‘It’s more freaky, more balls to the wall’: how alt-country won over a new generation

From Waxahatchee and Florry in the US to Brown Horse and Little Grandad in the UK, a wave of young songwriters are reinvigorating the subgenre’s earnest emotion and twang

The extraordinary untold story of Freddie Mercury: Mary Austin on her best friend – and love of her life

He was Queen’s flamboyant frontman. She was his shy girlfriend, dreaming of marriage until they both realised he preferred men. Thirty-five years after his death, in the week he would have turned 80, Mary Austin talks about their unbreakable bond

Reading and Leeds festival review – post-GCSE blowout shows how dominant dance music now is

Charli xcx and Fontaines DC are spellbinding and there’s an awesome array of genres, but the biggest turnouts are for tech house names like Kettama and Josh Baker

Daisy Chain Fields review – Olivia Rodrigo’s women-led festival is electric amid extreme heat

Performances from Rodrigo, Stevie Nicks, Chappell Roan and Sarah McLachlan raise $20m for charity yet are marred by poor planning for heatwave

The Waterboys review – Steve Earle joins a gloriously unruly return to Fisherman’s Blues

The Nashville singer-songwriter is among the guests joining Mike Scott for a sprawling, exuberant revue that finds new life in the Waterboys’ rootsy past

Kevin Mitchell: ‘90% of us are loving, peaceful people. A few bad eggs are making us all look bad’

The musician also known as Bob Evans talks about Suburban Songbook turning 20, believing in aliens and his ‘pretty decent legs’

‘It’s easier when nobody’s watching’: inside the secretive and sublime freak-folk of @

Their un-Googlable, very online name is the antithesis of this earthy duo’s sublime art-folk. Like their emotionally ambiguous music, the pair don’t give up their mysteries easily

The best music of autumn 2026: Johnny Marr, Phoebe Bridgers, Rachel Chinouriri and more

Irish noisemongers Gilla Band, shadowy producers Two Shell and lovable band the Big Moon have new records, and there are tours from Bob Dylan and Kelela – plus the best of jazz, global and classical

Reading and Leeds have dropped BBC Introducing for a new ‘nepo baby stage’. Where does it leave DIY artists?

As R&L replace the BBC’s unsigned artists stage with one filled with rock scions and a Simon Cowell boyband, many are decrying disappearing opportunities for grassroots acts

Dahi: Black Boy (Alternative) review – Kendrick producer takes the spotlight for all-star guitar celebration

The Grammy winner unites former clients including Lamar and Ravyn Lenae for a playful, dazzling voyage through the guitar’s diversity, from alt-rock to Afrobeat

Greek Orthodox priest and cult musician clarifies views on homosexuality

Father Dionysios Tabakis says his views are those of Orthodox church, ‘nothing more, nothing less’

Tell us: what’s the song that is guaranteed to get you on the dancefloor?

What track gets your feet moving the moment you hear it – and on to the dancefloor? I Feel Love by Donna Summer? Or We Found Love by Rihanna? We’d love to hear what yours is

‘We’re at a crisis point’: Chappell Roan, Shirley Manson and Eli on playing Olivia Rodrigo’s women-led festival

Ahead of playing Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields, artists explain why female-first festivals are due for a resurgence

Janie Bradford obituary

Songwriter who contributed to the first record made at Motown’s Detroit studio and co-wrote many of the label’s hits

Backwoods Barbie and the ‘God almighty’ PMS Blues: Dolly Parton’s 10 best deep cuts

From heartbreaking spoken word to wry takes on the double standards women face, here are some of the late country singer’s lesser known gems