An Absolutely Fabulous Celebration of History’s Greatest Divas
Left, Rita Moreno, the Puerto Rican actress who played Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story. Right, the Italian opera singer Giulia Grisi in the 1830s. Getty Images Bottled…
How This Self-Taught Guitarist Became a Music Legend
Look closely at Libba Cotten’s 1950 Martin guitar, part of the Sounding American Music exhibition at the National Museum of American History, and you may be able to see the…
These 15 Groovy Photos Capture the Joy of Music
Photographs selected by Jeff Campagna Text by Tracy Scott Forson What would life be like without music? Luckily, we don’t have to find out. For eons, humans have found ways…
The Stories Behind Six Iconic Album Cover Shots Taken in America—and Where to Recreate Them
Whether decorated with a photo of a bustling subway stop or a striking Andy Warhol painting, album cover designs can constitute masterpieces in their own right. Michele Molinari/Getty Images In…
Eight Movie Museums Cinephiles Need to Visit
Visitors look at posters in the Third Man Museum in Vienna. Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images We all have movies that we want to learn everything about. Documentaries and interviews…
Desi Arnaz Is Getting a Much-Deserved Historical Marker in Miami Beach
Raj Tawney Freelance writer Generation after generation, Americans continue to remember Desi Arnaz as Lucille Ball’s lovable Latin bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo in arguably the greatest television show in history,…
Could Anyone Bring an Extinct Animal Back to Life? And More Questions From Our Readers
Could a private citizen get hold of a genome and use it to bring an extinct animal back to life? Tracy Walker Could a private citizen get hold of a…
Quincy Jones Was a ‘Musician’s Musician’ Who Was Uniquely Beloved in the Cutthroat Music Industry
Quincy Jones at an awards ceremony in 2014 Sascha Steinbach / Getty Images The cultural influence and importance of Quincy Delight Jones Jr. cannot be overstated. As one of the…
A Curious Industry Once Gave Anyone With a Song in Their Heart a (Long) Shot at Stardom
Song-sharking companies sometimes began by offering free consultations for everyday poets—as in this 1921 advertisement in Film Fun magazine. Film Fun Magazine As popular music grew into a mass industry…
A Brilliant Folk Musician Turned the Natural Sounds of the Blue Ridge Mountains Into Powerful Songs
Daniel Bachman at home in Madison County, Virginia, with his trusty Martin D-18 guitar. Aldona Dye In early 2020, Daniel Bachman stood at the edge of a creek in Falmouth,…