Will Hermes

The international summer festival circuit is full of contenders, celebrating cultures and subcultures while hustling for global vacation dollars. For musicians, festivals mean exposure, a paycheck and a rolling party of peers. For communities, they're a revenue engine and self-promotion platform. For music-hungry fans, they're vacation anchors, or vacations unto ...

Here at Soundcheck, we don’t jump on every trending Twitter bandwagon. Our fire truck doesn’t stop at every blogosphere inferno. But if you’ve been killing time on the Internet this week, you’ve probably heard about this …

Brad Paisley released "Accidental Racist" this week on his new album Wheelhouse -- and it's a song so provocative, for so many different reasons, that we just have to talk about it. With not just one person, but three. Joining us are: 

Country-music devotees tend to be sensitive when their artists stray from the fold, and as possibly the most compelling crossover country act since Johnny Cash, Brad Paisley no doubt understands this. His most recent record was titled This Is Country Music, like he was trying to ...

Country singers generally romanticize small-town life. But in her hit single, "Merry Go 'Round," from her major-label debut Same Trailer Different Park, Kacey Musgraves does nothing of the sort. It's a remarkable song, but it actually pales alongside others on her great new album.

I was especially struck ...

There's a long tradition of female impersonators in pop, from English music-hall star George Robey to RuPaul. Then there are male singers whose vocal register and delivery simply conjure the feminine. The jazz singer Jimmy Scott is one marvelous example; the avant-garde pop singer Antony is another. Now, ...

Will Hermes, a senior critic for Rolling Stone, contributor to "All Things Considered" and author of Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever, tells the story of New York and its music scene in the 1970s, from folk and hip-hop to salsa, jazz and classical.

Listen to our NYC 1973-1977 Mix! Staff picks and listener suggestions. Want to add a track? Suggest it to us on twitter @brianlehrer with the tag #lovegoes

Two cities duke it out on the baseball diamond – and in our studio. In this Soundcheck Smackdown, we pit the music of New York against the music of Detroit. On Motown's team is music journalist, author and Detroit resident Gary Graff; playing for the home team is Rolling Stone senior critic and author Will Hermes.

Across the land listeners answered our call to rethink these American symbols. Pop music critic Will Hermes suggests replacements for the national anthem. Kate Bingaman-Burt enlists h...

Western music has demonstrated its global reach in countless ways, and in recent years this has been particularly pronounced in the sounds of Africa. Groups like Amadou & Mariam, from Mali, and Buraka Som Sistema, from Angola, blend electro-pop and urban dance forms. Music journalist Will Hermes joins us to ...