Ann Powers

Just try to keep up with Charenée Wade as she slays "Cotton Tail," which Ella Fitzgerald included in her 1957 Ellington songbook album, during the 2019 Turning the Tables concert at Lincoln Center.

Rhiannon Giddens gets the spirit of fierce rock and roll independence as she sings "Up Above My Head," made famous by Tharpe, at the 2019 NPR Music Turning the Tables concert at Lincoln Center.

This year, Turning the Tables focused on music's "founding mothers." Watch the season-opening concert at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Lizz Wright and more.

Over a decade, the Los Angeles-based singer has built a career — one that peaks on her new album — and a musical identity on the idea that greatness doesn't have to be emotionally tidy.

Our sprint through the best new albums out this week include Sleater-Kinney's The Center Won't Hold, Boston rapper Cousin Stizz, R&B singer Snoh Aalegra, the country singer Lillie Mae and more.

Bikini Kill's instant anthem for the '90s riot grrrl movement found new purpose at rock camps, where young girls learn to express themselves through music. Hanna breaks it down with NPR's Ann Powers.

The NPR Music series Turning the Tables enters its third season this week with a new concept: Which eight women were the pillars upon which American popular music was built?

These women made some of the most significant music of the past century. They originated genres, broke political boundaries, nurtured generations of followers and in most cases, became icons.

The best new albums out this week include the latest from psych-pop mainstays The Flaming Lips, singer Freya Ridings' stunning debut full-length, Houston rapper Maxo Kream and more.

This week's edition of New Music Friday includes a features-heavy flex from Ed Sheeran, new efforts from Big K.R.I.T and Blood Orange, the return of Imperial Teen, K.Flay and more.

Our list for this week's best new albums includes a solo release from Thom Yorke, the return of garage rock stalwarts They Black Keys, a new project from Freddie Gibbs and Madlib and more.

Springsteen's new album connects to a stream of pop balladry that emerged in tandem with Hollywood's turn in the late 1960s toward hippie antiheroes and modern masculinity's fatalistic drift.

In trying to unpack one of the a stranger periods of Bob Dylan's strange life, Scorsese had to meet the bard on his home turf of half-truths and obfuscation.

The best new albums out this week include a stirring call for social justice from soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples, rapper YG's remembrance of Nipsey Hussle, lo-fi rock veterans Sebadoh and more.

The allegations against Michael Jackson in the documentary Leaving Neverland make listening to his songs a struggle, one that resists the comfort those songs once provided.

Our shortlist of the week's best new albums includes a career-defining release from singer Jamila Woods, the sparkling guitar rock of Charly Bliss and Holly Herndon's genius work with the AI "Spawn."

"Hello Sunshine," the first single from Bruce Springsteen's upcoming album Western Stars, shares the same melancholy space as early '70s ballads by Jimmy Webb and Kris Kristofferson.

Giddens links folk instruments and traditions of the African-American diaspora with those of Francesco Turrisi, a pianist and master of the frame drum.

The track, recorded with Colombian singer Maluma, channels "Despacito," with a nod toward Madonna's 1986 song "La Isla Bonita."

Hear the nihilist rock of PUP, R&B singer Khalid, the celestial, Enya-inspired pop of Weyes Blood and more on our list of the best new albums out on April 5.