Music

Alan Jackson was a dozen studio albums into his successful country music career when he decided to do something he'd never done before: release a gospel album. Precious Memories -- what turned out to be the first of two projects by the same name -- arrived 15 years ago, on Feb. 28, 2006.Jackson had previously released two Christmas albums in addition to his string of Top 5 country records, but Precious Memories was a particularly personal project; in fact, it was never intended to be heard widely. The country star originally recorded...

Colombian star J Balvin surprised fans with performance of “Ma’ G,” the first song from his forthcoming fifth album, during Saturday’s highly anticipated Canelo Álvarez vs. Avni Yildirim fight at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. After debuting the track during his friend Álvarez’s trek to the ring, Balvin then released the single and its accompanying video to online platforms. As for the follow-up to 2020’s Colores, the album is almost done, Balvin confirmed to Rolling Stone over the phone from Miami on Thursday, adding that it will be coming “soon.” Balvin...

Miranda Lambert and Elle King are at the center of a raucous wedding in the music video for their new collaboration, "Drunk (and I Don't Wanna Go Home)." The twosome travel back to 1986, to King's imaginary wedding day.King and Lambert kick off the special day with a cigarette and beer next to an old truck adorned with mint green balloons and sitting outside the chapel. Throughout the video, they transition from bride and maid of honor, respectively, to wedding singers who compel you to chant, "Baby, I'm drunk and I don't wanna...

J Balvin has new music coming out soon, and so does The Pokémon Company. At the end of the Pokémon Day 25th anniversary virtual concert Saturday (February 27th), headlined by Post Malone, a somewhat ambiguous end card appeared on screen with Balvin and Katy Perry’s names. Rolling Stone has learned that both Balvin and Perry — who was announced as the face of Pokémon’s celebratory P25 campaign in January — are creating original songs as part of a 14-track album called Pokémon 25: The Album. It will include music by...

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman made the news after a confrontation took place with another patron when they attended the opera in Australia in January, and in a new interview, the country superstar explains why another opera-goer got so upset that he "whacked" Kidman with his program, causing a major scene.The couple made headlines with the incident, which Urban says started innocently enough when they attended a performance of The Merry Widow at the Sydney Opera House. They stood to applaud the performance, which drew the ire of another opera...

The Network — who are not Green Day under their masks — made their late-night debut Friday with a virtual performance of “Threat Level Midnight” on The Tonight Show. Although the Network sounds a lot like Green Day, and their luchador mask-wearing drummer looks a lot Tre Cool, and they are also signed to the same label as Green Day (Warner Records), the long-dormant new wave band have been insisting since their 2003 formation that they are not a Green Day side project. The mysterious band first released their 2003...

If the country music community truly values authenticity, then they'll rally behind Ashlie Amber.Don't flinch when you see her mohawk. Don't drop your jaw when you see the singer-songwriter's full figure in revealing swimsuits on Instagram. If the color of her skin has you making assumptions about her style of music, reset your expectations.The Colorado-raised, Las Vegas-based chanteuse knows who she is now, after years spent hiding her hair with wigs and hating her body. Google her name to find a four-word biography as elegant as it is confident:Ashlie Amber: Black Female Country SingerAmber's mid-20s were...

Taylor Swift has canceled all of her pending tour dates due to the “unprecedented pandemic.” The star had a small slate of shows planned for last summer in support of her 2019 album Lover; they were all postponed in April of last year due to the pandemic. Swift made the announcement on social media Friday evening. “I love coming on here to tell you good news, or to share a new project with you,” she wrote. “It’s not my favorite thing in the world to have to tell you news...

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn't been easy for Dylan Jakobsen, but it has been an opportunity to re-center himself and his priorities. His new song "Don't Ya Think?," premiering exclusively on The Boot, musically expresses a desire to keep a positive outlook and live each day to the fullest, even with the world around him partially shut down and headlines full of heavy news.Jakobsen was writing for a new album in early 2020, but when COVID-related closures and changes began in earnest in the United States, "inspiration really came into full fruition."...

Fatimah Warner’s verified Twitter page is an endless sprawl of revolutionary reading material (she’s been studying Karl Marx), a bulletin of global atrocities (LGBTQ activists in Ghana are living in fear of violent persecution, don’t you know), and a celebration of advocates and activists (Nina Simone and communist writer Claudia Jones, recently). With only four songs released since her last album as the rapper Noname, 2018’s triumphant Room 25, Warner has been engaging fans, detractors, and spectators in her radical education. On the internet, she behaves more like a peer...

Reba McEntire is returning to television to reprise her previous appearance on Young Sheldon. The country superstar posted to social media on Wednesday (Feb. 24) to reveal her upcoming guest appearance. which is set to air on Thursday (Feb. 25)."June's back! Don’t miss her return to Young Sheldon tomorrow night at 8/7c on CBS!" McEntire writes, adding the hashtag #YoungSheldon.She posted a picture of herself reflected in a dressing room mirror to accompany the announcement, writing, "June's Back!" in what appears to be lipstick on the mirror.McEntire debuted in the...

As part of Rolling Stone‘s Icons & Influences series, Maren Morris discussed what Sheryl Crow meant to her as a budding musician in the late Nineties. “I would just gush over her album inserts, and see who played on what song, did she write these songs with the same people from the last album,” the country singer recalled. “I remember kind of obsessing over her early on.” Morris emphasized Crow’s particular songwriting style, pinpointing “Strong Enough” as “one of her greatest songwriting achievements.” “Even though I’m happily married, it takes...

The Shootouts are having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day in their new song "Here Come the Blues." The honky-tonk group is premiering the song exclusively with The Boot; press play below to listen.While the song's melody is upbeat, steady and twangy, the protagonist of "Here Come the Blues" is having a tough time. His love has left him, and he's facing down a pity party with an unwanted guest: his emotions. And, oh, by the way, "her chair just stubbed my toe."The Shootouts' lead singer Ryan Humbert calls the...

Wolf Alice have announced new album, Blue Weekend. The follow-up to 2018’s Mercury Prize-winning Visions of a Life, the upcoming LP arrives on June 11th via Dirty Hit/RCA Records and is available for preorder. The band also shared the video for the album’s first single, “The Last Man on Earth.” In the Jordan Hemingway-directed clip, vocalist-guitarist Ellie Rowsell is filmed in black-and-white as she delivers the song about “the arrogance of humans.” “And every book you take and dust off from the shelf/Has lines between lines between lines that you...