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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The provocative pop star covers Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" and performs two cuts from Plastic Hearts for her Tiny Desk quarantine concert.
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Country music's breakout star of 2020 performs three songs for her Tiny Desk quarantine concert, including "Black Like Me."
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The Nashville singer-songwriter delivers an empowering performance in this Tiny Desk quarantine concert.
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Little Big Town, one of the biggest bands in country music, perform a Tiny Desk quarantine show, and they bring the hits.
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The Nashville songwriter performs four songs from her picturesque loft apartment, including fan favorite "Hold My Hand." -
The Nashville-based rock musician recorded a five-song set for our Tiny Desk quarantine series.
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Taylor Swift surprised her fans and released a new album Friday. Folklore is her eighth studio album.
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At 79, 74 and 87 years old, respectively, these three veteran songwriters prove that it's possible to release poignant and powerful work late in an artist's career. -
NPR Music correspondents Ann Powers and Sidney Madden recommend a few favorite livestreaming performance series to check out while in-person concerts are on hold. -
NPR's music correspondent answers questions about the changing nature of the music industry during the pandemic and talks about how some artists are trying to make ends meet.
