NPR Staff

NPR Music's Stephen Thompson shares songs from forthcoming albums by Esperanza Spalding, Damien Jurado, Lucinda Williams and David Bowie.

In the face of growing protests, police departments across the country are pledging to try to reduce the use of deadly force.

This week, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said his police department will double its supply of Tasers and will train officers to use them.

The Fayetteville, N.C., police department ...

They moved to Seattle in search of a better life for their two kids. Instead, they found hospital time, medical bills and 14 months of homelessness. But they made it home eventually — together.

Biographer Sonia Purnell says Clementine once remarked that she "would have loved to have been a statesman in her own right if only she had been born with trousers rather than petticoats."

NPR Music remembers musicians — singers, songwriters, instrumentalists — and other visionaries we lost in 2015. Explore and celebrate their musical legacies.

Even with To Pimp A Butterfly's success, Lamar is still conflicted about his place in music. "How am I influencing so many people on this stage rather than influencing the ones that I have back home?"

As a young girl, Maya Shankar was well on her way to a promising career as a classical violinist. The famed Itzhak Perlman had taken her on as his private student at The Juilliard School at the age of 14, and she was accepted to his prestigious summer program on ...

When Tracy Hart says she's from "a tobacco-pickin', Southern, white-trash family," she says that she means that in the most endearing way.

Critics expect big things from the band Charlie Belle. They released two EPs this year, and were tagged by many as a band to watch — all with the band's two members not even out of high school.

Jendayi Bonds is a senior, and her younger brother Gyasi is a ...

Mona Haydar is a Muslim — and she wants to talk about it.

So much so, in fact, that she set up a stand outside a library in Cambridge, Mass., with a big sign reading "Ask a Muslim." Along with a free cup of coffee and a doughnut, Haydar offered ...

While online shopping grows, traditional retailers are amping up their in-store experiences to draw in customers. But online stores are realizing they have something to gain from physical stores too.

It's been a year since the U.S. and Cuba began normalizing relations. Tourism, business and cultural exchanges are booming. And there is another curious benefactor of those warmer ties — Ernest Hemingway, or at least, his legacy. The writer lived just outside of Havana for 20 years, and that house, ...

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to quit procrastinating so much, well, you may want to wait to get started until after your big New Year's Eve party. That's just one of the tips from Kyle Taylor, managing editor of The Penny Hoarder, for a frugal — ...

Military jargon in Syria, mythical beasts in Silicon Valley, Yiddish vulgarities in the presidential campaign: Linguist Ben Zimmer breaks down some noteworthy terms from the past year.

Richard Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" has been a staple at weddings for more than 150 years. But lately, a number of same-sex couples have been choosing to mix up the music at their nuptials.

It's been an exciting year for developments in space. NPR Science Correspondent Geoff Brumfiel shares three highlights with host Linda Wertheimer.

Interview Highlights

SpaceX rocket lands on Earth. Earlier this week, the commercial spaceflight company SpaceX successfully landed a 15-story-tall section of one of their rockets back on ...

Christmas with children usually means lots of toys under the tree. And sometimes those toys aren't quite ready for the kids straight out of the packaging.

The dreaded words "assembly required" can make any post-Christmas day more stressed than relaxed. We asked some of our listeners and readers to share ...

The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller, set in contemporary London, with a female protagonist and a female author — Paula Hawkins. It was published this year, and received wide acclaim.

Girl on a Train is a psychological thriller, set in contemporary London, with a female protagonist and ...

His resume is unimpeachable and he has great approval ratings. Santa Claus sounds like the perfect candidate — so what if he ran for president? That's the question in this radio drama by The Truth.

Kermit Travers, 78, one of the last African-American skipjack captains, reflects on his nearly 60 years harvesting oysters on the Chesapeake Bay.