Tag Archives: music

By his own admission, Chris Stapleton may not be the most technical of guitar players, but the Grammy-winning musician has cultivated a sound that is all his own. Stapleton credits his unmistakable tone in part to a potent combo: his guitar of choice, a Fender Jazzmaster, and a vintage 1962 …

What were the Blues Brothers (with Jim Belushi) doing headlining the Super Bowl‘s halftime show in 1997 — while most of the actual soul and R&B singers they imitated were alive and well? (James Brown was there — as a “special guest.”) Why in the world was E.T. hanging out …

Some of the major nominees at Sunday night’s 61st annual Grammy Awards are women working in the genre of country music, from Kacey Musgraves to Margo Price. But those artists still aren’t gaining traction at country radio, an ongoing issue that NBC’s Today Show addressed in its “Sunday Spotlight” segment. …

“I’m a Capricorn so I don’t have dreams,” Aja says. It’s a Saturday night, and the nonbinary rapper is sitting behind the board of a studio at Brewery Recording in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, playing finished cuts and just-recorded demos of their new album in a grape-purple turtleneck and matching fitted cap. …

Soul legend Al Green has announced a short tour that marks his first run of shows in seven years. The five-date tour kicks off April 4th at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas. Green will then perform in Irving, Texas, New Orleans, Louisiana – where he’ll take the stage …

Brandi Carlile‘s inaugural Girls Just Wanna Weekend wrapped up this week in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. Curated by the Washington state native, the festival was far from a simple string of concerts. Carlile, whose By the Way, I Forgive You album scored her six nominations at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards, …

There’s a massive, mostly empty room at the center of Wynonna Judd’s house with a large picture window that looks out across her farm south of Nashville. The view from the only chair in the room, which Wynonna calls her “prayer chair,” is a serene pasture and pond. The high, …

Lucinda Williams and her loose three-piece band have just kicked into “Right in Time,” the lead-off track to her 1998 breakthrough album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and the venue is, quite literally, rocking. Williams is somewhere in the Atlantic onboard the fourth installment of the Outlaw Country Cruise …

“I’m OK, man, as usual — freezing!” says Keith Richards, calling from his home in Connecticut on a recent January afternoon. The guitarist is checking in to talk about the 30th anniversary reissue of Talk is Cheap, his classic album with his solo project the X-Pensive Winos, which is out …

“Rare Beauty,” a standout track from Joe Lovano’s new album Trio Tapestry, starts with a deep, resonant tom-tom rumble from drummer Carmen Castaldi. Lovano’s tenor saxophone and Marilyn Crispell’s piano enter with a snaking, up-and-down line, which Castaldi accompanies and answers. The way the instruments swirl together, intuitively tracing out …