What do you really want to know about the music artists you love most? American Songwriter has the latest news on popular music’s most fascinating figures, of course. But let’s go deeper. Let’s pick through the inner-workings of a smash hit. Or learn about songs you may think you know well, but most certainly do not know the famous artists who wrote them.
Is a rising star you’ve only kinda-sorta heard about playing the Grammys? We’ll have interesting articles with backstory galore on what makes them tick as songwriters and musicians. Perhaps the singer you saw live the other night name-checked a legendary influence you’re not familiar with. American Songwriter will familiarize you with the source of your favorite artist’s inspiration.
The unique angles from which we approach music history are just about endless. Your path to music wisdom just got a whole lot shorter.
ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY – The Weeknd performs onstage during the Michael Rubin REFORM Alliance Casino Night Event on September 13, 2025 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for REFORM Alliance)
John Lennon filming Magical Mystery Tour at the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay 12 September 1967 (Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
VIENNA, AUSTRIA – MAY 24: Pop singer Taylor Dayne performs May 24, 2003 at the 11th annual Life Ball charity ball in Vienna, Austria. Life Ball is one of the largest AIDS charity events in Europe and started in 1993, and since 2001 has been affiliated with the Elton John AIDS Foundation. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Kate Bush – Peter's Pop Show – 1985 – Kate Bush performt in der ZDF Sendung "Peter's Pop Show" am 30.11.1985 Ihren Song "Running up that Hill". (Photo by kpa/United Archives via Getty Images)
The Rolling Stones during rehearsals, New York, May 1978. L -R; Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
English record producer and sound engineer Joe Meek (1929-1967) working with a reel-to-reel tape recorder in his home recording studio at 304 Holloway Road in Islington, London on 21st December 1962. (Photo by Tony Gibson/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)