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John Mellencamp reflects on a world estranged on new album 'Strictly a One-Eyed Jack'

John Mellencamp performs during the Farm Aid 2021 music festival at the Xfinity Theatre on Sept. 25, 2021 in Hartford, Conn. Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images

Music News

John Mellencamp reflects on a world estranged on new album 'Strictly a One-Eyed Jack'

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp returns with his first album of original songs in five years, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack.

John Mellencamp reflects on a world estranged on new album 'Strictly a One-Eyed Jack'

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Meat Loaf, Grammy-winning singer famous for 'I'd Do Anything For Love,' dies at 74

Singer Meat Loaf performs in support of Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the football stadium at Defiance High School in Defiance, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. Charles Dharapak/AP File Photo hide caption

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Charles Dharapak/AP File Photo

Obituaries

Meat Loaf, Grammy-winning singer famous for 'I'd Do Anything For Love,' dies at 74

Meat Loaf, born Marvin Lee Aday, was best known for Bat Out Of Hell, one of the best selling albums of all time.

Tom Morello's wildly eclectic Atlas Underground

Tom Morello Tracis Shinn /Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Tracis Shinn /Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music from WXPN

Tom Morello's wildly eclectic Atlas Underground

XPN

Fire and Flood, features appearances by Nathaniel Rateliff, Chris Stapleton, X Ambassadors, Phantogram, Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen.

21:43

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Elvis Costello is still trying to grow up

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Lens O'Toole/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music from WXPN

Elvis Costello is still trying to grow up

XPN

The phrase "young at heart" is a cliché, but when it comes to Elvis Costello, it really does apply. The Boy Named If is a trip through the inner life of a young person growing up full of imagination and self-discovery.

Elvis Costello on World Cafe

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Review

Music Reviews

'Barn' is Neil Young's best album in quite a while

Fresh Air

Young has long been a nature writer, composing pastorals about the environment. Barn finds him composing lyrical hymns to the earth and sky, or raging against destruction on the horizon.

'Barn' is Neil Young's best album in quite a while

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Aimee Mann adapts songs for 'Girl, Interrupted' on stage

Aimee Mann Sheryl Nields/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Sheryl Nields/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music from WXPN

Aimee Mann adapts songs for 'Girl, Interrupted' on stage

XPN

Mann was tapped to write songs for a stage adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's memoir, and released several of the songs on her album Queens of the Summer Hotel.

Aimee Mann on World Cafe

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The pandemic has been rich with inspiration for Tré Burt

Tré Burt Allan Baker/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Allan Baker/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music from WXPN

The pandemic has been rich with inspiration for Tré Burt

XPN

Burt's latest album, You, Yeah, You, builds on his previous work as his songwriting grows ever more sophisticated.

Tré Burt on World Cafe

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Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon reflects on the 'Future Past'

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John Swannell/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music from WXPN

Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon reflects on the 'Future Past'

XPN

The band''s fifteenth studio album, Future Past, has all the familiar sonic signatures — while exploring the contours of modern production.

Duran Duran on World Cafe

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On 'Valentine,' Snail Mail returns to pin the heart's brass tacks

Snail Mail Tina Tyrell/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Tina Tyrell/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

On 'Valentine,' Snail Mail returns to pin the heart's brass tacks

XPN

World Cafe gets up close and personal with Snail Mail's Lindsey Jordan in this mini-concert from upstate New York, performing songs from her latest album Valentine.

Snail Mail on World Cafe

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Viking's Choice 2021: Cassettes rule everything around me

Cassettes released by Znous, Bacon Grease, Wendy Eisenberg, Morbo, Maraudeur, Myriam Gendron, Cara Neir, Felinto, Neo Geodesia and Lucy Liyou appear on this Viking's Choice episode. Photo Illustration by Renee Klahr, Lars Gotrich/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration by Renee Klahr, Lars Gotrich/NPR

All Songs Considered

Viking's Choice 2021: Cassettes rule everything around me

NPR Music's Lars Gotrich offers a tribute to the Peruvian punk, chiptuned black metal and Brazilian dub that soundtracked his home office in 2021, cranked on a trusty tape machine.

Viking's Choice 2021: Cassettes rule everything around me

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The Fellowship of the Rockers

The Beatles on Mount Doom (or a still from Peter Jackson's Get Back, a documentary constructed from footage shot during the making of the band's last studio albums and final performance). Linda McCartney/Apple Corps Ltd. hide caption

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Linda McCartney/Apple Corps Ltd.

Music

The Fellowship of the Rockers

The new documentary Get Back, cut from 50-year-old footage of Beatles recording sessions by director Peter Jackson, offers a chance to look at one moment when the myth of the "band guy" took shape.

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