Ann Powers

On "The Man Was Burning," Blount spans the centuries to create an apocalypse for now.

Alynda Segarra is one of the most adventurous spirits to ever come out of the Americana music scene. Segarra is better known as Hurray for the Riff Raff.

We're all feeling too much. Mitski's music can help. On her sixth album, she embraces dramatic emotions — and even in the depths of inner dysregulation, her clarity is remarkable.

From her state-of-the-art home studio, the beloved singer-songwriter plays selections from her 2021 album, Ocean to Ocean, as well as a fan favorite.

A fingerpicked song of regret that captures the nonlinear way memories form and solidify, fusing childhood injury next to adult heartbreak in a way that can make your head spin.

Ronnie Spector, lead singer of the 1960s girl group The Ronettes, has died at 78 after a bout with cancer. She recorded a string of pop hits including "Walking In The Rain" and "Be My Baby."

A new year means a lot of new music. But what's worth checking out? A sneak preview of what you should be listening to in 2022.

The new documentary Get Back, cut from 50-year-old footage of Beatles recording sessions by director Peter Jackson, offers a chance to look at one moment when the myth of the "band guy" took shape.

NPR's pop critic shares her favorite albums and songs of 2021.

NPR Music critic Ann Powers reviews a new docuseries called "The Beatles: Get Back". It centers around hours of unseen footage of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

The star who commands a planetary position in the galaxy of pop chronicles divorce and soul-searching recovery on an album that thrillingly redefines her artistry by bringing her gently down to earth.

Blues singer and guitarist Buffalo Nichols brings a mid-twentieth century field holler into the 21st century.

Alynda Segarra invokes old spirits to carry us beyond our current crises and into a cosmic place of healing.

Good-humored and unsparing, Janis Ian's "I'm Still Standing" answers "At Seventeen" from life's other side, celebrating every line and rough patch on an older woman's face.

Rae's new sonic approach suits this intimate anthem, a call for redefinition (or, as the lyrics say, an acceptance of what's always been true) that poetically makes its case.

NPR turns 50 this year, and we're marking it by looking back on some other things that happened in 1971. It was that year that songwriter John Prine released his debut album. Prine died in 2020.

Here is the logical end of the arc that began with "Old Town Road": Lil Nas X has covered Dolly Parton's "Jolene."

One half of the sister duo Chloe x Halle respectfully and ardently invokes Aaliyah on her debut solo single.

Emmylou Harris, queen of Nashville, and the Nash Ramblers, an all-star, bluegrass-leaning acoustic band, perform a breakneck live version of the Junior Parker and Elvis classic "Mystery Train."

From the opening of their first hit, "Bye Bye Love," the Everly Brothers spoke directly to the deepest longings and anxieties of the generation that would come to define the rock and soul era.