music

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• SOURCE: Times of Israel
  7/31/2020
  

  The Teen Promoter, the Janitor, and a Stunning Rediscovered Thelonious Monk Gig

  “As soon as T.S. Monk listened to the recording, he knew right away that his father was feeling really good that day and wasn’t just going through the motions,” Danny Scher said.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/30/2020
  

  How a Historian Stuffed Hagia Sophia’s Sound Into a Studio

  Bissera Pentcheva used virtual acoustics to bring Istanbul to California and reconstruct the sonic world of Byzantine cathedral music.

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• SOURCE: NPR
  7/28/2020
  

  A New Book Traces The History Of Boy Bands, The Pop Phenomenon 'Larger Than Life'

  For reasons that she explores in her new book, "Larger Than Life: A History Of Boy Bands From NKOTB To BTS", Maria Sherman says boy bands don't get the same respect as other music acts, especially their rock peers.

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• SOURCE: TIME
  7/13/2020
  

  A History of the Newly Resurgent 'Black National Anthem'

  The influence of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" on Black culture over more than a century has been immeasurable.

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• SOURCE: NPR
  6/26/2020
  

  We Insist: A Century Of Black Music Against State Violence

  Like music itself, this spirit of resistance takes many shapes, but has never been silenced.

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• SOURCE: LitHub
  6/19/2020
  

  A Brief History of the Policing of Black Music

  Harmony Holiday dreams of a Black sound unfettered by white desire.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/12/2020
  

  Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind

  by Douglas Brinkley

  Historian Douglas Brinkley and the Nobel laureate Bob Dylan discuss the COVID pandemic, the effects of electronic media, and American history in music in a wide-ranging interview. 

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• SOURCE: American Songwriter
  6/10/2020
  

  On the Saddest Song Ever Written, “Why (The King of Love is Dead)”

  Performed with love and sorrow by Nina Simone only days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., it sadly resonates today as much as ever.

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• 6/7/2020
  

  "I Imagine Everything Happened on Beale Street": Remembering Memphis in "Brother Robert"

  by Annye C. Anderson and Preston Lauterbach

  In an excerpt from the new book Brother Robert, Annye Anderson, sister of blues legend Robert Johnson, describes time spent with Johnson in Memphis, and the trends in music, movies, and black politics that shaped Johnson's personality as well as his innovative music.

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Little Richard: Bold, Pioneering, Complex, and Unapologetic

  by Elwood Watson

  Little Richard left a lasting musical and cultural legacy because of his talent and his willingness to be more boldly black and sexual than other artists dared.

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• SOURCE: Vanity Fair
  5/20/2020
  

  Exclusive First Look at New Photograph of Blues Legend Robert Johnson

  Even if he didn’t sell his soul at the Crossroads, the massively influential Mississippi guitarist remains shrouded in mystery. An upcoming memoir from his 94-year-old stepsister brings new depth to Johnson’s mythos—and the third verified picture of him in existence.

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• SOURCE: American Songwriter
  5/15/2020
  

  Up From The Streets, a Vibrant Documentary on the History of New Orleans Music, Is Essential Viewing

  Because of its profound, often tangled and diverse roots, there have been plenty of quality documentaries on the music of New Orleans. This is arguably the best. 

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• SOURCE: San Francisco Classical Voice
  5/18/2020
  

  A New Biography of Odetta Reveals a Difficult Life Well Sung

  Ian Zack's biography of the singer Odetta reveals a great deal about the limits racism and sexism imposed on her career and the limited terms on which she was accepted by white audiences.

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• SOURCE: BET
  5/19/2020
  

  A New Documentary On Opera Singer Marian Anderson Is Coming To PBS

  A new PBS documentary will commemorate singer Marian Anderson's voice and her activism.

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• SOURCE: Southern Spaces
  5/11/2020
  

  An Unlikely Bohemia: Athens, Georgia, in Reagan's America

  by Grace Elizabeth Hale

  Athens kids built the first important small-town American music scene and the key early site of what would become alternative or indie culture.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/10/2020
  

  Little Richard: An Ecstasy You Couldn’t Refuse

  Little Richard was a challenge to 1950s proprieties: to segregation, to musical decorum, to chastity, to straightness.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/8/2020
  

  Ian Whitcomb, Rocker Turned Pop Music Historian, Dies at 78

  Ian Whitcomb forsook pop stardom to study and preserve forms of music popular before rock and roll.   

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• 4/26/2020
  

  “Dueling Banjos” and Divided America

  by Roger Chapman

  If we could consider our differences as not warfare but call-and-response, perhaps we could find some harmony in the song of our nation.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/19/2020
  

  Dylan's 'Times They Are A-Changin'' Lyrics for Sale for $2.2 Million

  "The Times They Are A-Changin'", written by Dylan in 1963 and released on his 1964 album of the same name, is regarded as one of the most iconic protest songs of the 1960s.

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• SOURCE: IndieWire
  4/13/2020
  

  ‘The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel’: Why the Lifetime Biopic Resonates With Black Women

  Credited with bringing Gospel music to the mainstream, the five Clark sisters overcame humble beginnings in Detroit to achieve international fame as icons of the Gospel music industry.