Growing older and still loving punk rock aren’t mutually exclusive conditions. But at some point, the admiration usually shifts to listening in the privacy of your home or o...

Brian Stokes Mitchell does not sleep. That’s the only explanation for how he can do all he does, which currently includes filming “Glee” (he’s one of Rachel’s dads),...

The legendary Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington played his first gig nearly a century ago at U Street’s True Reformer hall, across the street from where Ben’s Chili Bowl...

I trust no current label more than ECM Records, in part because I know what I’m getting to a certain degree. Since 1969, German producer Manfred Eicher has honed his very sp...

Sharon Van Etten spent her first two albums getting over a guy. Her college boyfriend, who played in a touring emo band, felt Van Etten was wasting time making her sparse, cou...

Few current hip-hop acts are as outrageous as Die Antwoord, a crew from Cape Town, South Africa, that just released its second album, “TEN$ION” (Downtown). Rapper Ninja an...

Before the Internet enabled us to document anything with the mere press of a button, it took dedicated labor to make sure the world’s cultural history wasn’t lost to the w...

As a freshman at the University of Georgia in 2007, William Kennedy wanted to distinguish himself. So, he painted an old bike green, built a blinking light system for the whee...

Singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards’ new album could easily have been a breakup record. It would have surprised no one if “Voyageur,” her first album since divorcing long...

D.C. has produced its share of musical heroes, including go-go’s Chuck Brown, punk’s Ian MacKaye and jazz’s Duke Ellington. And if eight-string guitarist Tosin Abasi, ab...

Last month, reclusive indie singer Jeff Mangum released a vinyl-only box set collecting nearly everything ever made by his former band, ’90s cult darlings Neutral Milk Hotel...

Ahead of his third-annual indie-record label showcase event at the Black Cat, Sockets Records chief Sean Peoples wonders, “What value do labels add anymore?” In the age of...

Ryan Adams played Strathmore the day after Bryan Adams played Strathmore and the world did not end in a vortex of confusion. In fact, Ryan Adams, who used to bicker with fans ...

From 1994 to 1999, Midnite was arguably the premier roots reggae band in D.C. It might still be, too, had vocalist Vaughn Benjamin and his bassist brother Ron (left and right...

More than 60 years into her career, the joy of performing hasn’t dimmed for gospel singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples. “I think this is what the Lord meant for...