Arts and Entertainment

This should be the national anthem, and I don't mean just the song itself but this rendition of it. Accept no substitutes. It is no accident that Charles starts with…

"Rocketman," the Elton John biopic/fantasy/jukebox musical, has generated only about one-tenth the box office, and even less of the buzz, of "Bohemian Rhapsody," but it has exceeded analyst expectations and…

I think of this song every time Donald Trump opens his mouth. It's been nine years since CeeLo Green (born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway), along with collaborators including Bruno Mars, wrote…

Another monster month, aided and abetted by some songs I'd missed that made NPR's best songs list for the first half of 2019. I'm cheating on this one, but it's…

In case you hadn't noticed, Laurel Canyon is having a moment, and it's not just the new Springsteen album. Jakob Dylan has put together a documentary called "Echo in the…

This isn't John Prine's most famous song, but it's the one that many of his fans -- including Bob Dylan -- consider his greatest. Unlike most of his story songs,…

Here's another song that, for reasons I can't fathom, has never been employed for its obvious calling as a TV commercial. It's Hoagiefest time at the region's favorite convenience store,…

"Hooked on a Feeling" had been a hit twice and been recorded by several artists before it hit No. 1 in America in 1974 with this version by a group…

Huzzah! Tonight's Firefly lineup actually includes a band whose name I recognize. After a string of successful albums in the '00s, Death Cab seemed to peak in 2008 with its…

A message slipped into this chess metaphor was as close to political as Yes ever got. If you only heard it on AM radio when it was released as a…

As an antidote to the new Bruce Springsteen album, a pleasant enough departure from his usual sound but about as energetic as a Perry Como record, here's the song that…

The Thorns was an interesting experiment. Solo artists Shawn Mullins, Pete Droge and Matthew Sweet began working together as a CS&N-style acoustic harmony group in 2002 for an album that…

Al Kooper is one of rock's Zelig characters. His career started in the 1950s as a member of the Royal Teens, responsible for the single "Short Shorts." In the 1960s…