Louder: Barbara Dane’s Life of Defiance and Song

February 12, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

It’s always a thrill when a writer introduces me to a character I knew little about, which happened this week when Jenn Pelly wrote about Barbara Dane. Five decades ago, Dane, now 93, co-founded Paredon Records, a label that strove to release the music of liberation movements. She was, as Jenn puts it, a “a folklorist of resistance,” in addition to a recording artist and frequent performer. “Anything I was going to issue was from somebody who had been on the front lines somewhere,” Dane said. “If you’re an artist, you’ve already got tools. If you don’t know what to write about, remember that truth and reality is what we’re after.”

It was a week of striking profiles filled with inspiring quotes: Alan Scherstuhl wrote a lovely feature of the bassist, composer and bandleader William Parker, who reminds us, “When you play music in this world, you’re actually stepping into another world. No matter what’s happening with you, whether you owe 10 months’ rent, or you’re dealing with some kind of mental anxiety or hardship, the music takes over and you step into the tone world.”

And David Peisner wrote about a small but vocal corner of the country music world that’s boldly speaking up about racism in an industry that likes to shut down dissent. The group of mostly women artists and industry players includes Mickey Guyton, Amanda Shires and the journalist and author Andrea Williams, who told him, “We’re a long way from seeing sweeping changes but every time the light bulb goes on for somebody else, we’re closer.”

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Barbara Dane’s Life of Defiance and Song

The 93-year-old musician and co-founder of the political label Paredon Records looks back on a history of resistance.

By Jenn Pelly

Chuck Fishman

Chick Corea, Jazz Keyboardist and Innovator, Dies at 79

When jazz and rock fused in the 1970s, he was at the forefront of the movement. But he never abandoned his love of the acoustic piano.

By Giovanni Russonello

Chuck Fishman/Getty Images

Playlist

Chick Corea: Hear 12 Essential Performances

The jazz pianist and innovator was at the forefront of the movement blending jazz and rock in the 1970s, and recorded close to 90 albums as a bandleader or co-leader.

By Ryan Reed

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

A New Generation Pushes Nashville to Address Racism in Its Ranks

A small contingent of country artists and industry players have been speaking up in a business that likes to shut down dissent.

By David Peisner

Review

The Weeknd Emerges From the Shadows at the Super Bowl Halftime Show

In a year shaped by the coronavirus, a pop star with an affection for the grandeur and sheen of the biggest 1980s pop found a way to make a large affair small.

By Jon Caramanica

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Taylor Swift’s Rerecorded Album Releases Begin With ‘Fearless’ in April

After her first six albums were sold to investors, Swift said she would record entirely new versions of her old songs that she would own.

By Joe Coscarelli

The Playlist

Taylor Swift’s New Old ‘Love Story,’ and 12 More Songs

Hear tracks by Dua Lipa, Nicky Jam and Romeo Santos, R+R=Now and others.

By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Giovanni Russonello and Lindsay Zoladz

Nathan Bajar for The New York Times

The Irreducible William Parker

The bassist, bandleader and composer’s 10-disc “Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World” invites you to listen, and let the music do its work.

By Alan Scherstuhl

Chuck Johnson’s Ode to What’s Been Lost in California’s Fires

His pedal steel album “The Cinder Grove” is a eulogy for landscapes that are still being razed, but holds on to hope for what comes next.

By Grayson Haver Currin

Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

‘Sorry, Britney’: Media Is Criticized for Past Coverage, and Some Own Up

Conversations about the relentless focus on the pop star’s mental health, mothering and sexuality have begun anew following The New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears.”

By Julia Jacobs

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Justin Timberlake Apologizes to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson

“I understand that I fell short,” he said on Instagram, adding that he “benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.”

By Julia Jacobs

Control of Britney Spears’s Estate Debated at Court Hearing

Lawyers for the pop star and her father, from whom she is estranged, discussed how he would share management of her finances with a corporate fiduciary.

By Joe Coscarelli and Louis Keene

OBITUARIES

Rozette Rago for The New York Times

Mary Wilson, an Original Member of the Supremes, Dies at 76

Ms. Wilson joined with Florence Ballard and Diana Ross — who later emerged as the lead singer — to form one of the biggest musical acts of the 1960s.

By Derrick Bryson Taylor

Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images

Danny Ray, James Brown’s ‘Original Hype Man,’ Dies at 85

He opened thousands of concerts for the “Godfather of Soul,” and closed them by draping a sequined velvet over his body just before the encore.

By Clay Risen

NEWS

Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and Mary J. Blige Among Rock Hall Nominees

Seven of this year’s 16 nominees are women, including the Go-Go’s, Dionne Warwick, Kate Bush, Carole King, Chaka Khan and Tina Turner.

By Ben Sisario

Cuomo Announces Pop-Up Performances Across New York

“NY PopsUp” will kick off Feb. 20 and run through Labor Day.

By Sarah Bahr

The Charts

Amid Industry Rebukes, Morgan Wallen’s Album Stays No. 1

An online video showing Wallen using a racial slur led to his fall from grace last week, but “Dangerous” became the top-selling album for a fourth time.

By Ben Sisario