Music
Your local fan favorite Tiny Desk Contest entry is…
More than 3,000 votes were cast for the fan favorite local entry to NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. The entry that garnered the most votes is a stripped-down R&B performance that...
Our favorite local music from May
From a jazz album inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" to a Brockton rapper's salute to "Phineas and Ferb," our music critics selected genre-blending local artists for this month's...
Boston remembers architect of its '70s and '80s music scene
Rose, who grew up in Roxbury, shaped Boston's music scene in the '70s and '80s, mentoring artists like Prince Charles Alexander who would define the city's sound. He died last...
Boston Pops announce July 4 performers for nation's 250th
The Boston Pops celebrate America's 250th anniversary with the Fireworks Spectacular, featuring Grammy winners Lainey Wilson, Chance The Rapper, and Trombone Shorty at the Hatch Memorial Shell. All three performers...
How a Boston hip-hop prodigy won $5,000 for college
It all began when the Belly Gang Kushington, a rising Atlanta rapper known for his strip club anthem “Friend Do (remix),” issued a challenge to his legions of followers online....
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Can the BSO end its woes with a Finn-ishing touch?
A new paradigm in classical music might have sidelined Andris Nelsons as the Boston Symphony Orchestra's music director. WBUR's critic-at-large Ed Siegel asks whether Susanna Mälkki could give the BSO...
Our favorite local music this month
Spring has ushered in a wave of genre-spanning new tracks and albums. From a timeless look at the triumphs and struggles of our inner lives to an ode to icons...
Tanya Donelly and Chris Brokaw are going medieval on listeners
Both major figures in Boston's rock scene, the duo teamed up to create "The Undone is Done Again," a new EP of medieval songs rearranged for Donelly’s voice and Brokaw’s...
For two New England folk legends, friendship and music can weather any storm
A new documentary premiering at the Independent Film Festival Boston tells the story of a North Shore musical friendship 50 years in the making. Mason Daring and Jeanie Stahl made...
Non-Event celebrates 25 years of bringing experimental music to Boston
Despite being an organization without a permanent venue, Non-Event is dedicated to presenting music that is inherently as non-commercial as it gets. "If they weren’t doing what they are doing,...
At Berklee, aspiring composers worry AI threatens their future
For centuries, the process of writing music has been the same, whether it’s done with pencil and paper or a computer: The art involves expressing human ideas through music. Generative...
Vote for your favorite local 2026 NPR Tiny Desk Contest entry
There were 184 Massachusetts entries to the national contest, and we've whittled it down to 22 local finalists. Cast your vote for the Fan Favorite.
What does the city sound like? This festival wants you to walk to find out
Produced by the Harvard ArtLab and artist-researcher Jacek Smolicki, the Walking Festival of Sound features a lineup of 19 soundwalks, listening sessions and talks from local artists and practitioners. The...
A musical project sheds light on Boston's Black labor history
An album and podcast from the Silkroad Ensemble and Rhiannon Giddens was inspired by the Black and immigrant labor that built America’s railroads. In Boston, Black sleeping car porters unionized...
Our local Tiny Desk search begins
WBUR's Amelia Mason has begun her annual springtime search for our favorite local entry to NPR's Tiny Desk Contest, with the help of a panel of local collaborators.
How Berklee College of Music is thinking about AI and the future of music
Mark Ethier runs the Berklee Emerging Artistic Technology Lab, or BEATL. His job is to prepare Berklee College of Music students for an evolving industry where the use of AI...
Boston's folk scene remembers Bob Franke with a tribute concert
The beloved singer-writer died in October at the age of 74 after being struck and killed by a motorcycle in Guatemala, where he had recently retired. Musicians are honoring his...
Ahead of No Kings Rally, Dropkick Murphys' Ken Casey on resistance as celebration
The Celtic punk rockers are taking the stage as part of Saturday’s No Kings Rally on Boston Common. The lead singer spoke about staying true to the band’s message and...
Five years after his death, Chick Corea's legacy lives on
The Chelsea native died in 2021, but between a series of newly released live recordings, his recent Grammy win for Best Jazz Performance, and his compositions remaining a core part...
Boston's Sweet Petunia brings basement DIY to old time folk
Banjo-wielding Maddy Simpson and Mairead Guy may have met in the halls of the Berklee College of Music in 2018, but it was at an Allston basement show where they...