Music

Just as Luke Combs' major-label opening statement, 2017's This One's for You, launched a new star with a string of hit singles, Clint Black's 1989 debut, KIllin' Time, wasted no time shaking up the country charts.Black's May 2, 1989, release included four consecutive No. 1 singles: "A Better Man," "Killin' Time," "Nobody's Home" and "Walkin' Away." This instant success wasn't a case of catching lightning in a bottle, either. Black's next 20 singles all cracked the Top 10, and he became a genre ambassador at such cultural happenings as the 1994 Super Bowl's...

Wayne Coyne provided a behind-the-scenes tour of the Flaming Lips’ “space bubble concerts” on the latest episode of CBS Sunday Morning. After giving an overview of the Flaming Lips’ “prolific and delightfully weird” career, the morning show took viewers backstage and in preproduction of the concerts, held in March 2021 — the second in a series of the unique shows, after January 2021’s debut performances — at Oklahoma City’s Criterion venue. As Coyne revealed to CBS Sunday Morning’s Luke Burbank, the idea first came to him — in 2019, prior...

On May 2, 1998, Shania Twain's "You're Still the One" hit No. 1 on the country singles chart.A tender ballad sprinkled with organ, piano and guitar — and, on the bridge, quivering pedal steel and harmonies — "You're Still the One" is a loving ode to a significant other. Despite obstacles (and naysayers who thought the couple might not make it), the protagonist is proud to say, "Looks like we made it / Look how far we've come my baby / We might have took the long way / We knew...

The Recording Academy announced major changes to the Grammy Awards voting process Friday, including the elimination of the controversial “secret committees.” The “secret committees” — groups of anonymous voting members who decide the nominations in key genres like rock, rap and dance music — were first brought to the public’s attention in 2020 when former Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan filed a complaint against the organization following her ouster. “The Grammy voting process is ripe with corruption,” Dugan alleged in her Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, pointing particularly to instances...

Happy 54th birthday, Tim McGraw! The singer was born on this day, May 1, in 1967, in Delhi, La.McGraw was raised by his birth mother, Elizabeth "Betty" D'Agostino, and her husband, Horace Smith, whom McGraw believed to be his biological father. However, when the future country star was 11 years old, he found his birth certificate, which stated that his biological father was, in fact, professional baseball player Tug McGraw. It would take another seven years for the pro athlete to acknowledge that Tim McGraw was his son.“It was a little strange. I...

Ringo Starr revealed his favorite Beatles song and his thoughts on the afterlife during a bonus interview from the drummer’s recent virtual visit to The Late Show. Taking part in Stephen Colbert’s 15-question “The Colbert Questionert” — a segment Starr initially recorded when he appeared on The Late Show in March — the host asked Starr, “You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life. What is it?” Starr quickly replied, “ ‘Come Together.'” “There’s lots of other favorites, but if you want one, ‘Come Together’...

Twenty-eight years ago today, on May 1, 1993, Charley Pride became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, 27 years after his debut on the hallowed stage. It was the second time that Opry officials had asked the artist to join the organization's ranks.In January of 1967, Pride became the second Black performer, and first Black singer, to appear at the Opry. (Harmonica player DeFord Bailey was the Grand Ole Opry's first Black performer; he appeared at the Opry from 1927 to 1941.)“I was so nervous, I don’t know how I got through those two songs,"...

The year 2018 might as well have been a decade ago. Pandemic languishing notwithstanding, things move quickly these days. The musician formerly known as D.R.A.M., or Big Baby D.R.A.M. depending on who you asked, knows this better than anyone. Born Shelley Massenburg-Smith, he was at the forefront of a generation that rose to quick stardom thanks to platforms like Soundcloud. His singles “Cha Cha,” and the Lil Yachty assisted “Broccoli” were, for a time, inescapable. But the fame that accompanied his early rise didn’t come without its drawbacks. Over Zoom,...

Raleigh, N.C., native Priscilla Block was set on making a career in music from a young age -- so much so that she packed up and moved the 500 or so miles west to Nashville right out of high school. It was a dream inspired in part, she shares, by Taylor Swift."A huge reason why I moved to Nashville was because of Taylor Swift," Block shares in a phone call. "I mean, her songs were the first ones that I learned on guitar why I wanted to write songs, why I...

Trixie Mattel has enlisted Orville Peck for a cover of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s legendary duet, “Jackson.” In the video for the song, the masked cowboy and the drag performer, who wears a Dolly Parton-inspired outfit, are onstage at an old-school theater, performing the song with their band. “Jackson” is featured on Mattel’s latest EP Full Coverage Vol. 1, released on Friday, which also includes covers of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games,” the Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” (which she previously released), and Cher’s “Believe.” Mattel released her...

Ashley Monroe has paid her debts. After a decade of using her mellifluous voice and rare abilities to cast dark shadows across a room by simply closing her eyes and parting her lips, she's choosing to summon the sun.Fans heard it at times across Sparrow, her critically-acclaimed album from 2018. There was a confidence and celebrated womanhood that drove memorable songs like "Hands on You" and "Wild Love," but "Keys to the Kingdom" is where you find the pivot. The first verse speaks of being handed a haunted guitar and told to sing the songs inside.That was Monroe, across...

Kings of Leon made a virtual appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live to showcase their recent track “Echoing.” Performing from the NFL Draft in Cleveland, the band offered a raucous version of the song complete with full stage production. The performance offers a glimpse of what their upcoming live shows might look like. “Echoing” comes off Kings of Leon’s most recent album, When You See Yourself. The band  stopped by The Late Show to showcase album cut “The Bandit” last month and marked the album’s arrival with a music video for...

Before they got married in 2012, Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren lost a dear friend. It's taken until now, though for the country star to honor him with a song."Heaven Right Now," from Rhett's newly released Country Again, Side A album, is a conversation with his late friend Hunter. Lauren and Hunter grew up across the street from each other and knew each other from birth -- "They were like brother and sister, you know?" Rhett shared during a recent roundtable discussion -- and Rhett and Hunter grew close as...

Machine Gun Kelly has released an anthemic new track, “Love Race,” featuring Kellin Quinn of the rock band Sleeping With Sirens and Travis Barker. The pop-punk track sees MGK recounting a tale from high school in which he saw the girl of his dreams with someone else. “God was a girl/The devil wore a t-shirt/Love is a game and they/Were kissing in the bleachers,” he sings. Kelly and Quinn describe being “on the run” to get their true love back, their voices growing in urgency as the song goes on....