Christian Schaeffer

Usher with Akon at BankAtlantic Center April 27

As an ace jazz guitarist with a husky syncopated voice, George Benson straddled the line between Quiet Storm R&B and adult contemporary during the mid-1970s and early 1980s. His singles from that era sound both of the time and utterly ageless: "Turn Your Love Around" predated the Police's "Roxanne," with...

Some music fans will insist the art form of the Christmas album achieved perfection with Vince Guaraldi's score to A Charlie Brown Christmas; others will argue for the supremacy of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Either way, each year artists mine the rich cache of holiday songs...

Forget boy bands and Barry Manilow; Christmas music might be the ultimate guilty pleasure. It's inherently corny, unrepentantly joyful, and the tiniest bit reverent — which are all qualities largely reviled by rock and roll purists. And although you would be forgiven for never wanting to hear "Jingle Bells" ever...

"Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is/I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses." — Billy Bragg, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" Musicologists will argue about the beginnings of politically conscious music, but a thumbnail sketch of its life span might look something like this:...