RECENT ARTICLES

Robert Glasper is a titan of music. He’s worked with hip-hop performers like the Roots and Common. He’s worked with jazz legends like Herbie Hancock. He’s traversed genres and split them wide open. Glasper, who burst onto the scene in 2013 with his Grammy-winning LP, Black Radio, really cemented his mythic status with his work on Kendrick Lamar’s record, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).

Today, Glasper continues to do it all. He plays in his all-star band, Dinner Party, and produces work for artists like Norah Jones, Anderson .Paak, Brittany Howard, and many others. Coming up in October, Glasper will be participating in several livestreams, as well as a month-long residency at the famed Blue Note Jazz Club. We caught up with the artist to ask him about his relationship to music, how he first came to it, his upcoming gigs, and much more.

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Today, Ayron Jones is not only one of the biggest up-and-coming names in rock music, but he’s one of the biggest names in the genre, period. Over the past year, or so, Jones has rocketed to notoriety with hits that showcase his gravely singing voice and prowess on the electric guitar, with whirling dervish solos.

Jones’ latest single, “Supercharged,” which he released about a month ago, showcases the artist’s sonic power and large abilities, but it also showcases restraint. On the track, which often enlivens audiences (more on that below), Jones doesn’t tear the roof off with a big solo. Instead, it’s all about the scream and shout from his vocal performance.

We caught up with the Seattle-based singer-songwriter, who released his hit LP, Child of the State, this year, to ask him about his latest track, how it hits fans, where it originated from, and how it makes Jones, himself, feel when it’s filling the stage with energy.

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Upside-down left-handed guitarist, Malina Moye, is a beacon. Whether she’s ripping solos on stage or sharing her new custom guitar strings, Moye brings joy wherever she goes. She’s energetic, exciting, and excitable, and just a treasure of an artist. But Moye’s story wasn’t always a happy one.

As American Songwriter previously wrote about here, Moye has endured her share of struggles, from being homeless to working her way from the ground up as a professional musician. So, when her song, “Enough,” helped the record Bad as I Wanna Be hit No. 1 for two weeks straight on the Billboard Blues Chart, it was a cause for celebration for Moye.

We caught up with the artist to ask her about the song, how it came to be, and how it helped to change her life.

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Thursday (September 23), famous folks like songwriter and artist, Amanda Palmer, and The Daily Show co-founder, Lizz Winstead, will be performing, singing, and telling stories for the new event, Do Re #MeToo: Sexist Songs Sung by Righteous Feminists, in the name of stomping out the patriarchy and raising money for abortion access.

Also in attendance for the virtual event, for which you can buy tickets here, will be Busy Phillips and Sandra Bernhard. This is now become an annual get-together, with past Do Re #MeToo showcases scheduled in 2020 and 2019. This year, the show has special significance after the recent abortion law passed in Texas.

We caught up with Palmer, who is known both for her solo work and collaborative work in the band, The Dresden Dolls. Palmer, who has a large and passionate fan base, is also known for her social justice commentary and ability to wear her emotions, thoughts, and beliefs on her sleeve.

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LP, the operatic singing, keen-eyed songwriter who is known for epic songs like “Lost On You” and “When We’re High” isn’t afraid to curse. She’s not afraid to lust or show off fantasies, either. She’s confident in herself and in her vast abilities. From hiding her eyes underneath her curly coif to singing three-octave range while strumming a ukulele.

This bravado, perhaps, is made most evident in the song and accompanying music video for “When We’re High,” a sultry, slightly depraved song about tumbling into a lover and becoming a mess of arms and legs while enjoying the effects of, say, a little Mary Jane. It’s just another Tuesday night for LP and friends.

We caught up with LP to talk about many things, including the origins of both the hot-under-the-collar song and music video. Here, she tells us about the worlds she creates and the urge to stay in them forever. Her new forthcoming album, Churches, is out December 3.

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Songwriter and performer, Nessa Barrett, is the very young, very popular, and very capable artist you’re about to hear from just about every day. She has earned millions of YouTube streams for her dark, pop- and rock-infused tracks ever since dropping her single, “Pain.”

On Friday, September 10, Barrett released her debut EP, Pretty Poison, which includes hits like her signature track, “i hope ur miserable until ur dead.” The album is a sleek trip through some at times-morbid, snarling thoughts but that’s what makes Barrett stand out: she isn’t afraid to say what’s on her, and your, mind.

We caught up with the 19-year-old New Jersey-born artist to ask her a few questions about her early days in music, how she found her macabre voice, and what Pretty Poison means to her today on its release.

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These days, there are probably about three-to-seven people on earth who haven’t shed a tear or grinned widely after seeing singer Jimmie Herrod on America’s Got Talent. He’s touched many and the videos for his recent performances have garnered hundreds of thousands of views and will likely soon earn millions more.

Herrod, who resides in the Pacific Northwest when he’s not wowing Los Angeles audiences, has a voice like a whole Broadway musical packed into each and every note. He’s Annie and Hamilton in a single modulation. These are the qualities that have enraptured audiences since he auditioned on the show weeks ago.

At times, while Herrod is supremely talented, it’s what he sings as much as howhe does it that is so striking. We caught up with Herrod, who will next perform for the AGT Finals on Tuesday (September 14) before the winner is announced on Wednesday (September 15), to ask him about his journey to the show, how he’s keeping a level head and how the surreal experience is sinking in.

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A Great Big World—the duo comprised of Ian Axel and Chad King—sometimes can’t believe their eyes and ears. When their music is on popular television shows like Glee or when they’re performing at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or when they’re sharing a song with the global icon, Christina Aguilera, sometimes they just pinch themselves, happy at the result of loads of hard work.

Together, the two friends and longtime collaborators (ever since their college days at New York University) have worked quite hard. Through lots of internal, existential digging, they’ve come up with a formula for writing that works for them. But sometimes something unpredictable happens. Sometimes you write a great song like “Say Something” and Aguilera calls and wants to sit in.

We caught up with Axel and King to talk to them about their songwriting process, how they wrote their 2013 piano-based hit, “Say Something” (with co-writer Mike Campbell), which has since featured Aguilera, earned a Grammy Award, and garnered over half-a-billion streams on YouTube, alone.

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In 2001, when the Omaha, Nebraska-born band, 311, released its newest single, “Amber,” from the album, From Chaos, it likely came as a surprise to most fans of the raucous group. In 1995, when 311 released its massively popular self-titled album, the band rocketed to fame with rock-rap-reggae hybrid songs that shook the paint off the walls like, “Down” and “All Mixed Up.”

Throughout the band’s subsequent years, 311 has experimented with tones, moods, and sounds while still trading in the hybrid sonic space they helped establish in the mid-‘90s. But when “Amber” came out, it seemed like the most docile track from a band known for knocking the fillings out of your teeth.

But a mellow vibe was exactly the point, which 311 frontman Nick Hexum describes below about “Amber,” which hit No. 13 on the Billboard Modern Rock Charts and was certified Gold. Here we catch up with Hexum to ask him about the track’s origins, impact, and feeling.

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