Topic: Music

Music news, from stadium-filling icons to the artists shaping the charts this week, covering new releases, reissues and the interviews and anniversaries that put a record's story in context. It ranges across genres and eras, so a look back at how a soul classic or disco anthem came together sits alongside coverage of what's charting or making headlines right now.

Beyond the music itself, this is where the people and decisions behind it get examined: why a band turned down a big break, how a songwriter settled on a lyric overnight, or what a veteran musician makes of the industry and the world today. There's also room for the wider culture around music, from touring and nightlife to the health and social benefits some readers get from it.

Taken together, it's a mix of nostalgia and the present tense, useful for anyone who wants to understand not just what's playing now but the stories and decisions that shaped the music they already know.

  • Rachika Nayar’s Heaven Come Crashing is an instrumental epic of desperate longing

    The Verge’s Terrence O’Brien reviews Heaven Come Crashing, the new album from experimental guitarist Rachika Nayar, praising it as an emotionally intense, largely instrumental work that explores desperate romantic longing while also critiquing its own reckless passion. He notes the record marks a shift from Nayar’s percussion-free debut, Our Hands Against The Dusk, incorporating sparse…

  • ‘Hadestown: The Musical’ Is Now Top Grossing Live Theater Capture – Specialty Box Office

    “Hadestown: The Musical,” Bleecker Street’s West End stage-to-screen recording, has become the highest-grossing live theatre capture ever released in cinemas, overtaking Disney’s “Hamilton”. The milestone came in its second weekend, helping independent releases contribute strongly to one of the biggest overall box office weekends on record, alongside studio blockbusters such as “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”…

  • Democrats split over socialist influence as Carville threatens exit

    Democratic strategist James Carville said he would leave the Democratic Party if left-wing streamer Hasan Piker became one of its leading voices, framing the remark as part of a broader warning about the growing influence of socialist and progressive figures within the party. Made during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing”, his comments…

  • The 1960s band Glenn Frey crowned the best voices in California

    Glenn Frey and Don Henley of the Eagles regarded the Beach Boys as the greatest American vocal group, according to the article. Their admiration highlights the Beach Boys’ influence on the Eagles’ close-harmony sound and on California popular music more broadly. Frey said the Beach Boys, particularly Brian Wilson, influenced all of the Eagles and…

  • 3 of the All-Time Best 1970s Songs To Pair With a Glass of Wine

    This lighthearted feature from American Songwriter picks out three classic 1970s tracks that pair well with a glass of wine, tying each song’s backstory to its wine-related theme. The piece is part of a recurring “list” format the site uses to spotlight nostalgic music trivia, aimed at readers who enjoy classic rock, pop and country…

  • Morgan Wallen’s Year-Old Album Manages to Climb Back Atop the Charts

    Morgan Wallen’s album I’m the Problem has returned to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, more than a year after its release in May 2025 and seven months after it last held the number one spot in January. The comeback came in one of the closest chart races of the year, with Wallen narrowly…

  • Ariana Grande to step back from public life after tour ends

    Ariana Grande has confirmed she will “take a step back from visibility” once her Eternal Sunshine tour concludes, and has withdrawn from her planned West End stage debut in a revival of Sunday In The Park With George. The decision follows renewed and intense online scrutiny of her body and appearance, which escalated after she…

  • Watch: GRETA VAN FLEET Plays Intimate Concert At Chicago’s Metro

    Greta Van Fleet played an intimate concert at Chicago’s 1,100-capacity Metro venue on 31 July, with footage of the show since uploaded to YouTube by the Mike Dziama channel. The performance follows a similar small-venue show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom two months earlier, where the band debuted its new single “Play Your Games”, and…

  • “There are other cities”: Is New York City still a musical haven in 2026?

    An article for Far Out Magazine questions whether New York City remains a genuine haven for musical creativity in 2026, contrasting its storied history as the birthplace of jazz, punk and hip-hop with today’s soaring rents and gentrification. It weighs punk icon Patti Smith’s long-standing warnings that the city has “closed itself off” to young,…

  • 3 Early Lonestar Hits That Would Still Work on Country Radio Today

    Country trio Lonestar broke through in 1995 and went on to a decade of radio success, and a retrospective by American Songwriter highlights three early singles it argues would still fit comfortably on country radio playlists today. The piece underscores how the band’s songwriting and vocal style from their formative years has aged well, even…