Music

Nashville-based label Dualtone Records is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a special collection of songs called Amerikinda: 20 Years Of Dualtone. The compilation album is being released on Aug. 6, and features Dualtone artists and alumni including The Lumineers, Brett Dennen, Gregory Alan Isakov, Mt. Joy, Hayes Carll, Shovels & Rope, Langhorne Slim and others, all covering each other's songs in celebration of the label's landmark birthday.

Les McKeown, best known as the singer for Scotland's Bay City Rollers, died April 20 of unspecified causes. He was 65.

"It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of our beloved husband and father Leslie Richard McKeown," wrote wife Peko Keiko and son Jubei McKeown on the singer's Facebook account. "Leslie died suddenly at home on Tuesday. We are currently making arrangements for his funeral and ask for privacy after the shock of our profound loss."

NPR Music's Turning the Tables is a project envisioned to challenge sexist and exclusionary conversations about musical greatness. Up until now we have focused on overturning conventional, patriarchal best-of lists and histories of popular music. But this time, it's personal. For 2021, we're digging into our own relationships to the records we love, asking: How do we know as listeners when a piece of music is important to us?

Since breaking through as an anointed acolyte of John Coltrane in the 1960s, and even more since his own outflow of spiritually charged albums in the '70s, tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders has possessed a seeker's sound, a voice on his instrument that seems to harbor cosmic secrets.

James Levine, the immensely accomplished conductor who wielded power and influence in the classical world, and whose singular tenure at the Metropolitan Opera ended in a flurry of accusations of sexual abuse, died on March 9 in Palm Springs, Calif. His physician of 17 years, Dr. Len Horovitz, confirmed his death to NPR, saying that Levine died of natural causes. He was 77 years old.

"Let me go back to that place. Orange, red, black, and green were swirling around together... and then my heart started exploding... "

That's Valerie June, transporting to the moments of inception behind "Colors," a song from her new album, The Moon and Stars: Prescription for Dreamers. During a phone interview with June, she unlocked these spaces, guiding us towards the inner sources of her creativity: gardens seen via kaleidoscope, blooming flowers, blue light. These images, their sensations and synergies, shine through the Memphis-born soul singer's newest album.

Chick Corea was the recipient of 23 Grammy awards, the most of any jazz artist ever, when he died shockingly last month, at 79. He could add two more to his tally at the 63rd Grammys this Sunday: Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for his crisp piano excursion on "All Blues," and Best Jazz Instrumental Album, for Trilogy 2, on which that performance appears.

Columbus musician Nick D'Andrea will return to WCBE for a Live From Studio A session in advance of his album release shows for AsLan at Natalie's Grandview on Saturday, March 13th! 

So, you might not be surprised that a record titled Preacher's Kid by a musician whose father was a pastor would take the top spot on the iTunes Christian album chart. That happened last month, with a new album by Grace Semler Baldridge, who performs as Semler. But the lyrics on that album tell a different story than the one you might be expecting.

In Preacher's Kid, Semler explores faith and church life through a queer lens — everything from the meaning of the gospel and activism, to what really happens in youth group.

Singer, songwriter and percussionist Bunny Wailer, an icon of reggae music, died in Kingston, Jamaica, on Tuesday morning. He was 73 years old. Wailer was a founding member of The Wailers, alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

His death was reported initially by Jamaica's Observer newspaper, which said that he had been unwell since enduring a second stroke in July 2020.

When Marvin Gaye’s record “What’s Going On” came out in 1971, unemployment was at a high of 6%, people were protesting police brutality, and Americans were angry over the Vietnam War.

“What’s Going On” reflected those times with laser-sharp precision, and it’s gone on to become Motown’s biggest commercial success. And 50 years later, the themes of the album still reflect some of the most significant challenges and divisions we face as a society.

Country music's longstanding race problem suddenly became a hot topic in early February after the white, twenty-something, good ol' party boy and newly minted country chart-topper Morgan Wallen was caught on tape drunkenly shouting a racist slur.

A fifth night of protests in Barcelona over the arrest of a rapper, convicted of criticizing the country's monarchy and glorifying a separatist group, turned violent Saturday with protesters throwing objects at police, setting fires and looting and vandalizing many luxury shops.

Ewart "U-Roy" Beckford, who transformed the Jamaican art of toasting, or deejaying, from a sound system phenomenon into a hit-making art form that deeply influenced generations of dancehall artists as well as the formation of early hip-hop, has died. U-Roy's partner, Marcia Smikle, told the Jamaica Gleaner that he'd been unwell for some time; the news was also confirmed by Trojan Records. He was 78.

Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste — two artists from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — met 25 years ago, in a high school orchestra class. Growing up, neither one had had much exposure to classical music; both said their parents were more likely to listen to reggae or calypso. Classical music felt like it was supposed to be for other people, which had the effect of drawing them even closer to it. Today, they play as a duo, with Marcus on violin and Baptiste on viola.

Drummer, scientist, educator and improviser Milford Graves died in his Queens, N.Y. home around 3 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 12. He was 79. Lois, his wife of sixty-one years, confirmed to NPR that the cause was congestive heart failure, related to a 2018 diagnosis of amyloid cardiomyopathy. Mr.

Johnny Pacheco, one of the founders of the iconic Latin music label Fania Records, died Monday at age 85.

Pacheco had been hospitalized in New Jersey for undisclosed reasons, according to Alex Masucci, the brother of Fania co-founder Jerry Masucci. No cause of death was provided.

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and accordionist Flory Jagoda worked hard to preserve the music and language she inherited from her Sephardic Jewish ancestors in her adopted American home. Named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002, she died on Jan. 29 at age 97 in Alexandria, Va. at a long-term memory care facility, according to an obituary placed by her family.

It's Valentine's Day week here at Alt.Latino HQ. Hopefully you've known that dizzying feeling of falling in love; if you've ever been so fortunate, you know that conveying those complex emotions can be quite difficult. And to set those indescribable feelings to music? It's a tough task that's not for the faint of heart!