NPR: Music Podcast

For more than 40 years, former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry has been making some of the most suave, luxurious music. NPR's Arun Rath speaks with Ferry about his 17th solo album, Avonmore .

Famed film director Melvin Van Peebles joined the band The Heliocentrics to create music inspired by the sounds and signals of deep space exploration.

New Jersey radio station WFMU prides itself on radically open programming — like three hours of "Eleanor Rigby" covers. But as a new film shows, it can be tough to pay bills and maintain a mission.

On his new album, the salsa singer, actor and one time presidential contender in Panama rearranged some of his salsa songs as tangos. In doing so, he found new things in his lyrics and himself.

After initial success, the 30-year-old singer and songwriter, known for his Auto-Tuned hits, became a target for derision. It took time but now he's made it clear: "I'm not fake."

"Me and Mike have managed to find a decent way to express something symbolically that kids need to be able to say simply," says El-P. "I'm taking it over."

Will Holshouser has played all kinds of music on the accordion, including Cajun, avant garde jazz and indie rock. He joins Fresh Air 's Terry Gross in her studio to play features from his new album.

Robert Lee Watt, the first black French horn player to join a major U.S. symphony, spent 37 years with the LA Philharmonic. He faced a lot of resistance along the way, as his new memoir recounts.

Midler has delighted in listening to girl groups since she was a kid. On a new album, she takes a crack at her favorites — from the tight harmonies of The Andrews Sisters to the slow groove of TLC.

Fifteen-year-old guitar player Quinn Sullivan is on tour with blues legend Buddy Guy. NPR's Linda Wertheimer speaks with Sullivan and Guy about their friendship and musical kinship.

After he was publicly denounced, Shostakovich rebounded with the compelling and calculated Symphony No. 5. The music supplied a soundtrack for the Soviet people and satisfied the apparatchiks.

Given the daunting task of finishing songs Bob Dylan had started (and abandoned) decades ago, super-producer T Bone Burnett decided to call a few friends.

NPR's Renee Montagne talks to the funk legend about his new memoir, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?

He who signed De La Soul, Queen Latifah and Digital Underground sat down with his old friend Ali Shaheed Muhammad to tell stories about Tribe, ODB, Cypress Hill and everybody in between.

The guitarist says he sees music as a "positive thought that creates a million positive vibrations."