American music

For his first album of non-original work, Bruce Springsteen recorded a loving, joyous homage to Pete Seeger, including a wild take on one of the country’s most familiar songs.

R.E.M.’s 1994 single signaled a new direction for the band at the height of their popularity, and revived a mystery about one of the strangest crimes of the 1980’s.

Loud, messy and unquestionably brilliant, Hound Dog Taylor created a wild engine of noise that’s half Chicago Blues, half proto-punk, and would become the centerpiece of the largest independent blues label in the U.S.

A one-off novelty song that became the National Anthem of Halloween, Bobby Pickett’s 1962 delight secured his everlasting fame, even if he worked most of his life to be remembered for more.

In 1949, the Cincinnati label King Records released two versions of this tune: a twangy country version, and a screaming jump blues number by saxophonist Bull Moose Jackson. In the process, they produced one of the skeleton keys to rock and roll.

Performing at the height of her powers in 1970, Aretha Franklin turned Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” into a gospel number of extraordinary power. (image: Robert Altman/Getty Archives)

He’s been the ultimate collaborator in New Orleans’s emerging country music scene. Now, with a brand new solo album, Sam Doores steps out on his own.

Headed up by multi-talented singer-songwriter Cindy Emch, The Secret Emchy Society has quickly become a cornerstone band of a burgeoning music scene that’s putting marginalized voices at the forefront of an often marginalizing music scene.

Leyla McCalla is building her music by fusing everything from Haitian folk music to New Orleans jazz to the poetry of Langston Hughes. Read more from my interview with her here.

Dom Flemons is charting a daring path through America’s musical landscape. I interviewed him for Waxwing Literary Journal. Read all about it here.