MUSIC 4/8

Why We're Still Watching That Video of Aretha Franklin at the Kennedy Center

Kristi Wooten

Jan 4, 2016

Why We're Still Watching That Video of Aretha Franklin at the Kennedy Center

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the viral video of the Queen of Soul singing for the Obamas and songwriter Carole King at the Kennedy Center...

The Best Albums of 2015: Did Your Favorite Make the List?

Kristi Wooten

Dec 20, 2015

The Best Albums of 2015: Did Your Favorite Make the List?

This year, traditional songwriting went head-to-head with algorithm-based formulas, leaving our brains confused about what makes a good...

Kristi Wooten

Dec 20, 2015

The Best Albums of 2015: Did Your Favorite Make the List?

This year, traditional songwriting went head-to-head with algorithm-based formulas, leaving our brains confused about what makes a good...

Hardcover Rock: Do Music Memoirs Matter?

Kristi Wooten

Dec 14, 2015

Hardcover Rock: Do Music Memoirs Matter?

THIS Christmas, booksellers are featuring several memoirs by rock musicians in their product queues. The authors are not all household...

Elvis Costello's Hardcover Rock: Why Music Memoirs Matter

Kristi Wooten

Dec 14, 2015

Elvis Costello's Hardcover Rock: Why Music Memoirs Matter

THIS Christmas, booksellers are featuring several memoirs by rock musicians in their product queues. The authors are not all household...

The Endless Dance: Spending My Birthday With Spandau Ballet

Kristi Wooten

Dec 8, 2015

The Endless Dance: Spending My Birthday With Spandau Ballet

A woman checks my ID at ATL TSA and hands me my driver’s license. “Make it a good one,” she says. I walk to T Gates and fill my water...

Can Miley Cyrus Educate Millennials About the Fight Against AIDS?

Kristi Wooten

Dec 4, 2015

Can Miley Cyrus Educate Millennials About the Fight Against AIDS?

At Carnegie Hall this past Tuesday night, Miley Cyrus joined U2’s Bono and The Edge, Hozier and Jessie J for a World AIDS Day event...

Kristi Wooten

Dec 3, 2015

Can Miley Cyrus Educate Millennials About the Fight Against AIDS?

At Carnegie Hall this past Tuesday night, Miley Cyrus joined U2’s Bono and The Edge, Hozier and Jessie J for a World AIDS Day event...

Ready and Worthy: Glen Hansard on Love, Money and Why Artists Should Never Give Up

Kristi Wooten

Sep 23, 2015

Ready and Worthy: Glen Hansard on Love, Money and Why Artists Should Never Give Up

Every great songwriter has a “bird on the shoulder” moment now and then. Glen Hansard says the melody of the lead track from his new...

U2’s Disappearing Act: Age Against the Machine

Kristi Wooten

Aug 27, 2015

U2’s Disappearing Act: Age Against the Machine

LAST September U2 released its 13th album, “Songs of Innocence.” Critics lauded the collection’s lush ballads and rhythmically angular...

Kristi Wooten

Aug 27, 2015

U2's Age Against the Machine

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE ECONOMIST Many of today’s top touring artists, including Taylor Swift, One Direction, the Rolling Stones,...

Kristi Wooten

Jul 13, 2015

The Legacy of Live Aid, 30 Years Later

On July 13, 1985, Africa became a brand. The image of a starving Ethiopian girl named Birhan Woldu flickered across TV screens as Paul...

Why We Love Brian Wilson’s Melodies (and Matzo Ball Soup)

Kristi Wooten

Jun 11, 2015

Why We Love Brian Wilson’s Melodies (and Matzo Ball Soup)

After seeing the new movie, Love & Mercy, we’ll never hear The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” the same way again. During a scene in which...

Kristi Wooten

Jun 11, 2015

Why We Love Brian Wilson's Melodies (and Matzo Ball Soup)

After seeing the new movie, Love & Mercy, we’ll never hear The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” the same way again. During a scene in which...

Noel Gallagher on Guitar Solos, Cowbells and Dirty Underwear

Kristi Wooten

Feb 27, 2015

Noel Gallagher on Guitar Solos, Cowbells and Dirty Underwear

PASTE MAGAZINE Twenty years ago this spring, Oasis holed up in a recording studio in Wales to create the defining album of the Britpop...

The Best Albums of 2014: Here's What They Have in Common

Kristi Wooten

Dec 3, 2014

The Best Albums of 2014: Here's What They Have in Common

For the past few years, my year-end music column has focused almost exclusively on lists of singles, from which I’ve tried my darndest to...

Star of The Good Lie Has a Holiday Message of Hope (and a Hot New Song With Nile Rodgers)

Kristi Wooten

Dec 2, 2014

Star of The Good Lie Has a Holiday Message of Hope (and a Hot New Song With Nile Rodgers)

Emmanuel Jal’s story is an inspiring personal journey of survival: During the second Sudanese civil war in the 1980s, his mother was...

The Original Recipe for "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Kristi Wooten

Nov 18, 2014

The Original Recipe for "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

One of the driving forces behind the original Band Aid recording looks back 30 years. THREE decades before One Direction, Ellie Goulding...

This Infographic Explains How America Feels About Spandau Ballet

Kristi Wooten

Nov 13, 2014

This Infographic Explains How America Feels About Spandau Ballet

A new documentary called Soul Boys of the Western World follows the British band Spandau Ballet from its New Romantic beginnings in...

Kristi Wooten

Oct 21, 2014

Annie Lennox's Nostalgia: Timeless Soul

“NOSTALGIA”, the latest album from Annie Lennox, the British singer-songwriter, recalls an era of smoky clubs and street-corner swing....