Last week’s fifth annual Outlaw Country Cruise featured no less than four eclectic guitar pulls, culminating with an all-star final night lineup of Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Raul Malo of the Mavericks, and Son Volt‘s Jay Farrar. Each artist sang three songs, including new material from Williams (“Big Black Train,” …
Read More »That Time When Johnny Cash and Kirk Douglas Had 'A Gunfight'
As the 1960s dawned, Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas became a screen legend with a single role, in the historical epic Spartacus. At around the same time, Johnny Cash, a larger-than-life country-music star, would make an inauspicious big-screen debut in Five Minutes to Live, with results that would suggest he was …
Read More »French Montana, Juicy J Appear as 'Partying Dames' in '50s and 100s' Video
French Montana has released the music video for “50s & 100s,” a cut from his latest album Montana featuring Juicy J. Directed by Zac Facts and filmed in Los Angeles, the clip shows the two rappers as silver-haired elderly women, taking their money and their red convertible out for a night …
Read More »Gorillaz Debut 'Song Machine' Series With 'Momentary Bliss'
Gorillaz have launched their music and video series, “Song Machine,” with a jittery new tune, “Momentary Bliss,” featuring British MC Slowthai and the punk duo Slaves. The song finds Gorillaz and Slaves crafting a tune that builds deftly from woozy synth-pop into a rambunctious bit of supermelodic pop punk (tinged, …
Read More »How Detroit Music Found Its New Soul
In our new series, we look at eight cities where live music has exploded — from legendary hubs like New Orleans and Nashville and Chicago, to rising hot spots like Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Portland, Maine. Our latest: Detroit, where pressing plants, innovative studios, and offbeat festivals make it one of …
Read More »The Joy of Lizzo
L izzo knows that security guard was checking her out. It’s a crisp November evening in downtown Los Angeles, and she just breezed through a Sam Ash music store to see if they had a flute-studies book by Danish composer-flutist Karl Joachim Andersen; she wants to get back to practicing …
Read More »Mac Miller's Posthumous Album 'Circles' is a Fitting Coda to His Career
It is to Mac Miller’s great credit that he became more compelling the further his career progressed. He would have made millions if he had stayed true to his humble teenage beginnings as a sentient snapback hat, Lord Finesse admirer and legal opponent, and Pittsburgh’s sauciest white boy since Terry …
Read More »The Who, Stevie Nicks, Dead & Company Tapped for 2020 New Orleans Jazz Fest
The Who, Stevie Nicks, Dead & Company, Foo Fighters, Lizzo, and Lionel Richie are set to perform at the 2020 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The 51st annual festival will take place over two weekends: April 23rd through 26th, and April 30th to May 3rd. The first weekend will …
Read More »Drive-By Truckers Call Out Unchecked Gun Violence in New Song, 'Thoughts and Prayers'
“Stick it up your ass with your useless thoughts and prayers,” sings Patterson Hood, not mincing words in the Drive-By Truckers‘ rebuke of the gun industry and Second Amendment-blind politicians, “Thoughts and Prayers.” The track is the latest release from the band’s upcoming 12th album, The Unraveling, due January 31st. …
Read More »How Lee Ranaldo Throwing Chairs at a Wall Became a Song About Love
Lee Ranaldo and Rosalía collaborator Raül Refree are extremely talented guitarists, but for their new song “Light Years Out,” they turned to an old cassette of Ranaldo throwing chairs against the wall for instrumentation instead. “We found some tapes at the studio in New York that Lee recorded many years …
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