Most of us can remember the first time mortality became more than just something we read about in books and saw in movies. Usually, it comes in the form of a grandparent dying, or a classmate gone way before their time. For me, it was the drowning of a friend in a river in Vermont…

When Trump was elected president, we all wanted to know: Who was going to lead the revolution in music? Since then, it's become clear. In many ways, women fighting for their right to equal pay (Margo Price), as well as the right to stand up and triumph against abuse and assault (Kesha), have dominated the…

As fiddles and banjos have become increasingly commonplace in mainstream music, the spirit of a string band -- one that's predicated on a kind of pure, punk-rock joy -- has often taken a back seat to a more earnest, precious treatment. But in Appalachia, that traditionalism was about skill, about a kinetic energy, about falling…

Any given day of the week, one person or another will try to convince us all that rock 'n' roll is dead -- that synths have replaced guitars for good and children are growing up more interested in clicking "like" on Facebook than they are clicking a set of distortion pedals. Believe what you want,…

Our music is filled to the brim with songs about the hardship of love -- how difficult it can be to fight for a true partnership, to triumph over heartbreak, to pine away for some unrequited romance. Love, and its never-ending complications, will likely feed songs until eternity, and lyrics will forever serve as a…