub and see some of the most fantastic music I'll experience all year. Now, given the pandemic's challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST moved the 2021 edition from the nightclub to your screen of choice and shared the festival with the world. We called it Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST.

Why Sea Shanties Have Taken Over TikTok

By editor • Jan 16, 2021

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Argh, the latest trend in pandemic distraction may be - shiver me timbers - sea shanties.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Singing) There once was a ship that put to sea, and the name of that ship was the Billy of Tea.

Labess: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By Bob Boilen • Jan 16, 2021

Every January, I attend globalFEST at a New York City nightclub and see some of the most fantastic music I'll experience all year. Now, given the pandemic's challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST moved the 2021 edition from the nightclub to your screen of choice and shared the festival with the world. We called it Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST.

Dedicated Men Of Zion: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By Bob Boilen • Jan 16, 2021

Every January, I attend globalFEST at a New York City nightclub and see some of the most fantastic music I'll experience all year. Now, given the pandemic's challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST moved the 2021 edition from the nightclub to your screen of choice and shared the festival with the world. We called it Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST.

Sylvain Sylvain, New York Dolls Guitarist, Dies At 69

By Marissa Lorusso • Jan 15, 2021

New York Dolls co-founder and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain died on January 13 at the age of 69.

We Need To Be Able To Feel

By Nate Chinen • Jan 15, 2021

I can think of no better summation of our shared experience over the last year than "A World Lost," the title of the piece that opens Maria Schneider's Data Lords. A slow, foreboding dirge in an oblong time signature, it instantly sets a tone of somber contemplation.

Multiple Men With The Same Name Form Paul O'Sullivan Band

By editor • Jan 15, 2021

TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:

mxmtoon: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By Bob Boilen • Jan 15, 2021

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.

Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST: Edwin Perez, Elisapie, Nora Brown, Rokia Traoré

By Bob Boilen • Jan 14, 2021

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. From Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Jan. 14, we'll be streaming new performances at 8 p.m. ET on NPR Music's YouTube channel and NPR.org.

The 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll

By editor • Jan 14, 2021

Below are the results of NPR Music's 8th Annual Jazz Critics Poll (my 15th, going back to the poll's beginnings in the Village Voice). These are the jazz albums that lit up a dark, unsettling year. Maria Schneider's Data Lords was the critics choice — no surprise, though relative unknown Sara Serpa's victory in the Vocal category in a year when both Kurt Elling and Gregory Porter released new albums was.

The 2020 Jazz Critics Poll: It's After The End Of The World

By editor • Jan 14, 2021

If you're old enough, you might recall the comic Godfrey Cambridge from late-night television in the 1960s, when he was one of a new wave of black stand-ups (others included Bill Cosby and Dick Gregory) who, though addressing racial issues in their monologues, came up through jazz clubs and beatnik coffee houses rather than the chitlin circuit, and positioned themselves more kin to George Carlin than integration-ready offspring of Red Foxx and Moms Mabley.

Bee Gees Documentary Traces The Gibb Brothers' Pathway To Stardom

By Ken Tucker • Jan 14, 2021

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

Lady Gaga, J-Lo To Headline Biden Inauguration

By Brian Naylor • Jan 14, 2021

Updated 12:45 p.m. ET

President-elect Joe Biden may not have big crowds at his coronavirus-limited inauguration, but he won't be lacking for star power.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Thursday that pop star Lady Gaga will sing the National Anthem and Jennifer Lopez will perform a musical number at the Capitol ceremony next week.

Thistle & Shamrock: New Year Sounds

By editor • Jan 14, 2021

Having finally left 2020 behind, get 2021 off to a good musical start with some brilliant fresh sounds. Fiona Ritchie has selected an hour's worth of great music from Celtic roots for you to discover including The Chair, John Doyle and cellist Ofra Harnoy.

Bill Proposes Dolly Parton Statue On Tenn. Capitol Grounds

By editor • Jan 14, 2021

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

'Artists, Weirdos, Hellriders And Homies:' Thrasher Magazine Turns 40

By Milton Guevara • Jan 14, 2021

Playboy.

Glamour.

O.

Teen Vogue.

All these magazines have something in common.

They're no longer in print.

While these — and many other — publications have shifted to digital only in recent years, there's a print magazine bucking the trends and still going strong: Thrasher magazine. Created by skateboarders for skateboarders, Thrasher celebrates its 40th anniversary this month.

Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST: Vox Sambou, Aditya Prakash, Martha Redbone And More

By Bob Boilen • Jan 13, 2021

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. From Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Jan. 14, we'll be streaming new performances at 8 p.m. ET on NPR Music's YouTube channel and NPR.org.

After Missing Last Year, 2021 Kennedy Center Honors Are Announced

By Elizabeth Blair • Jan 13, 2021

The annual Kennedy Center Honorees have been announced: choreographer, and actress Debbie Allen; singer-songwriter and activist Joan Baez; country singer-songwriter Garth Brooks; violinist Midori; and actor Dick Van Dyke.

Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST: Minyo Crusaders, Hit La Rosa, Natu Camara, Emel

By Bob Boilen • Jan 13, 2021

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. From Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Jan. 14, we'll be streaming new performances at 8 p.m. ET on NPR Music's YouTube channel and NPR.org.

Equal At Last? Women In Jazz, By The Numbers

By Shannon J. Effinger & Rachel Horn • Jan 12, 2021

In the 2019 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, five of the top 10 new releases were recordings led or co-led by women artists — a startling 50%. In fact, it is the largest number of projects led by women in the top 10 since the annual poll began 14 years ago, surpassing 2018, when women comprised a third of those rankings.

2021 Music Preview: 'Little Oblivions,' 'Collapsed In Sunbeams'

By Marissa Lorusso • Jan 12, 2021

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's a new year, and hopefully that means a lot of new great music is coming our way. We've asked some of our colleagues at NPR Music to highlight a few of the albums that they're looking forward to.

Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST: Dedicated Men Of Zion, Labess, Sofia Rei & DakhaBrakha

By Bob Boilen • Jan 11, 2021

The Tiny Desk is teaming up with globalFEST this year for a thrilling virtual music festival: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. The online fest includes four nights of concerts featuring 16 bands from all over the world. From Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Jan. 14, we'll be streaming new performances at 8 p.m. ET on NPR Music's YouTube channel and NPR.org.