Music

They didn’t boo, they didn’t walk out, and they certainly didn’t applaud. The strangest thing — and maybe the most telling sign of things to come — is that they just stared, as if aliens had landed at a high school in Northern California.The members of Ace of Cups don’t always agree on what constituted their first show together, but they all remember the one in Etna, California, sometime in the spring of 1967. A few of the band members were driven up from San Francisco in a VW bus...

Rolling Stone just published its list of the 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time. But along with giving you our picks, we also reached out to artists from throughout the dance-music world to get their favorite tracks, too, along with commentary for each. From disco queen Gloria Gaynor to Detroit techno legend Derrick May, these people have been moving crowds for decades. This is the music that moved them. Ellen Allien Ellen Allien is a German electronic musician and producer, and the founder of the techno label BPitch Control....

Thirty-seven years ago today (July 30, 1985), Alabama had 8 million reasons to celebrate. It was on that date that the group became the first country act to earn quadruple-platinum status — twice over, nonetheless! The band achieved the feat with both their 1981 album Feels So Right and 1982's Mountain Music.Feels So Right, which was Alabama's sophomore record released on RCA Victor, includes three No. 1 singles: "Old Flame," "Love in the First Degree" and the title track. All three singles from Mountain Music, including the title track, "Close Enough to Perfect"...

On July 30, 1983, George Jones landed at No. 1 on the charts with "I Always Get Lucky With You." Co-written by Merle Haggard, the song appears on Jones' 1983 LP Shine On."I Always Get Lucky With You" is sung from the perspective of someone with so-so luck ("I keep two strikes against me / Most all of the time / And when it's down to just a phone call / I'm minus a dime") who nevertheless has an ace in his pocket: "There's been good days, and bad days /...

Dan + Shay weren't originally Dan + Shay. Sure, they were always Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney, but the singers reveal that folders holding their early demos came with a different vision.The pair wanted to pay tribute to one of their favorite artists and influences: Tim McGraw. Fate — or casual common sense — intervened."We would always walk into these publishing houses in Nashville," Smyers tells Taste of Country Nights Evan Paul, "and they would be like, 'Gosh, Dan and Shay is here again.' We were like, 'We'll just call...

Ronnie Dunn's new album 100 Proof Neon arrived Friday (July 29), and with it came a few collaborations, including this one with Texas native Parker McCollum.The Brooks & Dunn star enlisted McCollum for a rueful song titled "The Road to Abilene," in which the two sing of a love they left behind."Oh, the road to Abilene / Way off out there beyond the bright-light beams / I was wild-high crazy on a six-string dream / Like a song in my heart she still sings / I miss that girl in Abilene," they...

Dierks Bentley focuses on the positive and keeps a little pep in his step with the upbeat new single “Gold,” which will appear on the singer’s upcoming 10th album. No date or title have been announced for the project, which is projected to arrive early in 2023. “Gold” is as bright as its namesake precious metal, a jangling country-rock tune that’s big on 12-string guitar and slide licks. “It ain’t a smooth-ride life, it’s a winding road,” Bentley sings in the chorus, which cranks up the energy in a way...

Thirty-three years ago today (July 29, 1989) was a day of celebration for Reba McEntire: It was on that date that her single "Cathy's Clown" soared to the top of the charts.By the time McEntire hit No. 1 with "Cathy's Clown," which was the debut single from her platinum-selling Sweet Sixteen album, it had already been a hit in the pop world, for the Everly Brothers; with them, the song stayed at the top of the pop charts for five weeks in 1960. But it was McEntire's spin on it, almost 30 years later,...

The highly disputed lawsuit claiming Bob Dylan sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in New York in 1965 has been “withdrawn” by the accuser, lawyers for the singer-songwriter said Thursday. The dismissal came just days after the 69-year-old accuser, identified in the lawsuit as J.C., fired her lawyers amid key discovery deadlines in the case. The original lawsuit, filed last August, claimed Dylan “befriended” the accuser and gained her trust by exploiting his status as a celebrity. It claimed the musician plied the girl with alcohol and drugs and sexually abused...

When you begin to ask Google a question about Whiskey Myers, the auto-filled options are informative and hilarious. The six-piece band was rocking long before appearing on Season 1of Yellowstone (four studio albums, including one that debuted in the Top 5 on Billboard's Country Album Chart), but the Kevin Costner series amplified their existence.Apparently, many fans of the show were impressed with the group's performance of a song called "Stone" during a romantic scene between Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton (their slow dance in Ep. 4), so they asked Google if Whiskey Myers was real."Well,...

Madonna discussed her decision to take her biopic into her own hands and gave an update on the Julia Garner-starring film in a new interview with Variety. It was previously revealed nearly two years ago that the Material Girl herself would co-write (with Diablo Cody) and direct the still-untitled movie. “I have a very long script that is really hard for me to make shorter. I’ve been whittling away at it, but it’s like hacking off my limbs,” Madonna told Variety. “I’ve had an extraordinary life, I must make an...

It is nearly impossible to feel cynical at the Newport Folk Festival. Despite the state of the world during any given year (increasingly bad), the annual festival in Newport, R.I., offers a reliable supply of life-affirming moments and incredible performances. This year saw the festival return to full-scale after last year’s COVID-restricted “Folk On” event, and the sense of joy and gratitude among both the performers and audience members was palpable. From Maren Morris’ solo debut to Joni Mitchell’s surprise appearance, here are the best things we saw at the 2022...

Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) on Wednesday introduced the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act to limit the use of lyrics and “artistic expression” as evidence in criminal cases. The bill’s introduction follows the arrests and charges against Young Thug and Gunna earlier this year, with prosecutors leaning heavily on the musicians’ lyrics. If passed, the bill would restrict the ability of prosecutors in criminal cases, as well as lawyers in civil cases, to use song lyrics as evidence against musicians. That tactic is disproportionately employed against rappers,...

One of the most prolific and beloved artists in country music, Alan Jackson has been delighting fans and critics alike for over 30 years. With 17 studio albums, 10 greatest hits records and even two Christmas cuts, Jackson is one of the best-selling artists of the past few decades, selling over 40 million albums throughout his career.Jackson released his debut album, Here in the Real World, in 1990. Four of that project's singles went to the Top 5 at country radio, and the project also yielded his first No. 1 hit, "I'd Love...