Ann Powers appears in the following:
PJ Harvey: Tiny Desk Concert
Friday, November 17, 2023
In her Tiny Desk performance, the artist lives on her own artistic plane — inviting listeners to take their time to fully join her.
2024 Grammy Nominations: A guide to the best, worst and most surprising nominees
Friday, November 10, 2023
Themes emerge quickly when you dig into the nominations for the 66th Grammy Awards. The major categories are dominated by women and seemingly up for grabs; elsewhere, progress is not always so clear.
Madonna's 'Ray of Light' (Silver Liner Notes)
Friday, September 08, 2023
"Ray of Light," Madonna's foray into electronic dance music, turns 25 this year. We look back at its impact and legacy with NPR Music's Ann Powers and take listener calls.
Tyler Childers is back, and taking chances
Thursday, July 27, 2023
The grassroots country star, whose fan base crosses lines of identity and politics, is releasing a song called "In Your Love," from a new album. Its video tells a queer, Appalachian love story.
PJ Harvey's latest album unfolds out of an epic narrative poem
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
PJ Harvey's new album, I Inside The Old Year Dying, builds off of a narrative poem she wrote about a year in the life of a 9-year-old girl in a fictional town in western England.
'Life and death is such a fine line': PJ Harvey on creating in a place between worlds
Thursday, July 06, 2023
Harvey talks with NPR Music's Ann Powers about her album I Inside the Old Year Dying, a ragged, highly crafted adaptation of her epic poem Orlam, and why she prefers to make art without boundaries.
One of pop music's unreliable narrators offers discomfort. (But can you trust him?)
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Four decades into his career, Lloyd Cole's On Pain finds this purveyor of guitar pop still exploring that hazy space where people question themselves and make excuses or promises they might not keep.
Jess Williamson, 'Topanga Two Step'
Monday, June 12, 2023
Williamson's voice, as poignant as Linda Ronstadt's, dwells in the loneliness that even the most exciting casual encounter can produce.
PHOTOS: Joni Mitchell At The Gorge
Monday, June 12, 2023
The beloved singer-songwriter performed in front of more than 20,000 fans at an idyllic amphitheater in rural Washington state.
Janelle Monáe wants you ... to enter the 'Pleasure' zone
Thursday, June 08, 2023
There's almost nobody better at creating complex musical worlds, but on her new album The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monáe's aim is to stop thinking. Or at least start thinking about feeling.
Kassi Valazza, 'Watching Planes Go By'
Thursday, June 01, 2023
The Portland singer-songwriter trades in twang for psychedelia on a plane-spotting song that captures a fluctuating melancholy.
On 'Gag Order,' Kesha gets intensely personal
Monday, May 22, 2023
Listening to Kesha's new album, Gag Order, you can't help but think about all she's been through in the past 10 years.
Anna Tivel: Tiny Desk Concert
Monday, May 22, 2023
In her Tiny Desk, Tivel's empathy elevates her folk-based, jazz-touched compositions from mere stories to secular prayers.
Inspiration or theft? The rise of interpolation in the music industry
Thursday, May 11, 2023
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with NPR music critic Ann Powers on the rise of interpolation in the increasingly litigious music industry and the line between nostalgia and theft.
Margo Price, Emmylou Harris & friends, 'I Shall Be Released'
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
At the reinstatement of expelled Tennessee lawmaker Justin Jones, a small gathering of Nashville musicians opened up the People's Songbook for a musically imperfect yet unforgettable Bob Dylan cover.
Visibility, with the volume up loud, in Tennessee
Sunday, March 26, 2023
A pop critic looks at two benefit shows in Nashville that put a rainbow-hued spotlight on the way a buzzword like "visibility" can become more than symbolic, especially in moments of crisis.
The Oscars are getting the best song category all wrong
Sunday, March 12, 2023
In filmmaking, placing a song in just the right context and letting it cast its spell is an art — one that many films in 2022 mastered. What if we gave that achievement its own award?
Mya Byrne, 'Come On'
Friday, March 03, 2023
In light of proposed (and passed) bills to legislate gender expression, Byrne's rocker resonates as a declaration of rage and a pledge to fight.
Silver Liner Notes: Madonna's 'Ray of Light' Turns 25
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
"Ray of Light," Madonna's foray into electronic dance music, turns 25 this week. We look back at its impact and legacy with NPR Music's Ann Powers and take listener calls.
Indigo Girls: Tiny Desk Concert
Tuesday, February 07, 2023
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have been offering life lessons to their fervent fans for nearly four decades; here, they play a set of stone-cold classics, including "Closer to Fine."
