It's never been better for dead and dying musicians

If the old motto was watch out below, the new one ought to be: Watch out above!

The crisis at Starbucks is a sign of our un-serious times

I'm looking for music in all the wrong places—because that's where the best stuff is hiding in 2024

My brother Dana shares a story about his unusual childhood

I try to draw wisdom from Tracy Chapman, Roman chariot races, politics, René Girard, Marie Antoinette, and the Texas A&M Aggies

What happened to Pitchfork

...and five predictions about its future

And I offer seven radical hypotheses. But can you handle the truth?

This is a bigger problem that you can fix with a Pitchfork

And other updates on previous posts

Longform journalism is coming back (and deserves our support)

The singer who popularized "White Christmas" was also a visionary tech innovator

Western music has always been multicultural

An update on dangerous music

Here are the symptoms of a peculiar and self-destructive syndrome in our culture—it doesn't even have a name (yet)

I've handpicked 56 tracks from the Lone Star State (3 hours of music)

All styles, all genres

In this section from my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead', I probe the hidden musical origins of Hollywood protagonists

Unexplained stops. Incensed firefighters. Cars named Oregano. The robotaxis are officially here.

I'll soon share my 100 favorite albums of the year—meanwhile here are 50 honorable mention records of exceptional merit

Or why it's 1800 all over again

From Frank Sinatra to the Beatles, Capitol stood at the forefront of creative popular music for two amazing decades

Hollywood embraces a desperate strategy—canceling franchise films before they're released

My latest briefing paper on culture, arts & society

You don't need to be a sailor to put these songs to work

Here's my final batch of record reviews for 2023—and I've saved some of the best for last

Or how flawed thinking can make $10 billion disappear

My life is pretty much like yours. Except that total strangers send me all sorts of things.

The guitar great, a 20-time Grammy Award-winner was dumbfounded. 'This is a first,' he told the audience. The heckler was ejected much too late, even though multiple security guards were in close prox...