Search results for

Led by North Carolina brothers Seth and Scott Avett, the band blends showmanship and poignancy. Watch the band encore with "I And Love And You" and hear the full set.

After their Hall & Oates' cover went viral on YouTube, Nicki Bluhm and her band The Gramblers continue plugging away as hard-working rockers. Hear them perform at the 2013 Newport Folk Festival.

On his first solo album, Jim James turns inward and recasts himself as a lost wanderer in search of redemption and comfort. Hear him perform as part of the 2013 Newport Folk Festival.

After releasing his mostly acoustic debut in 2010, Irish singer James Vincent McMorrow was afraid of getting pegged a folk artist. His follow-up album takes an entirely different and unexpected turn.

JD McPherson provides a refreshing reminder that retro roots music isn't timid: His debut album synthesizes blues and rockabilly and old-school rock 'n' roll with an unmistakable punk spirit.

Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent have spent the last decade or so singing sweetly, rowdily anthemic folk-country music together, most recently under the name Shovels & Rope.

Bird's records have grown quieter and more intimate in recent years, but he remains a remarkably dynamic live performer. Watch him collaborate with Tift Merritt at the 2013 Newport Folk Festival.

Half Simon & Garfunkel and half Smothers Brothers, Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale's harmonies intertwine beautifully, while their deadpan banter is worth the price of admission on its own.

In a new book, journalist Joshua Kosman predicts a coming credit crisis, and assigns blame to private equity firms. While such firms make a fast profit from buying companies, improving them and reselling them, the companies take on the debt incurred from the purchase, leaving them in danger of financial collapse.

Nelson George, a prolific writer and critic of black America, has made a documentary based on his best-selling book Post-Soul Nation. The new film, Smart Black People, profiles African-American personalities who left their stamp on America in the 1980s.

Officials in Washington, D.C. said that they weren't able to prevent the disappearance of Relisha Rudd. But is that true?

The Pennsylvania native loved the 1905 gospel hymn inspired by the Gospel of Matthew.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that the brokerage and credit-card company Dean Witter agreed to a $9.9 billion merger with investment banking giant Morgan Stanley. Their merger would create the world's biggest securities firm. The announcement today brings Wall Street directly into the merger frenzy that has swept corporate America. Once again, the driving force is the strategic advantage of combining with a company that has complementary strengths. Dean Witter, Discover & Co. is strong in the "retail" brokerage business, selling stocks, bonds and such to the public. Morgan Stanley Group Inc. is a powerhouse in mergers and in underwriting securities. The stock-swap merger will create a new company called Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. with annual revenue of $12 billion.

The kind of sumptuous torch song that Carey hasn't sung in a minute, "Fall in Love at Christmas" is a carol for grown folks several seasons into their love.

Tim Gay's display has 687,000 blinking, multicolored lights. He calls it the ERDAJT Holiday Lights Display — using the initials of his children.

George Walker's final Piano Sonata might be short in length, but it's long on ideas, unfolding in a colorful thicket of textures and episodes.

Jimmy Norman sang with the Coasters for three decades. He played with Hendrix and wrote lyrics for "Time is on My Side." At 70, he has his first nationally distributed solo CD: Little Pieces. Hear Norman and NPR's Scott Simon.

Washington, D.C., saw its homicide rate fall to 198 murders in 2004, down from 248 murders in the previous year. While the nation's capital and other cities have seen a drop in the annual number of murders, others have not.

Writing "N.Y. Doll" from the perspective of a late New York Dolls bassist, Robyn Hitchcock opts not to copy the Dolls' pre-punk strut and roar. Instead, he sticks to what he knows, slowly stretching the guitar jangle until it ripples and pulses with the hum of psychedelia.

Dr. Dog's "Worst Trip" combines classic rock with indie-pop and soul; its universal, accessible sound seems modern while recalling Todd Rundgren, The Band and The Kinks. Mostly, though, its captivating pop hooks and lush instrumentation lead back to the Beatles, and John Lennon in particular.