New Music Friday: The best albums out May 1

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4.3 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

Kacey Musgraves. American Football. Tori Amos. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson chats with Jewly Hight from WPLN in Nashville about their favorite albums out Friday, May 1. Plus, a handful of NPR Music writers and critics offer personal picks in our lightning round.

The Starting 5

(00:00) Kacey Musgraves, 'Middle of Nowhere'
(08:41) American Football, 'American Football (LP4)'
(16:25) Isaiah Rashad, 'IT'S BEEN AWFUL'
(21:42) Tori Amos, 'In Times of Dragons'
(28:09) Ana Roxanne, 'Poem 1'

(33:38) The Lightning Round

- Jesca Hoop, 'Long Wave Home'
- Casper Sage, 'PATINA'
- duendita, 'existential thottie'
- Maisy Owen, 'Dark on a Sunny Day'
- Octo Octa, 'Sigils For Survival'

Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist and see our Long List of notable releases on NPR.org.

Credits:
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Jewly Hight, WPLN
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Special thanks to Ann Powers and Hazel Cills

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Transcript

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0:00.0	A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language.
0:13.9	Happy Friday, everyone, from NPR Music.
0:16.8	It's New Music Friday.
0:18.1	I'm Stephen Thompson here with Julie Height of WPLN in Nashville. Hey, Julie.
0:23.4	Hey, Stephen. How's it going? It is going well. We've got a remarkable assortment of new records out today, May 1st.
0:31.9	But Julie, before we begin, did you just run 50 miles without stopping?
0:37.5	Yes, I did run 50 miles through the woods, and I'm about to kind of do it again this weekend.
0:45.7	In the mountains of Georgia, great opportunities to listen to a lot of music while you try to not get lost and not not die out there. Wow, I've sometimes done that
0:56.8	traveling 50 miles in my car. Have you, have you ever tried traveling by car?
1:06.7	All right, well, let's kick off the show with a new album by Casey Musgraves.
1:11.6	Casey Musgraves's new album is called Middle of Nowhere.
1:14.8	Everybody wants the freedom, miles and miles of space.
1:20.3	Moving on to the next thing when the wind ain't blowing it away, but you know that ain't gonna cut it.
1:28.3	It's gonna take a lot of heart.
1:30.3	You're gonna have to duct tape it back together when it falls apart.
1:36.3	Everybody wants to be a cowgirl
1:41.3	till it's five in the morning and it's cold as hell and the work ain't gonna do itself Everybody wants to be a cowboy these days until it's time to stay until it's time to stay.
2:03.6	Casey Musgraves is a singer-songwriter and country star originally from rural East Texas,
2:15.6	who I would say has kind of a complicated relationship with Nashville's
2:20.3	country music industry.
2:21.3	And, you know, she's already followed her musical interests in so many different directions,
2:29.3	you know, from Mary Go Round and Follow Your Arrow.
	...

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