Music

Indie artists Waxahatchee and Kevin Morby performed four songs together for the latest installment of CBS This Morning’s Saturday Sessions. For the mini-set, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield delivered her Saint Cloud cuts “Fire” and “Lilacs” — which she also recently played on Jimmy Kimmel Live — alongside Morby, who fronted the group for his “Campfire” and “Sundowner,” the title track from his 2020 LP. As revealed in a recent Rolling Stone Year in Music interview, Crutchfield and Morby are also partners, with the pair recently relocating to Morby’s native Kansas City....

Nineteen years ago today (Feb. 13, 2002) was a sad day in country music: It was on that date that Waylon Jennings died, from complications from diabetes. He was 64 years old.Jennings was born near Littlefield, Texas, and inherited his love of music from his mother. When he was eight years old, he began playing the guitar, and by the time he was 12, Jennings had his own weekly radio show on local station KVOW. At age 16, Jennings dropped out of school and took a series of odd jobs while focusing on his...

Clover Hope’s essential new book, The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop, doesn’t just tell the stories of the women who helped shape hip-hop, from the pioneering MC Sha-Rock to Cardi B. It also ends up telling the entire story of the genre through a brand-new lens. In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Hope joins host Brian Hiatt to discuss some of the best tales from the book, with an emphasis on pre-2000s rappers, from Mercedes Girls to Salt-N-Pepa, from MC Lyte to Foxy Brown and Lil...

Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, have canceled everything on their calendar for two weeks and will quarantine after possibly being exposed to COVID-19.It's the second time the couple have had to quarantine; last summer, Brooks' daughter Allie had the virus. This time, someone within the couple's inner circle tested positive for the coronavirus as they were preparing to co-host Ellen.Per All Access, Brooks explains that everyone passed an initial pre-test, but someone got a positive on their final COVID-19 test. "So we decided just not to risk anything," he says.Brooks first shared the news of his...

In 1984, Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias teamed up for a duet that bridged country music with Latin balladry: “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” recorded for Iglesias’ album 1100 Bel Air Place became a hit on the country, Spanish, and all-genre charts, and a milestone in Nelson’s long list of collaborations. For the latest edition of his Quarantunes series, the Mavericks’ singer Raul Malo revisits “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” with Jamey Johnson, a frequent collaborator of Nelson’s, handling the Red Headed Stranger’s parts. The two...

Sixteen years ago today (Feb. 12, 2005), Rascal Flatts scored their third No. 1 hit with "Bless the Broken Road." The song, from their album Feels Like Today, also became the trio's first platinum-selling tune."Bless the Broken Road" was written by Marcus Hummon, Bobby Boyd and Jeff Hanna in 1994. The song was previously recorded by Hanna's Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hummon and country artist Melodie Crittenden -- but it was the Flatts that made it one of the biggest hits in music.Lyric Street"Rascal Flatts toyed with recording it on their...

Taylor Swift has released the full version of her re-recording of “Love Story,” the first single from her updated recording of her 2008 album Fearless. The new version of the song was first teased in a commercial for Match. While the song tells the story of star-crossed lovers that culminates in a fairytale ending, the love story the lyric video depicts is the love between artists and fans. The charming and endearing clip features photo stills and video footage of Swift performing, backstage scenes, as well as her meeting and posing...

Is Chris Young the hero or the one in need of rescuing? In a new, unreleased song called "Rescue Me," he's a little bit of both.Young shared a snippet of "Rescue Me" on Facebook on Wednesday (Feb. 10), noting that the recording is "just a demo," but asking fans for feedback. Over a midtempo beat, Young professes that he "could be your Superman ... if you'd let me.""But tell me, who is gonna rescue me? / 'Cause it sure feels like I'm kryptonite / How you got me on one knee,...

Danny Elfman explores the horror — and the comedy — of the pandemic lockdown in his new video for “Love in the Time of Covid.” Directed by German filmmaker and photographer Sven Gutjahr and Elfman’s creative director Berit Gilma, the video stars a demon in isolation looking for love on Tinder and elsewhere while social distancing. Filmed in Berlin, the video’s main character is played by Scottish performer Shrek 666, a queer artist who wears extensive makeup and prosthetics as part of their performances. Elfman appears in a few surprise...

Morgan Wallen has broken his silence eight days after a video surfaced that shows him using the N-word. He says that moment came at the end of a 72-hour bender, and in a video message to fans posted on Wednesday night (Feb. 10), Wallen apologizes and gives an update what he's been doing to change; he also asks those who've been defending him to quit doing so.The emotional plea on social media reveals that Wallen has been sober for nine days and sees his relationship with alcohol as toxic to the man he's trying to...

A week after being recorded on video using a racial slur, Morgan Wallen has issued a lengthy video statement in which he addresses the controversy, says he’s spoken to leaders in the black community, shares that he’s attempting to get sober, and admits that “my words matter.” He also delivered a message directly to fans who have been defending him: don’t. “I have one favor to ask. I appreciate those who still see something in me and have defended me. But for today, please don’t. I was wrong. It’s on...

Jason Isbell has announced that he's donating any payments he receives from Morgan Wallen's Dangerous: The Double Album, which contains a version of Isbell's "Cover Me Up," to the Nashville division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).The singer-songwriter's decision comes after Wallen was caught on video using a racist slur, which has caused significant fallout for the 27-year-old Wallen in multiple areas of country music. He's been suspended by his label and dropped by his agent, seen his songs removed from radio and playlists, and has been rendered ineligible for the 2021 ACM Awards.Yet,...

Nashville singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun made her late-night television debut on Tuesday with a sparse, haunting version of her piano-driven pop ballad “Breathe Again.” “Follow me down where the water runs deep,” Oladokun sings, switching from full-throated pop belting to a folky whisper from one line to the next. “I’ll let you drown in the worst of me.” In an interview last year, Oladokun explained the origins of the song. “It’s about letting go of perfectionism and embracing the warm flickering thing between light and dark that is our humanity,” she...

Dwight Yoakam is suing Warner Music over the rights to some of his older, best-known recordings. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Yoakam filed suit against the music giant in federal court in California on Monday (Feb. 8), claiming that the label has refused to confirm his right to reclaim the copyrights to some of his music.Yoakam's suit hinges on Section 203 of the Copyright Act, a law passed in 1976 that allows the authors of copyrighted works to cancel their copyright grants and regain the rights to those works after a...