Music Features

Bishop Carlton Pearson, a renowned preacher, singer and composer, known for his Live At Azusa albums, died on November 19 after a battle with cancer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His theology, known as the “gospel of inclusion,” preached against homophobia and embraced the LGBTQ community, but cost him his congregation and …

There are few things more potentially derailing to a rising artist’s career than imposter syndrome, that nagging sense that you’re just not good enough to warrant a seat at the table. But Nashville guitar phenom Daniel Donato views the condition less as an obstacle and more an opportunity to absorb. …

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Game sniped at Jay-Z with the line: “You 38 and still rappin’? Ugh!” from his 2006 track “It’s Okay (One Blood).” Yet some of this era’s biggest rap heroes are nearing — and above — forty. A “Tale Of The Tape” scene in …

In late January, Teni, the Nigerian Afrobeats star, told me the meaning of “Bourdillon,” a standout track I had received on a draft of her latest album, Tears of the Sun. “Bourdillon is a wealthy place in Ikoyi, where wealthy people stay,” she said of the Lagos neighborhood. We were …

Nearly 50 years after the release of his band’s first album, we’re still getting to know Geddy Lee. For much of its career, Rush managed to be an arena-level band without over-selling its three members as personalities — but as some fans learned for the first time via the great …

The start of d4vd’s musical career happened, unintentionally, in his little sister’s closet. Growing up, he was an avid anime watcher and gamer, and he had been trying to monetize his mastery of Fortnite on YouTube. The only problem: His gaming videos were consistently flagged for music copyright issues. Frustrated, …

Cuba is roughly 1,300 miles away, but in a rehearsal space in downtown Manhattan, it doesn’t feel all that far. Cradling their percussion instruments, horns, and guitars, a ten-piece band of musicians, some from Latin America, preparing to play a sinuous piece of son Cubano, as a theater crew — …

Last week, the news that André 3000 would be releasing an album of instrumental flute jams was greeted with enough head-scratching to draw blood. But don’t tell that to Jake Fridkis, who plays principal flute with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. If you’ve heard DJ Khaled and Drake’s “No Secret” …

When Nashville songwriter Abe Stoklasa died last week at 36, he left behind a catalog that frequently probed the dark corners of daily life. In many of his songs, love sucked, gainful work was elusive, and the choice between redemption and destruction was often decided by a single step. Even …

Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their …