"I never want my name to be more hot because of controversy than my music," Lil Nas X says. "It's like a blessing and a curse." Eric Lang/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Music Features In-depth storytelling from the NPR Music team.
Music Features
The Youngbloods circa 1967. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption
Beyond The Summer Of Love, 'Get Together' Is An Anthem For Every Season
Viewers find their seats inside The New Temple Missionary Baptist Church for the LA screening of Amazing Grace. Tim Greiving/NPR hide caption
Aretha Franklin's 'Amazing Grace' Gets LA Premiere In The Church Where It Took Place
A view of Pikes Peak from the Carroll Lakes, circa 1925. Katharine Lee Bates' trip up the Colorado mountain inspired her poem "America," later to become the song "America the Beautiful." Harry L. Standley/Courtesy of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum hide caption
Greatness Is Not A Given: 'America The Beautiful' Asks How We Can Do Better
After facing a calamitous scandal that cast doubt on its very future, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra has returned with new leadership and a new album, featuring songs by its city's patron saint of rebirth, Allen Toussaint. Katie Sikora/courtesy of the artist hide caption
Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (right) and members of his Golden Eagles tribe in March 2019 in New Orleans. Erika Goldring/Getty Images hide caption
Ranveer Singh, one of the stars of the recent film Gully Boy, at a publicity event in Mumbai on Jan. 9, 2019. The film has put a spotlight on Indian hip-hop, to the chagrin of some working in it. Sujit Jaiswal/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Bruce Springsteen onstage during the Born in the U.S.A. Tour in 1984. Shinko Music/Getty Images hide caption
Jenny Lewis returns with On The Line, out now. Autumn De Wilde/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Jenny Lewis Puts Her Emotions 'On The Line': 'It Can Get Ugly Sometimes'
Duster was one of hundreds of bands in the late 1990s who made music that was loved by a small audience, then disbanded and assumed its story was over. Then a new generation of fans discovered the band. Courtesy of Numero Group hide caption
(From left) Philadelphia's Max Swan, Kingsley Ibeneche and Ellen Siberian Tiger bring their music to life in breathtaking videos. YouTube hide caption
Nat King Cole plays with his jazz orchestra on the stage of The Apollo Theater, in Harlem, N.Y. in the 1950s. Eric Schwab/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Nat King Cole Still Remains 'One Of The Great Gifts Of Nature' 100 Years Later
Woody Guthrie circa 1940. Al Aumuller/Courtesy of Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. hide caption
How 'This Land Is Your Land' Roamed And Rambled Into American Life
No Man's Band: All-Female Jazz Orchestras Then and Now
WBGO and Jazz At Lincoln Center
No Man's Band: All-Female Jazz Orchestras Then and Now
French composer Hector Berlioz died 150 years ago. He has been a lifelong favorite of the British author David Cairns, who wrote Berlioz's biography and edited and translated his memoirs. Émile Signol/Académie française/Villa Médicis, Rome hide caption
Solange's When I Get Home album and film bathe in the rich cultural history of Houston, evoking the city's past while celebrating its present. BlackPlanet.com/Solange hide caption
R&B singer Kehlani shines in this month's Heavy Rotation mix. Sharon Marrero/Atlantic Records hide caption