Ann Powers
@annkpowers.bsky.social
I write about music things and things music at NPR and elsewhere. Latest book: TRAVELING: ON THE PATH OF JONI MITCHELL.
In The Kingdom Udo Kier played a monstrous baby strapped to a wall and it was one of the most poignant tears-inducing performances ever. RIP to an actual genius
November 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
In The Kingdom Udo Kier played a monstrous baby strapped to a wall and it was one of the most poignant tears-inducing performances ever. RIP to an actual genius
Today in the NPR Music newsletter I wrote about ten great cover versions from this year. Thought I'd tease those of you who haven't signed up with a few.... 1/
November 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Today in the NPR Music newsletter I wrote about ten great cover versions from this year. Thought I'd tease those of you who haven't signed up with a few.... 1/
For example, wholesome and fun convos about your fave old songs at All Songs+!
www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
November 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
For example, wholesome and fun convos about your fave old songs at All Songs+!
www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
This is a big part of the hilarity of it all
lot of mfs on here with a vibe of as you can see i am making better choices about social media who nevertheless can be trusted to show you the worst and stupidest shit you're likely to read each day.
November 22, 2025 at 7:23 PM
This is a big part of the hilarity of it all
In addition to having dire implications etc etc this whole Lizza/Nuzzi thing is frankly hilarious
November 22, 2025 at 5:10 PM
In addition to having dire implications etc etc this whole Lizza/Nuzzi thing is frankly hilarious
You know you want to scream THAT line at the top of your lungs every day. @artsorority.bsky.social and I go deep on "Killing in the Name" in our latest episode for All Songs Plus. Rage Against the Machine forever! Sign up to hear the pod here: www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
All Songs+: “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine : All Songs Considered
This is a new series on All Songs Considered, hosted by NPR Music critic Ann Powers and editor Daoud Tyler-Ameen. Most of what you hear on All Songs is focused on new music, but now, every other Thurs...
www.npr.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:46 PM
You know you want to scream THAT line at the top of your lungs every day. @artsorority.bsky.social and I go deep on "Killing in the Name" in our latest episode for All Songs Plus. Rage Against the Machine forever! Sign up to hear the pod here: www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
New York friends! I'll be at the CUNY GRADUATE CENTER tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. talking storytelling with my pal @jasontougaw.bsky.social who asks the BEST questions. It's free, please come if you can! www.eventbrite.com/e/ann-powers...
Ann Powers: Telling the Storytellers’ Stories
Music critic, biography, and memoirist Ann Powers will discuss her recent biography, Traveling: On the Path with Joni Mitchell.
www.eventbrite.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:23 AM
New York friends! I'll be at the CUNY GRADUATE CENTER tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. talking storytelling with my pal @jasontougaw.bsky.social who asks the BEST questions. It's free, please come if you can! www.eventbrite.com/e/ann-powers...
Please join us!
We are so excited for the opportunity to hear about creativity, writing about music, writing about life. Please join us!
Register:
centerforthehumanities.org/event/ann-po...
@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social @bam-bio-mem.bsky.social @annkpowers.bsky.social @npr.org
Register:
centerforthehumanities.org/event/ann-po...
@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social @bam-bio-mem.bsky.social @annkpowers.bsky.social @npr.org
November 17, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Please join us!
RIP to a bard who meant so much to Nashville
Feel like Todd would want people to listen to this one today:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-zT...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-zT...
Todd Snider - Can't Complain
YouTube video by ewecylinder
www.youtube.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:17 PM
RIP to a bard who meant so much to Nashville
coming up sooooon
Writers at Queens Presents "Women Who Rock: A Reading and Conversation with Deborah Paredez and Ann Powers"📖
11/17, 7PM
Choral Room, Music Building
or join on Zoom:http://bit.ly/3VpykXH
Both writers will read from each of their new books on women and music, followed by a Q&A.
11/17, 7PM
Choral Room, Music Building
or join on Zoom:http://bit.ly/3VpykXH
Both writers will read from each of their new books on women and music, followed by a Q&A.
November 14, 2025 at 9:10 PM
coming up sooooon
Yay and yay especially for the Audio Books column! Kudos
Some exciting news: I am joining @pastemagazine.bsky.social as a ~contributing writer~ with two (!!) monthly columns: Audio Books (interviews with authors of music books) and Cover Me (interviews with bands about all their album covers). Cover Me starts next month. Audio Books starts in January.
November 13, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Yay and yay especially for the Audio Books column! Kudos
I do hell yeah
big ol article about me in GQ, if you go in for that sort of thing www.gq.com/story/john-d...
The Story John Darnielle Lived to Tell
When he was a teenager, the Mountain Goats founder never expected to live to 21. He has since become one of this century’s best songwriters. The lessons of his survival, life, and work feel endless.
www.gq.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
I do hell yeah
Who do I know in the most magical borough? Come on down! So privileged and delighted to be reading/conversing with my friend the genius Deborah Paredez
Writers at Queens Presents "Women Who Rock: A Reading and Conversation with Deborah Paredez and Ann Powers"📖
11/17, 7PM
Choral Room, Music Building
or join on Zoom:http://bit.ly/3VpykXH
Both writers will read from each of their new books on women and music, followed by a Q&A.
11/17, 7PM
Choral Room, Music Building
or join on Zoom:http://bit.ly/3VpykXH
Both writers will read from each of their new books on women and music, followed by a Q&A.
November 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Who do I know in the most magical borough? Come on down! So privileged and delighted to be reading/conversing with my friend the genius Deborah Paredez
👏👏👏
Greg Tate's FLYBOY IN THE BUTTERMILK was (is) like sneaking into a party. AND it had (still has) the highest percentage of "Wait, WHAT? Holy shit, he's RIGHT!" ideas I've ever encountered from any music critic. My biggest inspiration; as Dizzy Gillespie said about Louis Armstrong, "No him, no me."
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 12, 2025 at 6:26 PM
👏👏👏
in 2023 I saw the aurora in Sweden while standing next to a Russian astronomer who kept shouting “AURORA” I’m good for life
November 12, 2025 at 5:01 AM
in 2023 I saw the aurora in Sweden while standing next to a Russian astronomer who kept shouting “AURORA” I’m good for life
I couldn't quite put my thoughts together about Rosalía's new LUX, but it's amazing -- Julianne Escobedo Shepherd reached inside my brain and did it for me. THANK YOU. Subscribe to @hearingthingsco.bsky.social btw it's great www.hearingthings.co/rosalia-lux-...
Rosalía's Orchestral Benediction
Plus: a must-hear album from a virtuosic avant-rock quartet, the fiery return of an essential Chicago rap collective, and more.
www.hearingthings.co
November 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I couldn't quite put my thoughts together about Rosalía's new LUX, but it's amazing -- Julianne Escobedo Shepherd reached inside my brain and did it for me. THANK YOU. Subscribe to @hearingthingsco.bsky.social btw it's great www.hearingthings.co/rosalia-lux-...
OK I'm making a list. I have my opinions but what was your favorite album released this year?
November 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
OK I'm making a list. I have my opinions but what was your favorite album released this year?
Absolutely love this interview with longtime Alice in Chains and original Soundgarden manager Susan Silver. I have admired Susan since I was 18 and she is still dropping wisdom! variety.com/2025/music/n...
Longtime Soundgarden Manager Susan Silver on the Band’s Rock Hall of Fame Induction, Working With Alice in Chains, and Paving the Way for Female Executives (EXCLUSIVE)
With Soundgarden's induction into the Rock Hall of Fame, longtime manager Susan Silver speaks about the honor and being a pioneering female executive.
variety.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Absolutely love this interview with longtime Alice in Chains and original Soundgarden manager Susan Silver. I have admired Susan since I was 18 and she is still dropping wisdom! variety.com/2025/music/n...
This is so damn beautiful
“Heavy music teaches us things such as we’re not alone; when life is dark, we do something about it. We’re not just a prisoner to that darkness. But also that our risk fluctuates, that our misery isn’t gonna last forever. There are ways through it.” www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...
Heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet Nation - High Country News
In response to youth suicides, teachers show students the power of headbanging at Fire in the Mountains festival.
www.hcn.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:29 AM
This is so damn beautiful
That's a great stack of books, delighted to be part of it! And that Musician magazine interview is great. (actually both are)
Happy birthday, Joni. Thank you for your amazing songs all these years. Love that you wrote and recorded what YOU wanted. I just found these old magazines I had saved. Enjoyed these books. Ann Powers’ “Traveling” was excellent! #jonimitchell
November 8, 2025 at 4:12 AM
That's a great stack of books, delighted to be part of it! And that Musician magazine interview is great. (actually both are)
I'm excited for Hamnet, but not so excited to have to share Jessie Buckley with the normie world. She's so quintessentially arthouse and I love her for it
November 7, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I'm excited for Hamnet, but not so excited to have to share Jessie Buckley with the normie world. She's so quintessentially arthouse and I love her for it
thank you!
Joni is 82 today! A true pioneer.
Great to see her in better health, out and about, and even performing again.
If you looking for a good read on Joni, last year a really interesting take on her career came out by the great writer Ann Powers. It’s called “Traveling on the Path with Joni Mitchell”
Great to see her in better health, out and about, and even performing again.
If you looking for a good read on Joni, last year a really interesting take on her career came out by the great writer Ann Powers. It’s called “Traveling on the Path with Joni Mitchell”
November 7, 2025 at 6:07 PM
thank you!
Happy Cynical Group Chats About the Grammy Nominations Day to those who celebrate
November 7, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Happy Cynical Group Chats About the Grammy Nominations Day to those who celebrate
I saw and heart Sir Paul do “Maybe I’m Amazed” tonight. A dream I’ve had since I was a smitten middle schooler. Was he pitchy? Maybe. was it still sublime? Completely.
November 7, 2025 at 6:09 AM
I saw and heart Sir Paul do “Maybe I’m Amazed” tonight. A dream I’ve had since I was a smitten middle schooler. Was he pitchy? Maybe. was it still sublime? Completely.
Today our first All Songs Plus episode for subscribers is up! Please consider paying less than the price of a latte for this series. Because it's irresistible, this new ep is all about "A Thousand Miles" by the great Vanessa Carlton! Check it out here: www.npr.org/2025/11/05/n...
All Songs+: “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton : All Songs Considered
This is a new series on All Songs Considered, hosted by NPR Music critic Ann Powers and editor Daoud Tyler-Ameen. Most of what you hear on All Songs is focused on new music, but now, every other Thurs...
www.npr.org
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Today our first All Songs Plus episode for subscribers is up! Please consider paying less than the price of a latte for this series. Because it's irresistible, this new ep is all about "A Thousand Miles" by the great Vanessa Carlton! Check it out here: www.npr.org/2025/11/05/n...