Kathy Mattea could hardly contain her amusement. The West Virginia-born country singer hasn’t had a song on the country charts in nearly 30 years, but after the airing of Ken Burns’ eight-part Country Music documentary, she woke up last week to find that both her greatest hits collection and her …
Read More »Hear Spoon Break Down Their Best Songs on Our New Podcast
For a band who, technically speaking, never had an actual pop hit, Spoon put together an incredibly strong greatest hits album. The recently released Everything Hits at Once: The Best of Spoon is a reminder that the Austin-based band is one of this century’s most consistent and tuneful acts – …
Read More »'Joker' Review: Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Is Indeed Wild
For the first time, the man who laughs gets the star spot all to himself. No going 50-50 with the Caped Crusader, like Jack Nicholson did in Batman; even the late, great Heath Ledger’s Oscar for The Dark Knight was for Best Supporting Actor. In Joker, Joaquin Phoenix digs into …
Read More »The Beatles' 'Abbey Road': 5 Great Country, Americana Covers
Fifty years ago this week, the Beatles released Abbey Road, the result of the group’s final recording sessions together after nearly a decade of revolutionizing the music industry and popular culture throughout the world. Taking its name from the London thoroughfare running past the EMI Recording Studios (officially renamed Abbey …
Read More »See Maluma and J Balvin Imitate Each Other in 'Qué Pena' Video
Colombian reggaeton stars Maluma and J Balvin have joined forces for a new single “Qué Pena.” The upbeat track is the first collaboration for the pair, who teased the single earlier this month on Instagram. In the slick new music video, Maluma and Balvin take turns imitating each others’ Instagram …
Read More »Brandon Ratcliff Sings With Alison Krauss, Laments Passage of Time in Breakout Song
Singer-songwriter Brandon Ratcliff has fond memories of going to school and spending time in quaint Minden, Louisiana, a small town in Webster Parish that’s just a short drive from where his family lived in more rural Cotton Valley. He hadn’t given much thought to what it meant to move on …
Read More »Mac Miller: Second Man Arrested in Connection With Rapper's Death
Authorities have arrested and charged a second man in connection with the death of the rapper Mac Miller. Ryan Reavis, a 36-year-old resident of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with fraud and drug and gun possession, according to a statement from the Lake Havasu …
Read More »'The Water Dancer': Ta-Nehisi Coates' American Odyssey
Ta-nehisi Coates is the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race with his 2015 memoir, Between the World and Me. So naturally his debut novel comes with slightly unrealistic expectations — and then proceeds to exceed them. The Water Dancer, …
Read More »Watch Lil Nas X Go Back to the Future With 'Panini' Performance on 'Ellen'
Lil Nas X conjured the futuristic cityscapes of his “Panini” video on Ellen Monday, performing the song against a backdrop of sparkling buildings and neon-lit screens. The rapper-singer recruited a full band for the daytime TV slot, adding a more rock-oriented touch to the trap-pop track. Between the song’s whistled …
Read More »See Sheryl Crow, Chris Stapleton Bring 'Tell Me When It's Over' to 'Fallon'
Sheryl Crow returned to The Tonight Show to perform “Tell Me When It’s Over” alongside Chris Stapleton. The track appears on Crow’s recently released album Threads. The performance, which marked the first time Crow and Stapleton played their collaboration live together, came nearly two weeks after Crow covered Bob Dylan …
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