Louder: The Arts Are in Crisis. Here’s How Biden Can Help.

January 15, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

“What is art’s function? What does art do for a person, a country?” writes the critic Jason Farago in a sweeping piece in Arts & Leisure this weekend. “The function of art, Aristotle told us, is catharsis,” he continues. “Not since 1945 has the United States required catharsis like it does in 2021.” But the pandemic has thrown our artists and arts institutions into crisis. As he takes office, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has the chance — “the responsibility,” Farago writes — to save the decimated livelihoods of those who work in the arts.

Also in A&L, Jon Caramanica profiles Kidd G, who started off making emo-rap indebted to Juice WRLD, but cracked the Billboard charts last fall — as a country singer. How that evolution happened says a lot about country music (and the way young people take in music) today. Jon also wrote an appraisal for MF Doom, and about the year’s biggest song (yes, already, there is one), “Drivers License,” on the Playlist. Jon Pareles reviewed one of the year’s biggest country releases, Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album.” And there’s lots of news about Biden inauguration events, Kennedy Center Honors, sea shanties and more.

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The Arts Are in Crisis. Here’s How Biden Can Help.

The pandemic has decimated the livelihoods of those who work in the arts. How can the new administration intervene and make sure it doesn’t happen again? A critic offers an ambitious plan.

By Jason Farago

Peyton Fulford for The New York Times

Meet Kidd G, Country Music’s Next Emo-Rap Star

A 17-year-old from a small Georgia town built an audience as a rapper on TikTok and SoundCloud before pivoting to country music and inching his way into a notoriously cloistered industry.

By Jon Caramanica

THE CRITICS

The Playlist

The Blockbuster ‘Drivers License,’ a Possible Reply and 7 More New Songs

Hear tracks from Lana Del Rey, Aly & AJ, Drive-By Truckers and others.

By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Giovanni Russonello

Album Review

Morgan Wallen’s Small-Town Country Songs, Aimed at a Big Audience

The 27-year-old Nashville star leaves ample room for musical variety on his second LP, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” but keeps his lyrics focused on rural America as an idyllic fantasy.

By Jon Pareles

critic’s pick

‘One Night in Miami’ Review: After the Big Fight, a War of Words

A 1964 meeting of Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown is the subject of Regina King’s riveting directorial debut.

By A.O. Scott

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MF Doom, Magician of Memory

With his 1999 debut album, “Operation: Doomsday,” the masked rapper blurred the line between present and past.

By Jon Caramanica

Playlist

MF Doom Influenced Scores of Musicians. Hear 11 of Them.

Daniel Dumile, who died in October, paved a path for rappers, producers and beyond to embrace personas, fill their music with lyrical complexity and reach for sounds outside of the usual boxes.

By Christopher R. Weingarten

NEWS

Adama Jalloh for The New York Times

For British Drill Stars, the Police Are Listening Closely

Recent court rulings require officers to keep watch over artists’ rap lyrics, which prosecutors say celebrate gangs and violent crimes.

By Ed Clowes

Biden’s Inaugural Will Draw Stars, but Not the Crowds of Years Past

Inaugurations have long mirrored the nation’s cultural life. Joe Biden’s will feature Tom Hanks, Justin Timberlake and Jon Bon Jovi — remotely, in an age of illness and threats.

By Matt Stevens

Bruce Springsteen and John Legend to Perform at Biden Inauguration Event

Foo Fighters, Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington will also take part in the prime-time television special.

By Matt Stevens

Cuomo Outlines Plans to ‘Bring Arts and Culture Back to Life’

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that New York urgently needs to bring the arts back — not only to help jobless artists, but to make sure that New York City survives.

By Sarah Bahr

Fauci Suggests Theaters Could Reopen ‘Some Time in the Fall’

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci told performing arts professionals that if the vaccination program was a success, performances could resume with relatively few restrictions.

By Julia Jacobs

Kennedy Center to Honor Dick Van Dyke and Others at Scaled-Down Events

Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks and Midori will also be celebrated with a combination of virtual and small live performances, slated for May.

By Julia Jacobs

The charts

Taylor Swift’s ‘Evermore’ Returns to No. 1

Swift’s second surprise pandemic record has spent three of its four weeks out in the top spot of Billboard’s album chart.

By Ben Sisario

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Eugene Wright, Longtime Brubeck Quartet Bassist, Dies at 97

As a member of one of the most popular groups in jazz, he was a star. But as a Black musician in an otherwise all-white ensemble, he sometimes confronted racism.

By Richard Sandomir

Claude Bolling, Jazzman With Crossover Appeal, Dies at 90

“Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano,” his 1975 collaboration with the flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, spent a decade on the classical album chart.

By Neil Genzlinger

Adolfo Quiñones, an Early Star of Street Dance, Dies at 65

Mr. Quiñones, also known as Shabba-Doo, rose to fame in the movie “Breakin’” and helped bring a distinctly urban kind of movement to the mainstream.

By Alex Vadukul

Frank Kimbrough, Pianist With a Subtle Touch, Is Dead at 64

He could hold the spotlight in everything from a trio to Maria Schneider’s 18-piece big band. He was also a passionate educator.

By Giovanni Russonello

Howard Johnson, 79, Dies; Elevated the Tuba in Jazz and Beyond

He helped to find a new role for a notoriously cumbersome instrument in a wide range of musical settings, including the “Saturday Night Live” band.

By Giovanni Russonello

Melvis Kwok, Tireless Elvis Impersonator in Hong Kong, Dies at 68

Mr. Kwok, who busked in the Chinese territory for 28 years, was hardly the first Elvis Presley impersonator in Asia. But he may have been the most committed.

By Mike Ives