Music

Thirty-eight years ago today, on Jan. 8, 1983, Reba McEntire earned her first No. 1 hit with "Can't Even Get the Blues." The song, McEntire's 14th single, was from her fifth studio album, Unlimited, which was released on Mercury Records."Can't Even Get the Blues," which was written by Tom Damphier and Rick Carnes, was one of the first uptempo songs that McEntire released as a single -- and she had to fight to even record it. The tune was being considered for Jacky Ward, another artist on Mercury, and McEntire argued...

Zayn Malik conjures crushing-out anticipation and tension between lovers in his new song “Vibez.” The single is slated to appear on the singer’s upcoming third studio album, Nobody Is Listening, which will arrive on January 15th via RCA Records. The sultry slow jam finds the R&B-pop crooner in an amorous mood. “Don’t keep me waiting/I’ve been waiting all night to get closer,” he sings on the chorus. “And you already know I got it for you/You know the vibes, know the vibes, put it on ya/If it’s movin’ too fast,...

Brandi Carlile and her wife of more than eight years, Catherine Shepherd, are raising two young daughters in rural Washington State — but when things get a bit hectic, they've got family and friends nearby to help.Truly, the couple don't have to go far to see some of their loved ones: Carlile's bandmates — two of whom are married to Carlile and Shepherd's siblings — live so close by that their homes essentially form a small compound."Everybody teased, 'Brandi's forming a cult.' Next thing I knew, the people I work...

Foo Fighters deliver a thrilling rendition of their hit “My Hero” in this exclusive clip from the upcoming episode of Austin City Limits, which features highlights from a pair of archival ACL performances by Dave Grohl and company. “I’m sure I can speak for every musician when I say that being asked to come play Austin City Limits is practically like getting a medal,” Grohl said in a statement of the venerable music series. “As a musician, it’s something to aspire to and if you actually achieve that then you...

Natalie Stovall, the newest member of the country trio Runaway June, didn't quite have a merry Christmas. As the musician revealed last week, she tested positive for the coronavirus over the holidays.Not quite as exciting as her two bandmates — Naomi Cooke and Jennifer Wayne — each getting engaged during the same span, but Stovall took things in stride. The namesake Natalie Stovall and the Drive performer has a husband herself, fellow musician James Bavendam, and, from how the singer put it in her Dec. 30 message, it seems he was affected by...

Country music made huge strides forward with streaming listeners in 2020, led by a handful of popular releases from Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen. That meant a bigger piece of a still-growing pie from a genre that has historically lagged with regard to streaming. Year-end data from the Rolling Stone Charts shows country music posting a 19% increase in on-demand audio streams in 2020 over the previous year, which is higher than the overall increase in streams of 16%. That’s a bigger percentage increase than rock, rap/hip-hop, and R&B. The...

A mob of pro-Donald Trump rioters stormed the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 6), breaking through barriers and into the building, putting the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, along with other government offices and officials, into lockdown.As the country followed the news on television and social media, many prominent names used their platforms to condemn the actions of the mob and the people in power, including the President Trump. Among those vocal people was Tim McGraw, who called the scene "terribly sad."McGraw has identified himself as...

A narrow street in Buenos Aires rings with the melodic blare of Julián Pico’s voice and the low hum of his acoustic guitar. It’s a striking opening image for Argentine rock band Las Sombras’ debut short film,  El precio de la canción (in English, “The Price of the Song”), and the group — made up of Pico, drummer Mauro López, lead guitarist Nicolás Lippoli, and vocalist-guitarist Manuel Fernández —  has just begun.  After that first shot on the street, the camera moves into local record shop Exiles Records, where Lippoli...

Florida Georgia Line singer Tyler Hubbard is stepping outside of the superstar country duo for an upcoming collaboration with Tim McGraw. Hubbard and McGraw join musical forces on a song titled "Undivided," which is set for release on Jan. 13.Hubbard co-wrote the song with Chris Loocke during a time of introspection while he was quarantined on his bus in November of 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19. Hubbard says he was reflecting on his ability to judge too quickly and thinking of the values he was raised with, looking to...

Alice Glass has released new song “Suffer and Swallow,” the first single from her upcoming debut album, due out later this year. The glitchy track deals in themes of reclaiming power over someone or something that seemingly held the control. “Suffer and swallow (suffer and swallow)/You know there’s no tomorrow (you know there’s no tomorrow)/I did this for you,” Glass ethereally sings on the chorus with a harsh contrasting backing vocal echoing her lyrics. “Suffer and swallow (suffer and swallow)/I know what you are/I know what you are.” In the...

In 2021, we'll get to see how country music's best artists have spent their time in quarantine. This list of 36 highly anticipated country albums includes projects from superstars such as Eric Church and Carrie Underwood and relative newcomers including Midland and Willie Jones.Is your favorite artist planning on releasing a new album this year? The first batch of country albums listed below includes albums with firm release dates. We know Morgan Wallen has something big coming on Jan. 8 (30 songs!), we know Loretta Lynn won't let us down on March 19, and we...

When we look back on 2020, many sounds will come to mind. The 7 p.m. cheers for frontline workers, Patti Labelle and Gladys Knight’s voices mingling together, the deafening silence of existential unraveling. But perhaps most of all, it will be “Eeh-uhrr.” “The Box,” Roddy Ricch’s unrelentingly popular, unrelentingly squeaky breakout hit, takes Number One on Rolling Stone’s Year-End Top 100 Songs chart, pulling in 866 million on-demand audio streams in 2020. Proving that sometimes it isn’t so much what the words mean as the way they squeak out, like...

Loretta Lynn is tributing country music's female legends, from every time period, with her just-announced new album, Still Woman Enough. The record traces American traditional music back to its roots, spotlighting a handful of beloved tracks popularized by the Carter Family, and also features new renditions of some of Lynn's biggest hits from the early days of her career.But Lynn isn't just tipping her hat to the genre's past in her new, 13-track project: She also looks towards country music's future, inviting several of its biggest contemporary female stars to join her on...