The self-taught singer and sculptor from Alabama exists in a state of constant, spontaneous creativity. He talks about his roots and his new project with Artangel, inspired by Orford Ness
Kate Nash signed her first record deal at just 19 – and her 2008 song, ‘Foundations’, is a generation’s anthem. Then her world unravelled. Here, the musician reveals how wrestling saved her – and why when life gave her lemons it didn’t make her bitter
After the high-concept hijinks around their last record turned off fans, the indie troubadours have gone back to basics with a rousing new album about Trump and togetherness
He wrote the music for Scott-Heron’s astonishing streams of social consciousness – and then his royalties got cut off. The jazz-funk artist explains why he focused on a comeback instead of lawsuits
They were kitchen-sink surrealists who sang about bats, bereavement and Subbuteo. Four decades on, the Wirral band have pop’s most maniacal fans – including our writer, who hits Holmfirth in his Dukla Prague away kit
At 75 and 80 years old, the much-loved musicians have finally re-formed to pay tribute to their folk-blues heroes. They explain how old records taught them how to play – and how to live
Debbie Harry and her new-lineup new wavers belatedly kick off a UK tour with this effervescent arena show, a blitz of bubblegum pop, thrashing guitars and pop art imagery
The 74-year-old artist, who died last week, turned the tables on rock musicians with her notorious plaster casts – and complicated the image of the groupie
The Observer’s classical music critic pays tribute to a composer whose exacting work was hard-won, but who marvelled at everything from homegrown plums to Dusty Springfield
Don’t let your big sendoff be a write-off: confronting our inevitable fate allows us to sign off with a defining DJ set – and avoid any unwanted Lewis Capaldi
As the Stones tour again, the head of their longtime stage design firm Stufish describes his company’s creations, from 1989’s Steel Wheels gigs to the present day
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
With crowds returning to concerts after the pandemic, it’s the perfect time to heed artists and reconsider our behaviour – but we don’t necessarily have to stand in silence
Fuelled by psychedelic counterculture, the Californian university has nurtured Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson and more – and caused riots at its concerts. But can it survive?
The reader interview Post your questions for Sharon Van Etten