Ann Powers

Krauss' first solo album since 1999 shows off her intelligence and good humor in versions of classic songs that are delightfully down to earth.

Lady Gaga's Super Bowl halftime performance was possibly progressive, definitely patriotic and ultimately open-ended. Gaga played to the masses, and left the messages mixed.

On the lead single and video from Canyons Of My Mind, Combs connects the environmentalist folk-pop of Don McLean with the dystopian mood-setting of Radiohead.

The first single from the country singer's new album is a condemnation of one man's irresponsible habits — yet one that still retains compassion for him and the women who survive in his wake.

Country music luminary Jessi Colter has only released one album since the 2002 passing of her husband, Waylon Jennings. Now she's back with a moving labor of love called The Psalms.

The country songwriter's debut album is a labor of love — and a deeply insightful compendium of the stories we tell ourselves in order to preserve it.

In a year of stunning loss, music fans found new opportunities to create virtual communities, continuing conversations their departed icons started.

NPR music critic Ann Powers says George Michael was sometimes dismissed as a cotton-candy pop music songwriter but you might not know he had a radical impact on the genre.

Watch Gallo and his band, their instruments bolted to the bed of a Ford truck, commandeer an intersection and blast out a punk directive before the cops come.

It's high time for gospel's greats to reassert their power. Winans teams with the mighty Clark Sisters to carry the spirit of the Lord right back to Motown.

This year, pop critic Ann Powers offers something a little different — 10 deserving albums that might have topped lists in any other year.

Watch the legendary singer-songwriter perform a three-song set at Damrosch Park in New York City.

With a new double album, the country star stands at the center of her own story. Insistently personal and empathetic, it's her most cohesive release yet.

The revered songwriter, who died November 7 at the age of 82, compelled us to dwell on the relationship between the profane and the profound.

Wainwright's singing shows a deep awareness of the multiple meanings that can merge and overflow — even within utterances as direct as a lover's whisper or a lullaby.

In an album named for her teenage son, the singer-songwriter and punk mystic reflects upon some of her life's most perception-altering junctures.

Joanne is as theatrical as anything Gaga has ever done, touching on styles intimate and overcooked and upholding her romantic belief in broad gestures and bold declarations.

Originally written for Massive Attack, Valerie June gives an old song new life.

The Americana innovator invites listeners into a shiny dreamscape that's both deeply informed by musical history and uniquely his own.

As summer turns to fall, the boldfaced names returning to the world of pop might not be offering explicitly political songs, but each makes a big statement in its own way.