Music

“Radio made me,” once declared Fiddlin’ John Carson, one of the biggest stars in what was at the time called "hillbilly music" and widely considered the first person to ever record a country song.In the near-century since Carson made his grand declaration, several eras of stars have played the country radio game and found mainstream success. But a new generation of country singers is forgoing the traditional route to stardom and connecting with fans using TikTok, rewriting the industry's unspoken rules around how a country star is supposed to look...

Jay-Z has dropped the soundtrack for The Harder They Fall. Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jadakiss, Kid Cudi, Koffee and more artists team up for the set. Jay-Z appears on some of the tracks, including “King Kong Riddim” alongside Jadakiss, Conway the Machine, and BackRoad Gee. He also teamed up with Kid Cudi for “Guns Go Bang,” which was used in a trailer for the film. The title track features Koffee, and Hill and Fatoumata Diawara collaborate on “Black Woman,” which Hill co-produced with Jeymes Samuel. It also features Seal, CeeLo Green,...

The nominees in the 2021 American Music Awards have been announced, and the names include some of the biggest artists in country music.The nominations commenced on Thursday morning (Oct. 28), when initial artists were revealed during ABC’s Good Morning America and Spotify’s morning show, The Get Up. The balance of the nominees were subsequently announced via the AMAs' Twitter feed.Chris Stapleton and Gabby Barrett lead the country nominees in the 2021 American Music Awards with three each. Stapleton is up for Favorite Male Country Artist, Favorite Country Album for Starting Over...

The RZA discussed the recent $4 million sale of the Wu-Tang Clan’s one-copy-only Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and his regret about selling the album to “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli in a radio interview Wednesday. It was revealed last week that crypto collective PleasrDAO had purchased the one-of-a-kind compact disc at auction from the government, who previously seized it from Shkreli; the reviled hedge fund and pharmaceutical executive purchased Once Upon a Time in Shaolin directly from RZA for $2 million in 2015, three years before he was sentenced...

Valerie June has announced a cross-country Spring 2022 tour. It's set to kick off in March with an appearance in Seattle, Wash.Further shows Oregon, California and New York, as well as Canada, New England, the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic, will keep June on the road through May; a full list of dates and cities is below. The Tennessee-born musician also has a few live shows scheduled ahead of the spring tour, including a November show at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J., and a Jan. 29 performance in Minneapolis, Minn., at...

Japanese Breakfast have dropped a surprise EP as part of Spotify and the famed recording studio’s Live at Electric Lady series. The eight-song set includes a cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” a fitting choice as Weezer originally recorded the track at Electric Lady Studios for their self-titled 1994 debut LP, also dubbed the Blue Album. “I played a very sloppy basement cover of ‘Say It Ain’t So’ once with my band in college, so it was fun to revisit it from the opposite angle, stripped down with a...

Jameson Rodgers says one of his favorite songs on his new album is a hopeless heartbreaker called "One Day." The mid-tempo song is a jagged blade that pierces the chest and twists with the final line of each chorus.It's the kind of song you'd expect from someone who's been through a breakup recently, but the newly married Rodgers hasn't. He met his wife, Sarah Turner, at the Bluebird Café 10 years ago; the got engaged in October of 2020 and wed in September.Rodgers started "One Day" with co-writer Will Bundy at a writers' retreat during...

Femi Kuti, the renowned multi-instrumentalist son of legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin have teamed up to co-curate Fela Boxset 5. The set is expected to ship in December and it’s available for preorder. The latest volume in the series comprises seven albums: Why Black Man Dey Suffer, Noise for Vendor Mouth, Kalakuta Show, Excuse O, Ikoyi Blindness, Original Sufferhead, and Overtake Don Overtake Overtake. Each record has been recreated from the original vinyl pressings, including the vinyl label and cover artwork. It also comes packaged...

Shovels & Rope have announced their new album, Manticore — due out on Feb. 18 — with the release of a new single, "Domino.""Domino" is a creative commentary on celebrity in American culture from the perspective of James Dean, who wonders throughout the lyrics why his image remains so resonant decades after his tragic death. Listen below:Manticore was originally planned as a stripped-down acoustic release, but "Domino" springs out of the gate with an energetic, rockabilly sound. After writing the material before the COVID-19 pandemic and then embarking on producing the project throughout it, band members Michael Trent and Cary Ann...

One of the three men charged in connection with Mac Miller’s fatal overdose has agreed to plead guilty and accept a 17-year prison sentence for supplying the fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills sold to the rising rapper shortly before his 2018 death. Under the terms of the deal, prosecutors are waiving Stephen Andrew Walter’s grand jury indictment and allowing him to plead to a single new charge of fentanyl distribution. He previously was indicted on more serious charges including fentanyl distribution resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance...

Reba McEntire's Living & Learning Spotify podcast returned for Season 2 on Monday (Oct. 25), and she kicked off the season with a particularly special guest: Her boyfriend, actor Rex Linn.McEntire and Linn started dating in early 2020, but they met much earlier: In 1991, both were on the set of the Kenny Rogers TV movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. At the time, McEntire was married to her then-manager Narvel Blackstock, who she divorced in 2015. Still, she and Linn shared a memorable conversation that would go...

Ed Sheeran appeared on the latest installment of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert series to perform a slate of songs from his upcoming studio album Equals, out Friday, October 29th. The singer’s five-song set featured the album’s two lead singles, “Bad Habits” and “Shivers,” which set the tone for his shift toward pure pop as he continues down the rabbit hole of “Shape of You.” He also made room for the previously released “Visiting Hours,” introduced with an anecdote about the song being inspired by losing a friend. Sheeran...

Pistol Annies have returned to the scene in the holiday spirit with their newest album Hell of a Holiday, which includes the playful song “Come on Christmas Time.”The song begins with "Lone Star Annie" Miranda Lambert delivering a flirty first verse: “I’ve got a crush on Santa / I wanna ride his sleigh / He’s got a certain something / I’d kiss him all the way / I wanna make him better / I wanna make him mine / I’ve gotta crush on Santa / So come on, Christmastime.""Come On Christmas Time"...

All Time Low have denied abuse allegations that have recently been made online, including on TikTok, which allege guitarist Jack Barakat had sexually abused them when they were minors. “The allegations being brought against us are absolutely and unequivocally false,” the band wrote in a statement signed by all four members on Monday. “When a TikTok video gained traction a few weeks ago alluding to inappropriate behavior within our camp, we chose not to respond because of the glaring inconsistencies in the story and the apparent reluctance to mention us...