Lars Gotrich

In power ballads and two-steppers, Vince Gill crafts intimate songs about how we treat each other. The Country Music Hall of Famer sandwiches '90s hits in between new material, and closes with "Go Rest High on That Mountain."

The Welsh guitarist's fingerstyle playing drones with a haunted quality, but her flurry of bends, slides and chord clusters rip open the firmament.

D'Angelo. Brian Wilson. Sly Stone. We lost these greats and so many more in 2025 — singers, producers, conductors and writers whose departures gave us a pang of loss, but whose art still lifts us up.

Which song lyrics from 2025 most moved our NPR Music critics?

So much of the holiday season is about finding a balance between bright lights and dark nights. Sixpence None the Richer's music finds depth in the in-between.

If you're searching for music off the beaten path, here's the list for you. NPR Music's Tiny Desk editor and resident Viking scours the corners of the music world to find his favorite records of 2025.

At the Tiny Desk, our small office crowd joins the thousands who have been inside of these power ballads and felt something real.

It's no surprise that a boatload of 2026 Grammy nominations are for rappers, rockers, legends and newcomers who performed at the Tiny Desk in just 2025 alone.

The world is doomed, but at least we've got the Mekons. The British punk band rumbles through its down-but-not-defeated songs with rowdy defiance.