Music

Thirty-three years ago, on Jan. 29, 1988, Randy Travis achieved a new career milestone: It was on that date that the singer-songwriter earned his first double-platinum album, signifying sales in excess of 2 million copies, with his disc Always & Forever.Always & Forever, Travis' sophomore release, came out in 1987 and spawned four No. 1 singles, including "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "I Told You So." It stayed at the top of the country charts for several weeks that year and the next, becoming the year-end No. 1 album in 1988.Warner Bros. RecordsAlways...

Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Primary Wave, and other firms are on a shopping spree for high-profile music catalogs, snapping up publishing rights from songwriters ranging from Bob Dylan to Stevie Nicks to Neil Young. But Diane Warren, who’s been writing hits for 37 years, from DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” to Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart,” says she has no intention of selling her songs to anyone. Merck Mercuriadis, founder/CEO of Hipgnosis and a music-biz lifer, is well aware that Warren isn’t...

Nickel Creek and I'm With Her member Sara Watkins' forthcoming new album is for families. Under the Pepper Tree finds the Grammy-winning musician revisiting the music of her childhood and reimagining it in her own way.Due out on March 26, Watkins' new record features 15 songs for listeners of all ages. In addition to two original tracks, the project features classics such as "When You Wish Upon a Star," Roy Orbison's "Beautiful Dreamer" and the Beatles' "Good Night." When she announced the album on Wednesday (Jan. 27), Watkins premiered her version...

Stephen Marley will round out the final events in celebration of his late father Bob Marley’s 75th birthday with a livestream concert Thursday (January 28th) at 8 p.m. ET. He will perform a selection of Bob Marley’s songs on the reggae legend’s official YouTube channel followed by a Q&A that takes place on CEEK and the CEEK VR app. His eight-song set will include “Babylon System” and “Zimbabwe” from 1979 album Survival, 1973 Burnin’ tracks “Burnin’ and Lootin'” and “I Shot the Sheriff,” Exodus‘ “Three Little Birds” and “One Love”...

Kris Kristofferson has officially retired from music. With no fanfare, the actor and singer-songwriter extraordinaire permanently stepped out of the spotlight in 2020, according to a new report regarding his estate.Music Row announced on Wednesday (Jan. 27) that Kristofferson's estate is now being represented from a management standpoint by Morris Higham Management. The legend's son, John Kristofferson, is now leading the Kristoffersons' family businesses — including KK Records, Kristofferson's indie record label — while Tamara Saviano, a longtime friend and colleague, is in charge of public relations."It's been amazing to dig...

Yoko Ono and Janie Hendrix are among the principals behind Amazon Prime’s new music channel, the Coda Collection. The channel is named after the new multimedia company Ono and Hendrix cofounded with CEO Jim Spinello, director/producer John McDermott, and veteran entertainment lawyer Jonas Herbsman. Sony Music Entertainment is an equity partner. The channel launches on February 18th. “John was always on the cutting edge of music and culture,” Ono said in a statement about the new venture. “The Coda Collection will be a new way for fans to connect on...

Brett Young's wife Taylor is pregnant with the couple's second child, but this time, the pregnancy has been a real struggle. The singer says his wife and the baby are healthy, but she's experiencing some serious morning sickness."Hopefully, being through the first trimester, she will start to get more comfortable," Young tells People in announcing that he and Taylor are expecting to add to their family this summer. They also shared some new maternity photos, seen below.The baby will join older sister Presley, born in October of 2019. The couple...

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Thad Cockrell made his debut on The Tonight Show Tuesday, January 26th, performing his song “Swingin’” with the Roots. Cockrell and the Roots linked up remotely for the performance, but despite the distance, they injected the David Bowie and Arcade Fire-indebted track with plenty of punch. “If I’m gonna go down,” Cockrell bellowed during the chorus, “I wanna go down swinging/I wanna go down hard/With all of my heart.” Cockrell’s appearance on The Tonight Show came after a surreal series of events that started when Tonight Show host...

Eric Church recently confirmed an exciting piece of news about which fans were already speculating: He's planning to release not one, but three albums in 2021. The trilogy, entitled Heart & Soul, is broken up into three discs that will be released on separate days in April.It's an unconventional rollout plan to be sure, but Church created Heart & Soul just as unconventionally. The massive project -- which contains 24 tracks in total -- was made during a marathon songwriting and recording retreat that the singer and a selection of his closest musical collaborators...

Penske Media Corporation (PMC) announced a new partnership with YT Media, one of China’s leading media companies, launching the Chinese Edition of Rolling Stone on Tuesday. Under a multiyear license, Rolling Stone China will feature original and syndicated content tailored to a booming consumer market and providing a new lifestyle brand to China’s Y-generation and 600 million online music consumers. Rolling Stone China’s launch issue, out now, features cover stars Zhang Chu and Roy Wang, as well as Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift in their “Musicians on Musicians” interview. This debut issue will be followed...

Scotty McCreery seemed like he was on the fast track to winning Season 10 of American Idol from the very first moment he appeared onscreen. His audition first aired on Jan. 26, 2011 -- 10 years ago today -- and it's one of the most memorable moments in the entire history of the TV singing competition.McCreery was just 16 years old when he auditioned for the panel of Idol judges, which at that time consisted of Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. He was gangly and his hair...

WWE has announced that Bad Bunny will perform “Booker T,” his hit single from his most recent album El Último Tour Del Mundo, live for the first time at Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 31st. The performance will stream live at 7:00 p.m. ET on the WWE Network. “Performing at the Royal Rumble is a childhood dream come true,” Bad Bunny said in a statement. “I have been a lifelong fan of WWE and I am excited to take the stage and entertain fans around the world.” Neil Lawi, Senior Vice...