BONUS TRACKS: Study Explores Why Humans Everywhere Make Music

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about music as a uniting force and a universal language. Here at No Depression, we’ve recently published stories about music crossing national and cultural borders, as with the American Patchwork Quartet; music crossing genres, as exemplified by Béla Fleck’s work with Chick Corea, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and his own Flecktones band (a profile on Fleck will appear in our Summer 2024 journal); and even music bridging time, as with new projects from Aoife O’Donovan, Dawn Landes, and Bonny Light Horseman that apply words and songs from long ago to today’s world. Even science can see it. According to this story in The New York Times, a newly published study asked researchers from all over the world to sing songs and share lyrics and melodies from their own traditions, and looked closely at the similarities. What they found was further evidence that music fulfills a deep need that transcends culture. Why, exactly, do we make music? We’re still a long way from knowing. But in a general sense, it seems we do it because we must. Because it’s essential to being human. In a time that finds us divided about almost everything, it’s comforting to have that in common.

From nearly 7,000 entries into NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, one has risen to the top: The Philharmonik. The Sacramento, California-based singer, rapper, and producer Christian Gates and his band took the “desk” mandate of his entry video to the max, performing their winning song, “What’s It All Mean,” in the fluorescent hellscape of an office. Check out the video below, and learn more about The Philharmonik in this story from NPR.

The digital era has made music easier to access, no doubt about that. But information about music on streaming services — band members, guest musicians, or producers, engineers, and other vital contributors to the recording process — is frustratingly hard to come by. Click on “View credits” on any song on Spotify and you’re likely to get the band name (which you already know), the songwriters, maybe the producer, and that’s about it. Other streaming services aren’t much better. What’s the holdup? In a word, metadata. In many more words, WMOT’s Craig Havighurst takes a deep look into the problem, where metadata comes from, and why it matters.

The 45th annual Blues Music Awards in Memphis last week celebrated both veterans and new blood in the genre. Bobby Rush, at age 90, was named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, while Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, 25, won album of the year for his Live in London release. Nick Moss Band won Band of the Year, and the Song of the Year was “What Kind of Fool,” written by Ruthie Foster, Hadden Sayers, and Scottie Miller. See the full list of winners across many flavors of blues in this report from grammy.com.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

Ashley Monroe – “Risen Road”
Alex Lacquemont – “My Dear Friend,” from his new album, The Big Album, coming next week
Valerie June – Pushin’ Against a Stone
Kieran Kriss – “Lauren”
Wyndham Baird – “Meet Me By the Moonlight, Alone,” from his new album, After the Morning, coming May 31
Pokey LaFarge – Rhumba Country
Johnny Irion – “Sleeping Soldiers of Love,” the title track from his new album, coming in August
Jake Kohn – “Where Do We Go From Here?”