Ann Powers
Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. She writes for NPR's music news blog, The Record, and she can be heard on NPR's newsmagazines and music programs.
One of the nation's most notable music critics, Powers has been writing for The Record, NPR's blog about finding, making, buying, sharing and talking about music, since April 2011.
Powers served as chief pop music critic at the Los Angeles Times from 2006 until she joined NPR. Prior to the Los Angeles Times, she was senior critic at Blender and senior curator at Experience Music Project. From 1997 to 2001 Powers was a pop critic at The New York Times and before that worked as a senior editor at the Village Voice. Powers began her career working as an editor and columnist at San Francisco Weekly.
Her writing extends beyond blogs, magazines and newspapers. Powers co-wrote Tori Amos: Piece By Piece, with Amos, which was published in 2005. In 1999, Power's book Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America was published. She was the editor, with Evelyn McDonnell, of the 1995 book Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Rap, and Pop and the editor of Best Music Writing 2010.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University, Powers went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of California.
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In this four-song set, the country artist delivers her songs with clear-eyed passion.
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NPR Music's Ann Powers moderates the first-time meeting of far-flung soulmates. Hurray for the Riff Raff's new album was inspired, in part, by adrienne maree brown's book Emergent Strategy. -
Alynda Segarra is one of the most adventurous spirits to ever come out of the Americana music scene. Segarra is better known as Hurray for the Riff Raff.
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We're all feeling too much. Mitski's music can help. On her sixth album, she embraces dramatic emotions — and even in the depths of inner dysregulation, her clarity is remarkable. -
From her state-of-the-art home studio, the beloved singer-songwriter plays selections from her 2021 album, Ocean to Ocean, as well as a fan favorite.
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Ronnie Spector, lead singer of the 1960s girl group The Ronettes, has died at 78 after a bout with cancer. She recorded a string of pop hits including "Walking In The Rain" and "Be My Baby."
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A new year means a lot of new music. But what's worth checking out? A sneak preview of what you should be listening to in 2022.
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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. -
NPR Music critic Ann Powers reviews a new docuseries called "The Beatles: Get Back". It centers around hours of unseen footage of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. -
The star who commands a planetary position in the galaxy of pop chronicles divorce and soul-searching recovery on an album that thrillingly redefines her artistry by bringing her gently down to earth.
