With its poetic lyrics and haunting melodies, contemporary folk music is, at its best, deeply evocative. The elusive genre is hard to pin down, often blending traditional acoustics with elements of ...

NPR Music's 2025 Tiny Desk Contest just wrapped up its nationwide tour with winner Ruby Ibarra, a rapper from the Bay Area. Meanwhile, our judges also discovered tons of great new musicians through ...

What is the most famous decade for folk music? That is a subjective answer, but fans, critics, and historians would probably all agree that it is the 1960s. Between the abundance of folk music that ...

The best songs of 2025 worked admirably toward the daunting task of attempting to describe what it feels like to be alive in the unpredictability matrix of the mid-’20s. Songwriters expressing pangs ...

The best folk albums tend to suit this time of year—the muddy oranges, browns and greens; the slowing-down after frenzied summers; the darkness. Blending an embrace of the melancholy with an interest ...

From unexpected pop pivots to reflections on the state of the world, these are the essential songs of the year.

1923, 1945, 1962, and even 2045; what we are trying to say is that no matter the year, folk music will always come out. And given its sentimental and intellectual grip on the masses and the music ...

It is tough being an independent musician these days, but every year, NPR Music's Tiny Desk makes dreams come true for at least one new artist through the Tiny Desk Contest. Thousands enter, and only ...