Music

Erin McKeown's music is a bit hard to describe. It is music and lyrics with meaning so it makes me think, but it's also playful and so it makes me smile. I'll have another chance to hear it soon, since Erin has made a new record, called MANIFESTRA. The album, her seventh, was funded by her fan base via PledgeMusic and will be out on January 15. Today we premiere her song, "Jailer."

At nearly 80, Willie Nelson remains impressively prolific: lots of songs, lots of kids and, fittingly, lots of autobiographies. The country singer's latest memoir is called Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, after a song on his Heroes album, released earlier this year. Nelson says those seeking earth-shattering revelations about his life should look elsewhere; that wasn't his intention in writing the book.

This week three of the best pieces of music writing spoke to the conversations happening between musicians and the people heavily engaged with their work — Bowie reaching out to Scott Walker, Kendrick Lamar anticipating listeners' reactions to his songs and the cementing of hip-hop as the "lingua franca" of men's wear.

Kendrick Lamar And The Post-Hip-Hop Generation

Vintage Trouble has enjoyed a pretty quick rise since forming just two years ago.

Canadian singer-songwriter Doug Paisley makes his first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of Ohio University in Athens. Born in Toronto, Paisley makes music steeped in North American history and tradition. He spent 10 years on the road playing and singing in a Stanley Brothers tribute band, as well as working with another project called Live Country Music.