Music

Flagstaff photographer Mike Frankel has had experiences that most any rock ‘n’ roll fan would envy: he shot the Beatles on their first U.S. tour and turned his lens on the Who, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, and David Bowie, among many others. Now he's compiled dozens of never-before-seen images into a book called “Hurricanes of Color.”

If you have ever had the fortune to witness an Apache Crown dance or watched the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee, you may have heard an indescribable sound made by a curious device known as the bullroarer. The bullroarer has been used by cultures worldwide as a ritual musical instrument and for communicating over great distances.

Metallica postponed their Sunday show in Arizona after announcing that lead singer James Hetfield tested positive for COVID-19. The mega metal band is on the U.S. leg of their latest tour.

For more than two decades, Old Crow Medicine show has been a bona-fide institution in the traditional music world. But their appeal has expanded well into the mainstream, partially due to their modern-day classic song “Wagon Wheel” that’s been covered the world over. In the latest installment of KNAU’s series Eats and Beats, we hear from Old Crow’s leader Ketch Secor about the unifying power of folk music and its raw, visceral energy that transcends generations.

Flagstaff folk-rock band Tow’rs recorded their new album live in studio, forcing them to abandon their quest for perfection. Like so many others during the pandemic, front couple Kyle and Gretta Miller felt like parts of their lives were out of control. Their new album is an intimate, yet brutally honest examination of the life they’ve built together and letting go of what doesn’t serve them.

The musical duo Sway Wild is scheduled to perform in Flagstaff on Saturday. It’s a homecoming of sorts for musicians Mandy Fer and Dave McGraw, to the place where they formed their band more than a dozen years ago. They have a passionate following of fans and are known for their ethereal vocal harmonies and heartfelt live shows. In the latest installment of KNAU’s series Eats and Beats, Sway Wild talks about their longtime musical partnership and artistic evolution.

In this week’s segment of KNAU's series PoetrySnaps!, Tucson-based writer Simmons Buntin shares his poem Indigo Bunting. It’s a celebration of sound, which is what led Buntin to poetry in the first place. Today, he talks about his original poetic muse — music.

Guitarist Nels Cline is best known for his work with the band Wilco. But one of his free-form side projects, the Radical Empathy Trio, couldn’t be more different and focuses on pure improvisation.

Fresh off one of her biggest album launches of her career, Taylor Swift announced a new U.S. stadium tour starting in 2023 in Glendale, Arizona.

Music can tap hidden wellsprings in the mind and help listeners solve problems that once seemed insurmountable. That’s the idea behind a unique collaboration called Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project. It mixes original music by composer Laura Kaminsky with the science of climate change. The Fry String Quartet brings the performance to Northern Arizona University tonight. In KNAU’s latest installment of Eats and Beats, stories about food and music, Melissa Sevigny spoke with a scientist and a violinist about how the project was born.