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Autumn, an 1856 sunset landscape painting by Frederic Church.

The Sound of the Picturesque

Charles Ives and the visual.
by Tim Barringer via The American Scholar on September 13, 2024
Gustav Mahler; Charles Ives.

Anchoring Shards of Memory

We don’t often associate Charles Ives and Gustav Mahler, but both composers mined the past to root themselves in an unstable present.
by Joseph Horowitz via The American Scholar on September 9, 2024
The flags of the USA and the USSR.

Cold War Tones

Two books that remind us that tone and timbre, musical style and sound, matter to history.
by Michael J. Kramer via Society for U.S. Intellectual History on July 28, 2024
Rick Beato on the left, and John Philip Sousa, on the right.

Separated By More Than A Century, Two Musicians Share A Complaint

What happens when the automation of music makes it too easy to create and too easy to consume?
by Mark R. DeLong via 3 Quarks Daily on July 15, 2024
Joni Mitchell being interviewed in 1972 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Seeing Ourselves in Joni Mitchell

Ann Powers’s deeply personal biography of Joni Mitchell looks at how a generation of listeners came to identify with the folk singer’s intimate songs.
by David Hajdu via The Nation on June 11, 2024
A newspaper article from the Inner City Voice in Detroit with the headline, "Black Workers Uprising."

Acid Rhythms

A look at the psychedlic-inspired music scene of Detroit.
by William Harris via n+1 on April 10, 2024
Guy Lombardo with a conductor's baton and a New Year's party hat.

Do Americans Sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ Because of a Frat Party?

Or maybe it was the cigars that gave us this New Year's Eve staple.
by April White via Atlas Obscura on December 29, 2022
Johnny Cash.

Far From Folsom Prison: More to Music Inside

Johnny Cash wasn't the only superstar to play in prisons. Music, initially allowed as worship, came to be seen as a rockin' tool of rehabilitation.
by Morgan Godvin via JSTOR Daily on November 29, 2022
Still of three characters from Young Frankenstein, parodying horror tropes.

Dun, Dun Duuun! Where Did Pop Culture’s Most Dramatic Sound Come From?

Did the iconic three-note sequence come from Stravinsky, the Muppets or somewhere else? Our writer set out to – dun, dun duuuun! – reveal the mystery.
by Amelia Tait via The Guardian on January 18, 2022
Frank Sinatra singing into a microphone.

The Christmas Carol Canon That Could Have Been

Pheasants? 'Dickory dock'? Toyland? Here's how a narrow slice of American history changed the holidays forever.
by Addison Del Mastro via The Spectator on December 21, 2021
Paul Robeson in 1960, London, performing on stage in front of a crowd.

Black King of Songs

His communism brought the great American singer Paul Robeson trouble in the US, but helped make him a hero in China.
by Gao Yunxiang via Aeon on December 18, 2021
Collage of audio-related images, records, cassettes, CDs, wav files, ipods, electronic media icons, and an ear.

What Will Happen to My Music Library When Spotify Dies?

If your entire collection is on a streaming service, good luck accessing it in 10 or 20 years.
by Joe Pinsker via The Atlantic on July 19, 2021

John Wesley Harding at Fifty: WWDD?

Bob Dylan's confessional album resisted the political radicalism and activism of 1967.
by Anthony Chaney via U.S. Intellectual History Blog on June 13, 2018

The Oral History of Lilith Fair, As Told By the Women Who Lived It

It was a time when promoters were telling women in music: “You can’t put two women on the same bill. People won’t come.”
by Melissa Maerz via Glamour on July 5, 2017

The Invasion of Musical Robots, 1929

The rise of recorded music left many musicians fearful of a takeover by "canned music."
by John F. Ptak via JF Ptak Science Books on June 1, 2017

When Nina Simone Sang What Everyone Was Thinking

“Mississippi Goddam” was an angry response to tragedy, in show tune form.
by Tom Maxwell via Longreads on April 20, 2017
Pearl Jam on stage.

The Story of Pearl Jam, from a Seattle Basement to The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

A look at the first year of the band originally known as Mookie Blaylock.
by Bill Reader via The Seattle Times on March 30, 2017
Photograph of a children's choir singing within the outlines of the United States.

How “Fifty Nifty United States” Became One of the Greatest Mnemonic Devices of All Time

How you, your friends, and Lin-Manuel Miranda all learned this catchy, state-naming tune.
by L. V. Anderson via Slate on November 30, 2015
Soldiers sing at the end of the day in Vietnam, January 1968.
partner

The Soundtrack to Vietnam War History Isn’t Quite Historically Accurate

Why rock overtook every other genre to define our understanding of America at war.
by David Suisman via HNN on December 3, 2024
"REM" musicians pose in front of a mirror.

How R.E.M. Created Alternative Music

In the cultural wasteland of the Reagan era, they showed that a band could have mass appeal without being cheesy, or nostalgic, or playing hair metal.
by Mark Krotov via The New Yorker on November 13, 2024
Illustration of Ives seen as an American counterpart to Mahler.

Charles Ives, Connoisseur of Chaos

Celebrating the composer’s 150th birthday, at a festival in Bloomington, Indiana.
by Alex Ross via The New Yorker on November 4, 2024
Portrait of Jenny Lind by George Healy.

Jenny Lind, Taylor Swift, and Another Era's Tour

How the Taylor Swift of her age captivated New Orleans.
by Craig Fuchs via The Historic New Orleans Collection on October 24, 2024
Mike Dirnt, Billy Joe Armstrong, and Tré Cool from the band Green Day.

How Green Day’s American Idiot Pitted Punk Against George W Bush

Twenty years ago, a trio of Calfornian stoners released a polemic against Republican America that politicised a generation.
by Pippa Bailey via New Statesman on September 30, 2024
The Eagle Hotel in July 1913 decorated for the 50th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg.

Battle Hymns

Charles Ives and the Civil War.
by Allen C. Guelzo via The American Scholar on September 12, 2024
Kamala Harris stands in front of a crowd of voters holidng "Freedom" signs.

Kamala Harris’s “Freedom” Campaign

Democrats’ years-long efforts to reclaim the word are cresting in this year’s Presidential race.
by Peter Slevin via The New Yorker on August 23, 2024
Joni Mitchell.

How Joni Mitchell Pioneered Her Own Form of Artistic Genius

On the long and continuing struggle of women artists for recognition on their own terms.
by Ann Powers via Literary Hub on June 17, 2024
Eden Ahbez.

The Strangest Hit Songwriter in History

He wrote one of my favorite songs, but was so much more than a composer.
by Ted Gioia via The Honest Broker on June 12, 2024
Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter surrounded by African American artists' records.

The Song of the Summer Is Actually the Song of 1982

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is one of several recent hits bringing back the genre that never got a name.
by Dan Charnas via Slate on June 4, 2024
A collage of the covers of famous EPs.

The Little-Known Legacy of the EP

“An Ideal for Living” explores the fascinating backstory of a mini music format.
by Steven Heller via Print on June 4, 2024
A drawing of a crowd watching a baseball game in 1886.

Before ‘Fans,’ There Were ‘Kranks,’ ‘Longhairs,’ and ‘Lions’

How do fandoms gain their names?
by Elizabeth Minkel via Atlas Obscura on May 30, 2024
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