music

Ruby Mountain's songs come from her heart. The Oakland-born singer talks about themes of love, grief and overcoming in her work. Her latest album is…

Big Freedia is famed for her music and twerking; her life story and anti-gun activism are less well known. She was shot in 2004, her brother killed in…

On this edition of Your Call, we rebroadcast our conversation with Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus, the incredible classically trained musicians who’ve…

The music of Malik Mays, who performs as Mahawam, is “about resilience, it's about power, it's about beauty, it's about sex,” they told Out in the…

Ayo Jackson is the youngest member of the band Jax. The Haitian-American sibling trio are all teens from East Oakland. Jackson captivates audiences with…

Can art be broadly accessible without sacrificing quality? Can it be cognitively challenging without being elitist?When we think of “real” art, we often…

Records are popular again. So why are people turning to their turntables for music these days? The documentary Vinyl Nation answers that question while…

Jazz vocalist Valerie Troutt tells a coming-of-age story in her new album "The Oakland Girl."Valerie Troutt grew up in The Town, where the community…

Cindy Emch is the queer country lead singer for The Secret Emchy Society. You can dance to her music or enjoy it in a low tempo mood. Cindy knows how to reach people when they're at the bars (metaphorically speaking), lonely, or in love. In this edition of Bay Area Beats, Cindy shares the band's history and its connection to the Bay Area.

Grammy-nominated violinist Alisa Rose is one-half of the duo Scroggins & Rose. Their contemporary roots music is a blend of classical and bluegrass. In…