Music

Johnny Ventura, the famed merengue pioneer and former mayor of Santo Domingo, died Wednesday at the age of 81 in the Dominican Republic. His son, Jandy Ventura, confirmed to CNN that he passed away after suffering a heart attack. Ventura, whose real name was Juan de Dios Ventura Soriano, was known for his showmanship and for pioneering styles of merengue and salsa. He was born in Santo Domingo and began singing as a teenager. When he was 16, he entered a local talent show contest on television called La Voz de...

In lieu of the annual CMA Fest, fans were able to get a taste of what they’ve been waiting for — live music, that is — at CMA Summer Jam on Tuesday night (July 27). Blake Shelton, in particular, took the opportunity to give fans a memorable surprise at the event: During his set, he brought to the stage his new bride, Gwen Stefani.Together, Shelton and Stefani sang their duet "Happy Anywhere." Footage from the show shows Stefani creeping in from backstage, rocking another white dress — this time, a fun fringe number...

Dave Hause may call Santa Barbara home right now, but his Philadelphia raising informs nearly everything about the singer-songwriter. In the euphoric new song “Sandy Sheets,” Hause recalls his formative years as a teenager making the rite-of-passage drive from the Philly suburbs to the Jersey Shore, where anything was possible. “We went wild in the Jersey heat, we had ‘Hey Jealousy’ on repeat/we’d hide out on the beach,” Hause sings. “Let me remember you when it was easy.” Along with lyrical allusions to the Gin Blossoms, Hause nods to the...

With "Buy Dirt," Jordan Davis shows that he doesn't subscribe to a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory of life. His new collaboration with Luke Bryan is a sharp pivot away from the mostly fancy-free, melodic, uptempo hits he's delivered to radio over four years.The time is right for change. While "Slow Dance in a Parking Lot" proved he's a perfectly capable storyteller and balladeer, "Buy Dirt" sticks better to the soul. Credit Paul DiGiovanni (something we're saying a lot these days) for a humble arrangement that allows the words to paint a...

Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Lollapalooza, one of the biggest music festivals in the U.S., is coming up fast, following up hip-hop fest Rolling Loud Miami as one of the music festivals making their big summer comeback. While everyone has already started to pack some bags and coordinate a plan (like we’ve said before, planning is key), it doesn’t come without a hint...

Country music's very own masked cowboy is returning to the stage this fall. On social media, Orville Peck announced his upcoming Drive Me, Crazy Tour, complete with a run of dates that'll keep him on the road through September and October.The tour takes its name from a track on Peck's Show Pony EP, which he released in August of 2020. He has described the six-song collection as a "middle sister" between his full-length debut, Pony (which arrived in 2019) and the album that lays ahead -- "which we can hopefully...

Lord Huron has released a music video for their song, “Love Me Like You Used To,” which comes off the band’s recent album Long Lost. The ethereal clip references the fictional backstory and characters behind the album as the band members perform with blurred-out faces. Long Lost, the band’s fourth full-length album, arrived in May via Whispering Pines Studios Inc./Republic Records. The band previewed the album with “Mine Forever” and its accompanying music video directed by Anthony Wilson, as well as “Not Dead Yet.” Lord Huron teased the album for...

Ingrid Andress will embark on an expansive, cross-continental tour in September. On Monday (July 26), the singer revealed her headlining Feeling Things Tour, which begins with a string of U.S. dates that kick off in Boston, Mass., on Sept. 27.After making 12 stops in the U.S. in late 2021, Andress' headline tour will embark on an international leg beginning in January. The trek will take her to stops in Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Denmark and more venues cross Europe and the United Kingdom, ultimately wrapping in Oslo, Norway, on Feb....

Britney Spears’ new lawyer has filed a petition to remove her father, James “Jamie” Spears, from her conservatorship, The New York Times reports. Mathew S. Rosengart, who became Spears’ lawyer earlier this month, reportedly filed the petition in Los Angeles probate court Monday, July 26th, although it was not made immediately available to the public. Rather, the petition was mentioned in a separate public filing that sought to name a replacement for Jamie Spears. The public filing requested that Jason Rubin, a certified public accountant in California, be named as...

Ever since Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani started sharing details about their early July wedding ceremony, it's been clear that their families were at the forefront of the celebration. Specifically, the bride's three sons — 15-year-old Kingston, 12-year-old Zuma and 7-year-old Apollo — were a big part of the special day, with Stefani even getting their names embroidered into a custom veil that she wore at the wedding.But the boys' involvement wasn't just symbolic: In fact, they played a very important part of the legal proceedings involved in the event, TMZ reports....

Steely Dan is set to hit the road this fall on the Absolutely Normal Tour, their first since the pandemic shut down live music back in March of 2020. The run kicks off in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, October 5th with a four-night stand. After Florida, the band will hit 14 cities, wrapping at the Orpheum in Boston. Tickets are on sale on Friday, July 30th, at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. Steely Dan is also set to drop a new live album, Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live!, as...

Ahead of his just-announced upcoming album, Same Truck, Scotty McCreery has released a brand-new song called "Why You Gotta Be Like That."The playful tune was written by McCreery, James McNair, and Jordan Schmidt, a trio with great writing chemistry. “Writing with James and Jordan is always so much fun, and I think that genuine feeling comes through in the song as well.”“Why You Gotta Be Like That” appears to have some basis in reality. “My wife Gabi and I had a date night the evening before I wrote ‘Why You...

Ahead of R. Kelly’s Brooklyn trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, prosecutors are seeking to admit additional evidence — but not charges — of sexual abuse against the singer, as well accusations of bribery and witness tampering. In documents filed Friday prior the trial’s scheduled August 9th start date for jury selection, federal prosecutors stated they have evidence of “uncharged acts” including the alleged sexual abuse of a 17-year-old male who met Kelly while the minor worked at a McDonald’s in December 2006. Prosecutors stated that Kelly later...

Brandi Carlile previewed an unreleased album track from her upcoming new album, In These Silent Days, during a stop at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York on Friday night (July 23.)The song, called "This Time Tomorrow," is third on the track list for In These Silent Days, a project that Carlile announced just two days before her Friday night show. As usual for her live performances, she debuted the song flanked by her creative partners and bandmates, twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth, who accompanied her on close vocal harmony...