Music

Throughout the next few weeks, we'll be sharing some of the many 2021 Tiny Desk Contest entries that have caught our eyes and ears. The Contest closes soon: You've only got until 11:59 p.m. ET on June 7. If you think you've got what it takes, check out the Official Rules and fill out the eligibility checklist, then film your video and submit it here!

This is an album about joy, goes Michelle Zauner's tweet-sized synopsis of Jubilee.

In the early-to-mid-'70s, the four members of Kraftwerk were still under-the-radar music experimentalists from the art-leaning city of Düsseldorf – a path they never really diverged from. After all, the band's U.S. breakthrough was accomplished with a 22-minute electronic ode to driving, "Autobahn."

Sinéad O'Connor rose to fame in 1990 with a multi-platinum selling album. Two years later, a controversial TV appearance on Saturday Night Live threatened to derail her career. Since then O'Connor's struggles have often played out in the public eye. But with Rememberings, a newly published memoir, she's hoping to show there is a lot more to the artist "behind the music."

Nnenna and Phil Freelon were a power couple: He was the lead architect for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History & Culture, and she was a Grammy-nominated jazz singer, composer, actress and playwright. They enjoyed an exciting, full life of work, travel, friends and family.

"But we're what it looks like when we got our own backs / And we're what it looks like when we build it back black / We're what it looks like in a hundred years time / Got the audacity to walk up out these ashes and shine / We're shining"  –"Shining" from Fire In Little Africa

Throughout the next few weeks, we'll be sharing some of the many 2021 Tiny Desk Contest entries that have caught our eyes and ears. You can enter the Contest until 11:59 p.m. ET on June 7. If you think you've got what it takes, check out the Official Rules and fill out the eligibility checklist, then film your video and submit it here!

For the latest installment of Jazz Night's Crate Digging series our host, Christian McBride, spotlights one of his favorite pianists: the late Cedar Walton.

Over the last couple of decades, Allison Russell has preferred to do her songwriting, singing and playing alongside others. She's been the consummate collaborator, bringing exceptional emotional intelligence to a series of respected roots groups. In the process, she's gained necessary perspective on her own experiences and abilities, and worked her way toward readiness to step out front.

May 25th, 2021 Washington, D.C.-- With the 2021 Tiny Desk Concert in full swing, NPR is celebrating the beloved tastemaking series with a Clubhouse event this Thursday, May 27th from 8:30PM-9:30PM. With panelists ranging from Tiny Desk's producers to performers, we'll dive into an hour-long conversation to explore the secret behind why Tiny Desk performances go viral - and if there's a way to make your entry to the Contest explode, too.

Just last week, the internet thrilled to The Linda Lindas, screaming and crunching power chords in the middle of the stacks of the Los Angeles Public Library. "Racist, Sexist Boy" — written and performed by four tween and teen punks calling out anti-Asian American bias and misogyny — immediately became something of a 2021 anthem. ("Poser! Blockhead! Riffraff! Jerk face!")

John Hiatt is one of America's songwriting treasures. His work has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, including Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt. Hiatt's 22nd studio album finds him teaming with another legendary musician, Jerry Douglas.

While Robert Finley doesn't live far from where he grew up – less than 200 miles – he's come a long way. "I don't really like sharing nothing too much now, because I never got my share as a sharecropper."

"All of my parents on grandparents on both sides were into music, even if they were just singing in the cottonfield." He bought his first instrument at the age of 10, with money he'd been given for a new pair of shoes.

Eighty years ago, in Duluth, Minn., a baby named Robert Allen Zimmerman was born. He'd grow up to become one of the greatest songwriters of all time. You know him now as Bob Dylan. To celebrate his 80th birthday, we've compiled an entire show's worth of Dylan songs, as performed by artists who love him.

As a keepsake of World Cafe's Bob Dylan Octogintennial Extravaganza, we're sharing a Spotify playlist with songs from the show and more.

Whatever you do, do not call Tom Jones' latest album a "covers album." More than that, Surrounded By Time is Jones' 41st studio album. It is also the fourth in a string of records produced by Ethan Johns, wherein Jones reinterprets the music of a wide variety of artists. His son, Mark Woodward, also joins as a producer on the new album.

Few things fill the heart with hope like a group of young girls playing punk rock in a public library. In a space where books and information open minds, there too our minds should be blown by power-chord-punctuated screams of "Poser! Blockhead! Riff raff! Jerk face!"

On the last episode of Play It Forward, our series in which artists tell us about their own music and the musicians who inspire them, All Things Considered spoke with Angel Bat Dawid, the improvisational musician from Chicago. She told us about her connection to the pioneer of funk: George Clinton.

Live music is set to come back to Chicago in a big way this summer. Today, Lollapalooza announced its full line up, with Foo Fighters, Post Malone, Tyler, the Creator and Miley Cyrus headlining. And the fest will be at full capacity, too.

Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go’s, JAY-Z, Foo Fighters, and Todd Rundgren headline the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Class of 2021. With 13 inductees, it's one of the largest and most diverse classes in the museum's history.

Longtime Columbus musician Billy Zenn recently released his new album Every Third Thought and will be celebrating with two live shows at Natalie's Grandview on Thursday May 13th!  

Tune in for live music and conversation on 90.5FM WCBE Columbus, 106.3FM Newark and on line at www.wcbe.org!

LISTEN HERE!

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."