Ann Powers

Ketch Secor is a Renaissance man who not only continues to make great music with Old Crow, but has also branched out into children's education.

To cope with the tumult of a difficult week and the anniversary of the #MeToo movement, music critic Ann Powers spent the week with music from women expressing one thing: Being fed up.

This duo makes inspirational music pulled from Americana roots music and the couple's personal experience of surviving and thriving in the sometimes perilous 21st Century.

One day after performing the songs in Nashville, the country supergroup has released all three digitally ahead of the release of its new album, Interstate Gospel.

All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen talks with NPR Music's Ann Powers and Jewly Hight about the standout performances and surprising discoveries at this year's AMERICANAFEST.

The legendary singer returns with a version of the Freddy Fender country weeper "Before the Next Teardrop Falls."

A pair of concerts scheduled for Nov. 6 and 7 in Los Angeles will see a deep roster of famed artists performing songs from throughout Mitchell's deep catalog.

The song appears on Piano & A Microphone 1983, an upcoming collection of cassette recordings Prince made at his home studio.

Get taken to church with gospel songs by The Clark Sisters and Marvin Sapp, and remember that Bill Clinton played Aretha Franklin's "Think" off his phone.

Revision's redemptive potential permeates Paul Simon's 14th solo album. In the Blue Light features ten recordings of old works, newly considered.

While it's not wrong to observe decorum and sombre reflection in the wake of such a loss, there's no reason that honoring a life as monumental as Aretha's can't be joyful — and yes, entertaining.

Aaron Lee Tasjan is a lifelong student of cool rock moves, and could fit the every-rocker part if he weren't such a relatable oddball.

All Songs Considered's Robin Hilton talks with Ann Powers, Marissa Lorusso and Sidney Madden about some of the greatest songs released by women and non-binary artists in the past 18 years.

In this career-spanning conversation, we trace Aretha Franklin's journey, from her earliest days singing gospel in her father's church to becoming one of the most influential artists of all time.

Aretha Franklin died of pancreatic cancer Thursday. Her hits, from the 1960s to the 1980s, helped define the era. NPR's Noel King talks to NPR music critic Ann Powers about the singer's legacy.

Her music has been sung at marches and political rallies, heard in churches and on chain restaurant jukeboxes. Everything popular music can be is there in the songs of Aretha Franklin.

Call it psychedelic, call it classic or call it the sound of new Nashville. Liz Cooper and The Stampede is leading the rock pack in Tennessee right now.

This undefinable five-piece band boasts a blend of charisma, musical chops, sing-along harmonies and breakneck creativity.

Though they emerged in the 1990s, the impact of musicians like Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, Gillian Welch and Lauryn Hill can be felt all over our list of the greatest songs of the 21st century.

There's a beautiful reflectiveness within Birdtalker's song that comes from Zack Green's soul-searching and Dani Green's skill with story and metaphor.