“Twenty years ago, she dropped Baduizm, the album that created a genre. I wanted to know how she did it and found something I hadn’t bargained for.”
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Posted inEditor's Pick
Country Music’s Culture Wars and the Remaking of Nashville
“Tennessee’s government has turned hard red, but a new set of outlaw songwriters is challenging Music City’s conservative ways—and ruling bro-country sound.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Why Did This Guy Put a Song About Me on Spotify?
“The answer involves a remarkable — and lucrative, and ridiculous — scheme to game the way we find music today.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Kid Rock Went From America’s Favorite Hard-Partying Rock Star to a MAGA Mouthpiece
“The man born Bob Ritchie calls Trump his ’bestie’ and spouts right-wing talking points. Many close to him wonder what the hell happened.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Eurovision Reminds Me of a Country That No Longer Exists
“Europe’s pop music Olympics makes me nostalgic for my motherland before war splintered it.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Docteur Is In
“The Congolese rumba pioneer Docteur Nico helped define the sound of African decolonization—and became one of the great visionaries of the electric guitar.”
Posted inFeature
Three Strings: Past, Present, and Future
Finding beauty, human connection, and one’s heritage in the resonant sounds of the dulcimer.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Harmony
“You can practice a song a thousand times and still its first note sends you into the unknown.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Joni Mitchell’s Best Album Is Turning Fifty. It’s Not Blue
“She was done playing the starry-eyed hippie. She was tired of singing dirges.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Dave Matthews Guide to Living and Dying
“Now 56, Matthews has been singing about mortality for a long time, and he’s confronting its specter in new and surprising ways.”
