Music

Leslie West, the towering guitarist who created the hard-rock milestone “Mississippi Queen” with his band Mountain, died Wednesday morning. West’s brother, Larry West Weinstein, confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone. He was 75. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. On Monday, West was rushed to a hospital after suffering cardiac arrest at his home near Daytona, Florida, where he never regained consciousness. Released in 1970 on Mountain’s debut album, Climbing!, “Mississippi Queen” was two and a half minutes of boisterous bliss built around West’s burly yowl and guitar...

Chris Janson says that there's one important Christmas tradition he grew up with that he's hoping to pass on to his kids."I have to attribute a lot to my dad for always making Christmas about someone else," the singer explained backstage at CMA Country Christmas in 2019, before hitting the stage for his performance. "He would always pick a family who needed something, or families who needed something, and he always kinda prodded me that way."As an adult -- and especially as a parent himself -- Janson knows that getting gifts is far from the most important...

John “Ecstasy” Fletcher, rapper and founding member of the pioneering hip-hop group Whodini, has died at the age of 56. The group’s Grand Master Dee confirmed Fletcher’s death to Variety. No cause of death was provided. News of Fletcher’s death was first revealed by the Roots’ Questlove, with many others in the rap community also mourning the death of the Whodini rapper. “One Love to Ecstasy of the Legendary #Whodini,” Questlove wrote on social media. “This man was legendary and a pivotal member of one of the most legendary groups in...

As country music entered a new millennium, multiple stars of the 1990s added to their legacies. Indeed, some of 2000's better songs come to mind whenever anyone brings up Sara Evans, Jo Dee Messina, John Michael Montgomery, Travis Tritt and Lee Ann Womack.Beyond defining moments for established names, the year introduced potential new stars ranging from a pre-teen Billy Gilman to Australian songwriter Jamie O'Neal. On the folksier side of the spectrum, Americana got arguably its biggest boost to date with an Emmylou Harris masterpiece and the most important country-related soundtrack...

For Dayna Frank, owner of First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the feeling was completely indescribable. For Kerri Park, general manager at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, there was a palpable shift towards positivity. For Christine Karayan, owner of the Troubadour in Los Angeles, there was still some understandable hesitancy. It was Monday evening and Congressional leaders had only agreed on a Covid-19 relief package that included much-needed funding for independent music venues around the country, but no votes had actually been cast. “What these nine, ten months have taught me,”...

Nineties band Eve 6 has just one question for the various celebrities of Twitter: “Do you like the heart in a blender song?” Frontman Max Collins is referring, of course, to the band’s 1998 hit, “Inside Out,” which he also admits he was a virgin at the time of writing — despite the saucy “TIE ME TO THE BEDPOST” lyric. Like Mandy Patinkin and Dionne Warwick before him, Collins has made a virtual comeback over the past few weeks on Twitter via a potent combo of nostalgia and humor —...

At the midway point of the 1990s, new artists stepped up to join the Class of '89 (Garth Brooks, Lorrie Morgan, Alan Jackson, Clint Black and Travis Tritt) and established legends (the Highwaymen, George Strait) in the mainstream as country music veered toward the pop-friendly approach still heard on commercial radio.Within this musical landscape, newcomers (for example, Ty England, Ty Herndon and David Lee Murphy) found early career success while the next wave of stars (such as Faith Hill, Lonestar, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain and John Michael Montgomery) set the tone for the last half of one...

The White Stripes dropped a 90-minute Yule log video on Tuesday set to songs from the band’s recently released Greatest Hits compilation album — along with acoustic tracks, B-sides, and the band’s Christmas tune “Candy Cane Children.” The video, directed by Noah Sterling, features several looping animations ranging from a more innocuous image of a family sitting by the fire watching TV with pets (and raccoons and a docile cougar), to creepier shots of demons emerging from the walls and a slender man-like figure readying dinner in its Christmas-themed cave....

New names dominated in 1990, the first year of one of country music's most critically acclaimed and fiscally successful decades.Although Alabama, George Strait, the Judds and other established acts charted now-legendary hits, 1990 will be remembered as a year when the prior decade's most promising big-label signings lived up to their potential. These Class of '89 success stories boosted the careers of Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and Lorrie Morgan.For a refresher on the first great country music albums of the '90s, check out these 10 definitive releases that turned 30 in 2020:...

Despite the polarizing crossover success of 1980's Urban Cowboy film and soundtrack, legends and old souls stood tall throughout the first year of a new decade.It's hard now to imagine the legacies of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton without their biggest songs of 1980. Meanwhile, Alabama, John Anderson, Emmylou Harris and Hank Williams Jr. found commercial success while honoring country music's past.As for the other end of the spectrum, Eddie Rabbitt and Johnny Lee did '80s pop-country first, and few over the coming years did it better.Read...

Fifty years ago, ace songwriter Kris Kristofferson, former rock ‘n’ roller Conway Twitty and gifted vocalists Lynn Anderson and Susan Raye joined such established stars as Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette and Porter Wagoner as the early '70s' brightest stars.The following rundown of those artists’ best work of 1970 will start to read like a celebration of Kristofferson’s earliest contributions to the great American songbook. That’s not without just cause; he was that great, and his songs were that ever-present on radio and...

The year 2020 has been an historic one, and not necessarily in good ways. The United States is still navigating life in a global pandemic, people across the country protested racial injustice with a renewed fervor throughout the summer, and we dealt with a contentious presidential election in the fall.In tumultuous times, many of us search for comfort and understanding in music. Even in these times of turmoil, country music has supplied listeners with songs that can help us keep moving forward, question the status quo and shine a light on our truths,...

For whatever reason, nostalgia for Barbara Mandrell's music seems minimal in comparison to the fame she earned as a recording artist and variety television show host. Nowadays, the common narrative on her peak commercial years (1977-1986) takes us from the celebrity appeal of Kenny Rogers to Randy Travis' role in a classic country revival. At best, Mandrell, a true country music lifer with her own pop success and old-school credibility, gets treated like a side note despite a varied, colorful and successful career.Born on Dec. 25, 1948, in Houston, Texas, Mandrell...