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“Like Sonny Liston”: An Appreciation of Tom Petty

Patterson Hood argues that Tom Petty achieved perfection in his songwriting... time and time again.
Otis Redding

Five Magnificent Years

A recent Otis Redding biography examines what was and what could have been, 50 years after tragedy struck.

The Rise and Fall of the “Sellout”

The history of the epithet, from its rise among leftists and jazz critics and folkies to its recent fall from favor.

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.”

Bring the Noize

A search for the source of Southern hip-hop’s magic will always lead you to three men from Atlanta, known to the world as Organized Noize.

The Invasion of Musical Robots, 1929

The rise of recorded music left many musicians fearful of a takeover by "canned music."

Sgt. Pepper Came Out 50 Years Ago This Week. The Timing Was As Perfect As the Album.

The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper at the exact moment that the world was ready to take a rock album seriously as art.

The Syncopated Geography of Hip-Hop

Music scholar Katya Deve explores the history and geography of hip-hop.
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.

Chuck Berry Invented the Idea of Rock and Roll

The origins of rock and roll are unknown, but no one can deny the role Chuck Berry played.
Painting of "Big Mama Thornton" wearing a suit and cowboy hat, singing on stage.

The Thinning of Big Mama

"Big Mama" does what all blues greats do: she telegraphs endurance and force to whomever out there in TV land might need it. This is blues perfection.
Photograph of Redd Velvet (born Crystal Tucker) who started her career as a classically trained singer.

Keeping The Blues Alive

Is blues music a thing of the past? A festival in Memphis featuring musicians of all ages and nationalities shouts an upbeat answer.

Soul Survivor

The revival and hidden treasure of Aretha Franklin.
Dave Prater and two others

You Don't Know What You Mean To Me

Who was Dave Prater?

The Cruel Truth About Rock And Roll

A lifelong fan reflects on how sexual exploitation is part of rock's DNA.

A Raised Voice

How Nina Simone turned the movement into music.
Musicians and producers around a soundboard listening to a recording.

How Stax Records Set an Example for America

Nelson “Little D” Ross talks soul and significance with music historian Robert Gordon.
C. L. Franklin and his daughter Aretha.

The Man with the Million Dollar Voice

The mighty but divided soul of C.L. Franklin.
Photograph of blues singer Robert Johnson, playing guitar, 1936.

Searching for Robert Johnson

In the seven decades since his mysterious death, bluesman Robert Johnson’s legend has grown.
Silhouettes of people dancing at a techno music festival with colorful laser lights.

Machine Soul

A history of techno.

Lady Soul Singing it Like It Is

In 1968, Time Magazine searched for the elusive definition of "soul."
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.
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.
A celebration of Linda Martell on the stage of the Country Music Awards.

Who is Linda Martell, the Black Country Musician Beyoncé Spotlights?

The first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry and hit Billboard’s country music charts.
A man surfs the web on an early box-computer which emits neon green light

How Corporations Tried—And Failed—To Control the Spread of Content Online

The recent history of copyright in music cannot be separated from the rise of technologies for the recording and transmission of content online.
Green frog with white circles and squiggly lines surrounding it denoting sound

The Many Lives of ‘Sounds of North American Frogs’

This metamorphic record is a teaching tool, a flirtation device, a college radio favorite, a nostalgic object, and more. BOOP!
Shirley Horn in a publicity shot, 1960.

How to Take It Slow

Following the rhythm of Shirley Horn.
Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway standing on stage singing to each other.

Radical Light

The cosmic collision of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway.
An painting depicting a murder ballad, with the murder happening in the background and a band playing music in the foreground.

Blood Harmony

The far-flung tale of a murder song.
Hank Williams Jr.

Whose Country?

It is impossible to talk about the blues and country without talking about race, authenticity, and contemporary America’s relationship to its past.

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