Musicians are back on the road, but every show is a gamble

Plus, an interview about Terri Lyne Carrington’s ‘New Standards’ [View this email online]( [NPR Music]( Sept. 24, 2022 by [Marissa Lorusso]( This week, we’re sharing a report about the continued crisis facing touring musicians; plus, more El Tiny performances. [The Oakland artist Spellling is one of countless musicians this year to have tours disrupted by a band member catching COVID-19.]( Illustration by Jackie Lay/Photo by Sharon Lopez Last weekend, in an interview with 60 Minutes, [President Biden said]( the COVID-19 pandemic is a thing of the past. "The pandemic is over," he said, though he admitted that “we still have a problem with COVID.” That problem includes thousands of new cases being detected every day and hundreds of COVID-related deaths each day. “If you notice, no one's wearing masks,” the President continued. “Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing.” That uneasy balance — changes in social norms around masking and other precautions, at a moment when the threat of infection persists — has been weighing on many musicians who have returned to live performances over the last year. This week, we shared [a report from KQED’s Nastia Voynovskaya]( who spoke to artists, venues and industry figures about the particular way the COVID crisis continues to exact a toll on touring musicians. “Mask mandates and similar risk-reduction policies have evaporated. And audiences, perhaps starved for social connection and a sense of normalcy, have largely reverted to pre-pandemic behavior,” Voynovskaya writes. For these artists, the “maze-like logistics of COVID safety are theirs to navigate, with little support from governments or their industry.” I’ve gone to a handful of shows recently, and Voynovskaya’s analysis matches my experience: I still feel pretty troubled about being in a large, mostly unmasked crowd, even though the joy of gathering with strangers to watch a spellbinding performance has felt especially moving after such a long stretch without it. Voynovskaya’s reporting points out how much artists — especially anyone operating below the very highest echelons of success — rely on income from touring, and how devastating even a single positive COVID test result can be for a band. Plus, she speaks with independent music venues to underscore how much they have also suffered because of the pandemic. It’s a crucial reminder of the ongoing challenges facing the industry at large and all the individuals within it — and how, despite it all, “musicians are finding ways to stay motivated and push forward.” --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- New Music - This week’s All Songs Considered New Mix is filled with [thrilling collaborations]( Okkervil River’s Will Sheff is joined by Cassandra Jenkins; Hand Habits co-wrote a song with Amelia Meath; plus, a new band made up four of Washington, D.C.’s best-known musicians, putting out a record on D.C.’s most respected label. - Jake Blount is a singer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and scholar of Black American music. His latest album, The New Faith, is an [ominous Afrofuturist tale]( that reimagines field recordings of spirituals to tell a story about a time after the climate crisis has destroyed the earth. - The Philadelphia songwriter [Alex G]( has long taken a playfully distorted approach to songwriting, like he's filtering his music through a funhouse mirror. While fascinating, the approach also led critics to dub songwriter Alex Giannascoli opaque. But on God Save the Animals, his impressive new album, the musician wields his wide-ranging musical quirks with newly focused direction. - Makaya McCraven — drummer, composer and self-described "beat scientist" — forged his style out of whirring parts and deft designs, working with unstructured group improv and loop-savvy digital postproduction. In These Times, McCraven's new album and by far the most “finished” of his discography, proves that it's possible to [use tools from across the history of jazz performance]( and hip-hop production, with a sensitive hand that masks an obsessive attention to detail. Featuring - The latest edition of Jazz Night in America’s Youngbloods series focuses on pianist and composer [Sean Mason](. He tells the podcast about his musical journey from North Carolina to New York, and how the South never really left his music — plus, hear a Sean Mason Trio performance at Dizzy's Club. - After finding an abysmally low number of songs by women artists within jazz's unofficial book of standards, [Terri Lyne Carrington]( set out to fix the problem. The Grammy-winning jazz drummer created the book New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers. She spoke to All Things Considered about the process and about what jazz culture could look like without patriarchy. - Charley Crockett's story sounds larger than life — years spent riding trains; a claim of relation to folk hero Davy Crockett; narrowly avoided scrapes with the law. But the country singer — who just released his 11th album in seven years — told writer Natalie Weiner, "[Everything I ever said I am is true and then some]( Tiny Desk [Girl Ultra's Tiny Desk concert]( NPR This week, our Latinx Heritage Month celebration continued at the Tiny Desk with a (home) concert from [Carin León]( a game changer in the world of Mexican Regional music, and an intimate, simmering El Tiny performance from [Girl Ultra](. One More Thing [Brad Pitt and Nick Cave]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Listen Live]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Need a new playlist? 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