Music

Tears for Fears have dropped the third single off their upcoming album The Tipping Point. “Break the Man,” co-written by founding member Curt Smith and Charlton Pettus, and co-produced by Smith, Roland Orzabal and Pettus, embraces the theme of female empowerment. “Break the Man’ is about a strong woman, and breaking the patriarchy,” Smith explained in a statement. “I feel that a lot of the problems we’ve been having as a country and even worldwide to a certain degree has come from male dominance. It’s a song about a woman...

Every week, The Boot highlights recent favorites from country, Americana and everything in between. In every list, you'll find picks from our contributing team that we think you'll love. Keep reading to check out the latest installment of The Boot's Weekly Picks.Leyla McCalla"Fort Dimanche"Having broke ground with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and released her own masterful The Capitalist Blues, Leyla McCalla is no stranger to tackling controversial, historical topics. While researching Radio Haiti, the nation's first Kreyol-language news station, McCalla was captivated by reports about Fort Dimanche, which was the political prison under...

Last year, Angel Olsen was featured in the Karen Dalton documentary In My Own Time, reading the late folk singer’s journals out loud. Now, she continues her love of Dalton with a cover of “Something on Your Mind.” Olsen stays in the same vein as Dalton’s original — the opening track to 1971’s In My Own Time — with her smoky vocals front and center. But her version culminates in sparse piano, whereas Dalton’s ends with sweeping, dramatic strings. “‘Something on Your Mind,’ for me, is about letting yourself face...

One of the bigger mysteries of the last several decades of country music is why Kristen Hall left Sugarland when the then-trio seemed to be on the brink of superstardom.The group showed up for a live appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno minus one member on Jan. 12, 2006, and within days, an announcement came with little fanfare: a simple statement that Hall had split with Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush because "she wants to stay home and write songs."Since then, rumors have spread that Hall was forced out...

Ryan Hurd brought his full band to perform his song “Pass It On” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The group, led by Hurd on vocals and guitar, gave the rollicking track a warm, collective vibe. The optimistic song had a particular resonance as Hurd crooned, “What good is your dollar or your love or your bottle/ If you keep it all to yourself/ There’s enough to go around/ So send it on down.” “Pass It On” comes off Hurd’s recent debut album, Pelago, which dropped last October via Sony Music Nashville....

Walker Hayes is a man of his word, and he made good on a bet he made on the College Football Playoff National Championship game. The wager? To remix one of his songs to include Georgia references, instead of Alabama.As a diehard fan of the Crimson Tide, this was no small feat.After a 33-18 win for the Georgia Bulldogs on Monday, Jan. 10, Hayes changed one line in the chorus of his song "AA." Instead of, "In Alabama where they love Nick Saban" the new, limited edition version says, "In Athens, Georgia...

Kanye West’s various representatives appear to be at odds over whether or not the rapper-entrepreneur, now legally known as Ye, is planning on pursuing showbiz and business ventures in Russia. On Tuesday, Jan. 11, Billboard reported that West was plotting a trip to Moscow this year where he wouldn’t just host a Sunday Service performance and talk business, but potentially meet with President Vladimir Putin. Ameer Sudan, a friend and associate of West’s, said he was plotting the trip with lawyer Scott Balber, who works with the Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire property...

Cordae appeared on The Tonight Show to showcase two of his recent songs, “Sinister” and “Chronicles.” Appearing with live musicians, the rapper gave a slick, pensive performance of the tracks. He also sat down with host Jimmy Fallon to discuss his new album, From a Bird’s Eye View. From a Bird’s Eye View is set to arrive Jan. 14. The rapper announced the album, his second full-length, in December with a short spoof of big tech keynote speeches, complete with a classic Steve Jobs black turtle neck. The album will feature...

Naomi and Wynonna Judd, the mother and daughter that make up the Grammy Award-winning duo the Judds, made country music history throughout their career.Naomi Judd was born Diana Ellen Judd on Jan. 11, 1946, in Ashland, Ky. She got married at the young age of 17 and had a daughter, Christina Ciminella (aka, Wynonna Judd), in 1964. In the late '70s, the mother and daughter moved to Tennessee and began playing music together.The Judds signed to RCA Records in 1983, and from 1984 to 1989, the duo had 15 No. 1...

Cardi B’s lawsuit alleging a YouTube blogger defamed her with “malicious” claims about drug use, prostitution, and sexually transmitted diseases started trial in federal court in Georgia on Monday — and one expert tells Rolling Stone the rapper has a “good shot” at prevailing. “The jurors are all spaced out. They have shields up,” a courtroom source said, confirming jury selection was underway Monday morning despite the ongoing pandemic that previously caused delays in the case first filed back in March 2019. Cardi, born Belcalis Almánzar, is suing celebrity gossip...

Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall are offering a visual component to their 2021 release, the Marfa Tapes, with a documentary about the making of their acoustic project on a 5,000-acre ranch in the town of Marfa, Texas.Listening to the unvarnished, sparsely-produced result, you can hear background noises like airplanes, coyotes and cows, as well as a musical rawness that Lambert admits was a little uncomfortable to release."It's scary. It's risky. It's very, very vulnerable," the country superstar says in a trailer for the film. "To not have any fixes,...

Morgan Wallen returned to the Grand Ole Opry stage on Saturday (Jan. 8), making a surprise appearance during up-and-comer Ernest's Opry debut. The pair performed their newly-released duet, "Flower Shops," which came out on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31.)It was the first time that Wallen, who debuted at the venue in 2017, has hit the Opry stage since video footage emerged in February showed him yelling a racist slur. In the wake of that incident, he was removed from many country radio playlists, disqualified from major awards shows, had his...

A man was arrested Saturday outside a free Doja Cat concert in Indianapolis after attempting to jump the line by making a bomb threat. The crowd in the vicinity of the security line at the downtown Indianapolis outdoor venue was briefly cleared by police following the threat. Authorities investigated the veracity of the threat and soon discovered that the man’s backpack was empty.  The incident occurred moments before gates for the event opened at 5 p.m.; entry into the concert site was delayed for roughly 20 minutes, and Doja Cat’s...