Music Interviews

Man Man Dan Monick/Coutesy of the artist hide caption

Maria Sherman's new book gives critical consideration to a too-often maligned phenomenon within pop music: the boy band. Alex Fine/Courtesy of Black Dog & Leventhal hide caption

S.G. Goodman Meredith Truax/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Jake Blount, a 24-year-old banjoist and fiddler, is one of the people in the traditional music community working to educate others on the genre's Black roots. Michelle Lotker/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Zeshan B. Harris Ansari/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

The Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster County, Pa., created conditions for its inhabitants to become the first known female composers in America. Doug Kerr/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Siblings Sean and Sara Watkins are the Watkins Family Hour. Jacob Boll/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Stephen Malkmus Samuel Gehrke/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Lucinda Williams Danny Clinch/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

On her first album, Rina Sawayama blends metal and pop and tackles serious issues."It was such a risk to be a musician that I didn't want to do fluffy pop songs and hope it cut through," she says. Hendrik Schneider /Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Eric Whitacre Marc Royce/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Responding to the noise he experienced daily in London, Mala pared down U.K. dance music to a skeletal form. He's the final rung in this chain, but hypothetically, he'd "play it forward" to the late dub pioneer Augustus Pablo. Fabrice Bourgelle/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Run The Jewels Tim Saccenti/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

"I feel like it was better for the longevity of this band, believe it or not, to have gone through something like that," Emily Strayer says of The Chicks' cancellation. "It makes you even stronger." Philippa Price/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Jonathan Wilson Louis Rodiger/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Price has been at home in Nashville trying to keep her feet on the ground. "If you let things like fame or money cloud your mind and poison your spirit, I think your art will really suffer," she says. Bobbi Rich/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Bob Geldof Hamish Macdonald/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Laverne Cox is the executive producer and a prominent voice in the new documentary Disclosure. Ava Benjamin Shorr/Netflix hide caption

Rufus Wainwright's new album is called Unfollow the Rules. He says the title comes from something his daughter said to him, and which he uses to express the need to reexamine the world. Tony Hauser/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Willie Nelson Pamela Springsteen/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

"I think it's important to talk about all chapters of history and from all perspectives — meaning not just from the perspective of the victors," Angelica Garcia says. Caitlyn Krone/Courtesy of the artist hide caption