Music Features – Page 12 – The Talking Fern

Inside the Boutique Festival Boom

Why the National, Gorillaz and more are creating their own alternatives to the major festival circuit

Remembering a 1970s used-record-store encounter with one of Franklin’s finest full-lengths

The Queen of Soul riffed on Adele, Taylor and why she still loved her job in a freewheeling 2014 conversation

Aretha danced with disco and the MTV era on this lost gem from the early ’80s

From Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral to Barack Obama’s inauguration, Aretha’s voice sang across decades of change and turmoil for black America

After a run of classic LPs with producer Jerry Wexler, Franklin split from the formula with this loose, adventurous set

Her first classic album opened up a new world of emotional possibility for pop music

Inside the surprise 2005 duet that author and musician Warren Zanes says may be “the deepest musical moment I’ve ever witnessed”

From singing “Eleanor Rigby” in the first person to “The Long and Winding Road,” the best Beatles cover of all time

In 2014, the Queen of Soul made a playlist of music that meant the most to her – and provided rare insight into her personal life.