Fans in Florida got their chance to catch Young The Giant and Grouplove on St. Patrick’s Day at The Ritz in Ybor City.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney returned to the U.S. country music charts for the first time in 12 years Thursday thanks to a cover of “Revolution” by Nashville trio Rascal Flatts. The tune debuted at No. 60 on the Hot Country Songs tally, almost 39 years after it was originally released as the flip side of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” in August 1968. As songwriters, Lennon and McCartney were most recently on the chart in June 1995, when Steve Wariner took “Get Back” to No. 72. “Revolution” is the highest-charting Lennon-McCartney song since Rosanne Cash turned the “Beatles For Sale”… Read more »
Say what you will about Fall Out Boy, the dudes are punctual. Facing a day during which they’ll play three shows in three cities across the country over the course of 19 hours, the band arrived at the “TRL” studios in Times Square bright-eyed and relatively bushy-tailed at the very un-rocking hour of 8 a.m., ready to kick off the festivities with a ripping performance in front of a throng of extremely vocal fans – many of whom had lined up at 6 a.m., braving subzero wind chills to secure a spot in the studio. “I’m not tired yet,” FOB… Read more »
Nelly had a fair amount of success earlier this fall when he suckered his fans into buying not one, but two new albums on the same day: the party-pumping Sweat and the slow-jammin’ Suit. You’ve got to have some moxy to pull off the two separate albums released on the same day trick (Guns N’ Roses and Tom Waits – who’ve both pulled it off – aren’t exactly your typical artists). If anything, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst has moxy. The indie rock heartthrob will not only release two albums on the same day (January 25), but he’s planning to launch… Read more »
New York – If there was an increase in the number of people who took the day off from work or stayed home from school Tuesday, it may not have been the flu that kept them at home and on the couch. “Halo 2,” the long-awaited sequel to the 2001 game that set the standard for first-person shooters, went on sale Tuesday (November 9) at midnight, and thousands of people around the country waited in line for hours, just to be among the first to get their hands on what promises to be the biggest video game of the year.… Read more »
Ryan Adams hasn’t arrived for a scheduled afternoon interview, sending instead an apologetic manager with an explanation. “Ryan went out last night with Ron Wood,” the manager said. Oh. Enough said. The bar tab for a summit between two generations of notorious rock ‘n’ roll party animals must have approached the gross national product of some small nations. But all is not as it seems. The next day, Adams insists it was a low-key evening; his Rolling Stones pal wasn’t drinking. Twin cups of Alka Seltzer and black coffee suggest some recovery time for Adams. His music is confounding expectations,… Read more »
Ticket sales from the Dixie Chicks’ current Top Of The World tour are nearing the $60-million mark, setting the trio up to be the top-grossing country tour of the year. With 56 shows under their belt so far, the Dixie Chicks’ average attendance is upwards of 16,000 fans per show. The group’s manager, Simon Renshaw, told Billboard, “The bottom line is, for all the so-called controversy…the Dixie Chicks’ fans remained totally loyal throughout the tour,” referring to lead singer Natalie Maine’s much-publicized anti-Bush comment. The Dixie Chicks will wrap up the North America leg of their tour on August 13… Read more »
America’s country music scene isn’t exactly known for its gay artists, but a colorful pack of wanna-be stars pulled out their best rustic twangs and wailing guitars on Thursday to try to change all that. Scores of country music hopefuls auditioned in New York for what is being billed as a television show to pick an openly gay country music star from about 50 contestants. The musicians – most of whom wore jeans and spit-polished boots – wailed through Willie Nelson songs, crooned like Lyle Lovett and belted out ballads like Garth Brooks. Livening up the day was The Dixie… Read more »
Country music songwriter Harlan Howard, who co-wrote the Patsy Cline classic “I Fall to Pieces,” died on Sunday at age 74, according to industry publicist Tina Wright. He had been in ill health for several years. Howard, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, had more than 100 “Top Ten” hits during his career, which was kicked off in 1958 with “Pick Me Up On Your Way Down.” His works were recorded not only by such country greats as George Jones, Buck Owens, Glen Campbell, Ray Price and Conway Twitty but also by more mainstream music stars such… Read more »
Following its unprecedented 49 Grammy Award nominations, The Island Def Jam Music Group continues its winning momentum this week with four records in the Top 10 of the nation’s Top Albums chart (source: Soundscan). Propelling this success were the multiplatinum releases from Ludacris (Word of Mouf; no.4), Nickelback (Silver Side Up, no.5), Ja Rule (Pain Is Love; no.6) and the hit soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou (no.10). The Island Def Jam Music Group also scored thirteen albums in the Top 100 with releases from seminal hip-hop artist JAY-Z (MTV Unplugged), alternative rockers Hoobastank (Hoobastank), country icon Willie Nelson… Read more »
