Music Features

Tori Amos

Tori Amos

August 21, 2017|Kara Manning
Amos kicked open the door to an avenue of confessional songwriting. [Playlist]
Norah Jones (photo by Danny Clinch, PR)

Norah Jones: Five Essential Willie Nelson Songs

August 16, 2017|Kara Manning
The friend and fellow Texan narrows down the Willie catalogue.
Willie Nelson (illustration by Andy Friedman)

Willie Nelson

August 14, 2017|Laura Fedele
Willie Nelson made it okay to be a freak, not just in country music but in life. [Playlist]
Joe Jackson (illustration by Andy Friedman)

Joe Jackson

August 07, 2017|Kara Manning
An artist of endless elasticity and restless genius. [Playlist]
Press photo from the 1999 No Exit album on Beyond Records

Blondie

July 31, 2017|Kara Manning
Downtown ambassadors from the '70s who've never abandoned what made them great. [Playlist]
Tom Petty

Tom Petty

July 24, 2017|Kara Manning
Petty always pushed to record fresh material, rather than just leaning on the laurels of his past. [Playlist]
Mavis Staples (photo by Laura Fedele for WFUV)

Mavis Staples

July 17, 2017|Laura Fedele
Her big heart and sharp mind beg for a personal, creative connection with artists everywhere. [Playlist]
My Morning Jacket's Jim James (illustration by Andy Friedman)

My Morning Jacket

July 10, 2017|Kara Manning
Alt-country psych-rock inclinations, yearning melodies and ferocious reverb: Live, they are legendary. [Playlist]
U2 (illustration by Andy Friedman)

U2

June 26, 2017|Kara Manning
Unlike the roar or swagger of a lot of all-male bands, U2's mightiest songs are unapologetically emotional. [Playlist]
Chuck Berry (illustration by Andy Friedman)

Chuck Berry

June 19, 2017|Paul Cavalconte
Lennon: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry." [Playlist]
Summer of Love/Monterey Pop (illustration by Andy Friedman)

Summer of Love

June 12, 2017|Kara Manning
It's been a fifty-year embryonic journey since the Monterey International Pop Festival. [Playlist]
The Black Keys (illustration by Andy Friedman)

The Black Keys

June 05, 2017|Kara Manning
Sinewy dynamics, acerbic humor, flourishes of hip hop, and raw, dirty blasts of rock bliss. [Playlist]