Kendrick Lamar stomps, but Taylor Swift takes the biggest Grammy prize
Kendrick Lamar led the way with five Grammys at the 58th annual awards Monday, including one for rap album of the year for "To Pimp a Butterfly." But it was...
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Teen finds pop gold in muddy relationships on ‘Love Yes’
How do you take your caustic observations and melancholy regrets? With a little cream, perhaps? If that's your preferred mix of tonal colors, "Love Yes" (Carpark), the third album from...
Eleanor Friedberger injects songs with mystery, hooks
Eleanor Friedberger's songs evoke more than reveal. The melodies stick in your head for days, and the riddles and questions they pose can linger even longer. Take the opening track...
Mavis Staples brings the joy, but it’s complicated on ‘Livin’ on a High Note’
Mavis Staples had only one request when some A-list artists were approached to write songs for her forthcoming album, "Livin' on a High Note" (Anti). "I wanted joyful," she says....
2016 Grammy Awards predictions
At the 58th annual Grammy Awards on Monday (7 p.m. on CBS-TV) the Recording Academy will hand out the final handful of its awards in 83 categories. Each year, we...
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘difficult’ album a Grammy front-runner
As protest marches broke out in cities across America last summer in response to police violence against African-Americans, the chorus of Kendrick Lamar's hit single "Alright" could be heard in...
Beyonce reduces Coldplay to appetizer at Super Bowl halftime show
The Super Bowl 50 halftime show Sunday was billed as a "musical celebration of past, present and future," and it was pretty clear that at least somebody would get bypassed,...
Freakwater finds light in 1,001 dark nights on ‘Scheherazade’
The title of Freakwater's first album in more than 10 years, "Scheherazade" (Bloodshot), name-checks the Arabic storyteller and future queen of "One Thousand and One Nights" fame. You won't find...
Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White dead at 74
Maurice White was in many ways R&B's answer to Duke Ellington in the 1970s. His sweeping compositions for the group he founded, Earth, Wind & Fire, encompassed jazz, soul, gospel,...
Chicago singer Eryn Allen Kane delivers soul with a message
On her latest track, "How Many Times," Eryn Allen Kane builds a monument of anguish and longing out of the song title. As her voice morphs from mesmerizing spirals into...