News

Magical moments greeted record crowds at MerleFest 2006, the 19th annual festival in celebration of the music of the late Merle Watson and his father Doc Watson. Wilkes Community College presented the event on April 27 30 on its campus in Wilkesboro, NC. MerleFest again drew an enormous, well behaved, and appreciative audience with a preliminary estimated total participation including volunteers and school children of 82,618, according to Managing Director Ted Hagaman. This surpasses last year

Sonic Youth will launch its summer tour with a June 13 show at legendary New York rock club CBGB, marking its first appearance at the venue since 1992. As previously reported, the group’s new studio album, “Rather Ripped,” will be released the same day via Geffen.

In addition to support from Tall Firs, Be Your Own Pet and Awesome Color, the tour will feature the debut of former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold. He will be filling the role vacated by producer/multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke, who played a role in Sonic Youth’s prior three studio albums before opting out for “Rather Ripped.”

In addition to seven support dates with Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth will also appear at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee, Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Kuyahoga Festival in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, this summer. More dates will be added to the itinerary.

As previously reported, Sonic Youth principals Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, plus their daughter Coco on shakers, will also appear May 9 on the season finale of the WB drama “Gilmore Girls,” performing an acoustic version of the “Rather Ripped” track “What a Waste.”

Here are Sonic Youth’s tour dates:

June 13: New York (CBGB)
June 14: Philadelphia (Starlight Ballroom)
June 15: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)
June 17: Asheville, N.C. (Orange Peel)
June 18: Manchester, Tenn. (Bonnaroo)
June 19: Atlanta (Earthlink Live)
June 21: Tulsa, Okla. (Cain’s Ballroom)
June 23: Austin, Texas (Stubb’s BBQ)
June 24: Dallas (Gypsy Ballroom)
June 26: Lawrence, Kan. (Liberty Hall)
June 27: Denver (Gothic Theatre)
June 29: Missoula, Mont. (UM Theatre)
June 30: Seattle (Moore Theatre)
July 3: Sacramento, Calif. (Empire)
July 4: Reno, Nev. (Reno Hilton)
July 6: Las Vegas (MGM Grand; w/ Pearl Jam)
July 7: San Diego (Cox Arena w/ Pearl Jam)
July 9-10: Los Angeles (Forum w/ Pearl Jam)
July 13: Santa Barbara, Calif. (Santa Barbara Bowl w/ Pearl Jam)
July 16, 18: San Francisco (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium w/ Pearl Jam)
Aug. 3: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)
Aug. 5: Chicago (Lollapalooza)

Source billboard.com.

Moonshine Still is about to begin a new chapter as it is undergoing a change while heading into the Summer Festival Season.

According to the band’s publicist, “It is with much love and sadness that we announce today that our friend and drummer, and a founding member of the band, Will Robinson is leaving Moonshine Still due to personal reasons. Life on the road has taken its toll on Will, and after many prayers, and much discussion we arrived at the arrived at the conclusion that the best solution for all parties involved would be for Will’s tenure as Moonshine’s drummer to draw to a close.

During the past decade, Will has been an integral and very important part of our lives, and we feel blessed to have shared so much with him and his family. We will miss having Will with us, and we wish Will much success in his future endeavourers.”

Will, Scott, Ray, Bill, Trippe and David are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported Moonshine Still over the years. It was all made possible thanks to the fans, or to quote the band members, “we thank our fans for their dedication, love of our music and support of the ever evolving sound of Moonshine Still.”

As the new chapter in the life of Moonshine Still begins, the band is going to continue to tour full time and drumming duties will be handled by Jon Joiner. Jon has been around in Thelonius and Lionz. Jon is also close to completing his music degree from Georgia College and State University and also performed in the University’s Jazz Band. We are excited to welcome Jon to the Moonshine Still family and look forward to an exiting future.

Will Robinson’s final performance with Moonshine Still will be Saturday, May 6, 2006 @ The Variety Playhouse (Atlanta, GA) w/special guests Jerry Joseph and Cecil “P-NUT” Daniels.

See moonshinestill.com for additional updates and continued touring information.

Radiohead has announced a U.S. tour in addition to its summer festival dates. The performances will take place in smaller than usual venues, and will feature appropriately scaled down staging and lighting design, creating a suitably intimate environment for the first ever airings of several new songs.

The theatre / amphitheatre run begins with a two-night run June 1 in Philadelphia. In fact, all of the band’s tour stops are two-nighters with the exception of the June 17 set at Bonnaroo.

06/01/06 Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
06/02/06 Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
06/04/06 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion
06/05/06 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion
06/07/06 Toronto, ON Hummingbird Centre
06/08/06 Toronto, ON Hummingbird Centre
06/10/06 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
06/11/06 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
06/13/06 New York, NY Madison Sq. Garden Theatre
06/14/06 New York, NY Madison Sq. Garden Theatre
06/17/06 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/19/06 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
06/20/06 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
06/23/06 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
06/24/06 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
06/26/06 San Diego, CA Bayside Convention Center
06/27/06 San Diego, CA Bayside Convention Center
06/29/06 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre
06/30/06 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre

Source: pollstar

Months after solidifying yet another eclectic FloydFest line-up of Americana and world grooves, the restless folks at Across-the-Way Productions have given music fans one more reason to make the trek down the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. For the first time in its five-year history, FloydFest will host a Thursday night Soundcheck, bringing back festival favorites Railroad Earth to celebrate their own fifth birthday with their third FloydFest appearance in a row.

To celebrate this new joint venture, FloydFest has teamed up with Madison House Publicity and Sci Fidelity Records to offer a special promotion to all those most eager fans who get in line first to ride the train. Starting May 1st, the first 100 people who buy a weekend pass directly from the FloydFest office (540 745 FEST) will receive a free copy of Railroad Earth

DJ Shadow’s next as-yet-untitled studio album will be released this summer via Universal. Shadow’s last major-label release, 2002’s “The Private Press,” was issued via MCA, which has since been absorbed into the Universal Music Group. That set has sold 160,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

As previously reported, Shadow’s new album leans in more of a straight-ahead hip-hop direction than prior efforts and will feature guest appearances by rappers Keak Da Sneak, Turf Talk, Q-Tip and David Banner.

Shadow will return to live duty at May 25 benefit at Los Angeles’ Mayan Theatre, alongside Cut Chemist, Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, MC Supernatural, the Beat Junkies, Madlib, Money Mark and MF Doom.

Source billboard.com.

Upstart rock act Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is eyeing a late fall/early winter release for its sophomore album. The quintet has tested many songs on the road and has finished writing the material for the as-yet-untitled set.

According to guitarist/keyboardist Lee Sargent, “It remains to be seen” if CYHSY will remain unsigned in the United States. As previously reported, the group bypassed labels and made an unusual deal with distributor ADA to handle its 2005 self-titled debut, which has sold 91,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.’

Source billboard.com.

New Jersey-based rock quartet the Wrens is at work on its next studio album, which it hopes to release by the end of the year via Absolutely Kosher. Also in the work is a remastered edition of the 1997 EP “Abbott 1135,” due in the fall.

The as-yet-untitled new full-length will be the follow-up to 2003’s “Meadowlands,” which was the best-selling record in the Wrens’ 16 year history.

“Most bands that have gotten to that point in their career hurry up and put something out within those three years, like a split EP or side project stuff,” singer/guitarist Charles Bissell tells Billboard.com. “I guess it just takes us that long to do the next thing. We’ve used the time to tend to some personal stuff that we put off for many years.”

Source billboard.com.

Rock veteran John Fogerty will spend the summer playing amphitheatres across the U.S., with special guest Willie Nelson opening in most cities.
The two legends of American music will launch the cross-country tour July 22 in West Palm Beach, Fla., following the former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader’s 15-date European trek.
Fogerty and Nelson will hit outdoor venues in close to two dozen U.S. cities, with Fogerty giving a few solo concerts as well. An August 27 gig in Phoenix is their last date together, after which Fogerty will play one more show at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre September 2.
Fogerty hit North American amphitheatres last summer on a co-bill with John Mellencamp. In November, he visited Australia for a largely sold-out two-week tour.
After more than three decades, Fogerty recently reunited with CCR’s original label, Fantasy Records. The company released a career-spanning compilation, The Long Road Home: The Ultimate John Fogerty/Creedence Collection, in November.

Source pollstar.com.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are the first band confirmed for the eighth Voodoo Music Experience, Billboard.com can exclusively reveal. The event will be held Oct. 28-29 at a New Orleans venue to be announced.

Last year’s Voodoo Music Experience was the first major musical event held in the Crescent City in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and boasted performances by Nine Inch Nails, Queens Of The Stone Age, Tiesto, the Bravery, the New York Dolls and Secret Machines, among others. Read the full Billboard.com article

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen will be back onstage together this summer for Steely Dan’s first tour in nearly three years.
The jazz-rock band will hit amphitheatres across the U.S. for two months with Michael McDonald in the support slot. The blue-eyed soul crooner goes way back with Steely Dan – he got his first taste of fame as a backup singer for the group.
The 31-date tour kicks off July 8 at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Ill. They’ll hit major markets across the country, finishing September 2 at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Mich.

Source: pollstar

Snoop Dogg was arrested last night at Heathrow Airport after a fracas broke out (April 26). Seven police officers were left with minor injuries after the disturbance – which invloved 30 people – happened in a business lounge at Terminal 1, the police have said.

Police explained that the group were told they could not board their flight and “became abusive and pushed officers.” The rapper, along with five other men, were held on suspicion of violent disorder and affray.

According to BBC News, one officer sustained a fractured hand, while the others mainly suffered cuts and bruises.

Source: nme

As a tune-up for a summer on the European festival circuit, Alice In Chains will play five U.S. club dates next month. As previously reported to Billboard.com, the veteran Seattle rock act is touring for the first time since the 2002 death of lead singer Layne Staley.

His role will be filled by new singer William DuVall of the band Comes With The Fall. Original members Jerry Cantrel, Sean Kinney and Mike Inez will also be joined by “a few other special guests and musical friends” throughout the spring and summer, according to a spokesperson.

The U.S. club tour will visit Los Angeles (May 18), San Diego (May 19), Chicago (May 21), Boston (May 22) and New York (May 23). A pre-sale for these shows begins tomorrow (April 26) via the band’s Web site.

Source: billboard.com

Peter Bogdanovich will tag along with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to film their upcoming concert tour for a documentary.

Bogdanovich, who directed “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” began work late last year on a feature film documentary chronicling the band’s three-decade career.

“We’ve given him access we’ve never given anybody,” Petty, 55, said as the dates were announced for the Highway Companion Tour, which will open June 9 in Charlotte, N.C.

Pearl Jam, Trey Anastasio and the Allman Brothers Band will share the bill at some performances and more guests will be added, according to band’s Web site. Petty is putting the finishing touches on his solo “Highway Companion” album.

“We’re trying to give a sense of what happened to this group of kids that came from Gainesville, Fla.

Vagrant Records is proud to announce that THE LEMONHEADS have signed to the label. The recently re-formed band is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on what will be their eighth studio album in a career that spans over two decades.

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Evan Dando is co-producing the album with drummer Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag), and the band is rounded out with bass player Karl Alvarez (Descendents). NYC-based Dando self-funded the project and has been recording in Stevenson

Last Gang Records is excited to announce that Emily Haines, frontwoman for Toronto 4-piece Metric, will be releasing her debut album as a solo artist. ‘Knives Dont Have Your Back’, due out September 26th, was written and recorded over the past four years in Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto and New York, and has contributions from the likes of Scott Minor from Sparklehorse, Broken Social Scene’s Justin Peroff, Stars’ Evan Cranley and Metric’s Jimmy Shaw. A distinct contrast from Metric’s bold, danceable sound, KNIVES is an intimate and subtle collection of mellow, piano-driven tunes complimented by soft string and horn arrangements.

Haines’ decision to release a solo album was long in the making. She recalls, “When I was a little kid…I would creep downstairs to the piano and write rudimentary songs about imaginary places. I’m told the first song I ever wrote was a love song to a cranberry tree. I always used the mute pedal. I hated the idea of anybody hearing me. Everywhere I’ve lived while working with Metric, I’ve written songs on the piano and played them for no one. On the advice of a friend, I decided I’d better start recording them before they were forgotten. Four meandering years later I ended up with this collection of songs featuring a few of my favorite people, a group I call The Soft Skeleton.”

Each song on the album holds a personal story from Haines’ life over the past decade. One track, for instance, was written years ago while she was studying electroacoustics in Montreal, and is an homage to childhood heroes Carla Bley and Robert Wyatt. Several songs, including “Reading in Bed” and “Mostly Waving” were recorded in Toronto during the winter of 2002, while Haines was mourning the sudden loss of her father, poet Paul Haines. A handful of songs were conceived during Metric’s early years, when the band was struggling to make ends meet, while more recent tracks were written with a change in perspective, as Haines faced Metric’s growing success.

In the spring and summer of 2005, Haines enlisted local musician Todor Kobakov to add string arrangements to a few songs, while friends from Broken Social Scene and Stars added horns to other tracks. Over the past few months, she has worked with producer John O’Mahony (Metric, The Strokes, System of a Down) at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, and Magic Shop in New York. O’Mahony introduced Emily to the final contributor of ‘Knives’: Scott Minor from the band Sparklehorse, who added several instrumental tracks as well as “various mysterious noises from Nashville.” Finally, as Haines says, “The scattered songs fell together.”

tracklisting

1. Our Hell
2. The Lottery
3. Doctor Blind
4. Nothing & Nowhere
5. Crowd Surf Off a Cliff
6. The Maid Needs a Maid
7. Mostly Waving
8. City of Night
9. Reading in Bed
10. Detective Daughter
11. Winning
12. The Last Page

An announcement is expected today (April 24) regarding this summer’s Crosby Stills Nash & Young Freedom of Speech tour. The 35-date tour, promoted by TNA International, will begin July 6 at the Tweeter Center near Philadelphia, and run through Sept. 10 in at the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pa.

Neil Young will be touring in support of two albums: his 2005 acoustic set “Prairie Wind” and a politically charged rock album, “Living With War,” which will begin streaming Friday for free on his Web site.

There had been speculation that Young might tour with his rock band Crazy Horse this year, but a CSNY tour is always welcome, according to TNA President Arthur Fogel. “They’ve been talking about doing this on and off for a while, but it’s up to them when the stars all align and they decide to do it,” Fogel tells Billboard.com. ” It has been four years since they’ve gone out, and this is one of those things [where] when you get them all together, it’s pretty magical.”

Ticket prices will be “pretty similar to last time,” Fogel says, and will top out in $175-$250, depending on the market. Lawn and upper-tier arena tickets will be in the $30-$35 range. There will be a fanclub pre-sale later this week, and tickets will go on sale to the general public this weekend.

CSNY last toured in 2002, grossing more than $35 million, ninth best for the year. The CSNY2K tour in 2000, the group’s first as a foursome in 20 years, grossed $42 million.

Source billboard.com.

Minneapolis indie rock outfit Tapes N’ Tapes has announced a new round of June tour dates for North America, following the band’s first-ever U.K. tour in May.

Chicago’s Abbey Pub, New York City’s Bowery Ballroom, and Stubb’s Barbecue in Austin, Texas, are all on the itinerary, which stretches for just over three weeks.
The group’s U.K. trek spans seven dates, including two London shows.

Source: pollstar

Veteran singer/songwriter John Hiatt has inked in a new round of concerts across the U.S., starting with the Doheny Blues Festival May 21 in Dana Point, Calif.
He’ll concentrate on the West Coast and South through early July, with a few Midwest dates to close the tour in July.
Hiatt is supporting his latest studio album, Master Of Disaster, released last year on New West Records.
Over his three decades in the music industry, Hiatt has released more than 15 albums and has seen his songs covered by Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop and The Neville Brothers, to name just a few.

Source pollstar.com.

Quickly becoming one of the most anticipated new artists of 2006, Gnarls Barkley announced today that they will make their first live NYC appearance at Webster Hall on May 22nd to coincide with their appearance on the Conan O’Brien show on May 24th.

Gnarls Barkley is made up of Danger Mouse, one of the most promising artist/producers in music today, and the one-of-a-kind soulful superstar Cee-Lo Green.

With one of the most talked-about new releases of the year, Gnarls Barkley’s full-length debut St. Elsewhere contains the single “Crazy,” which recently became the first track to reach #1 in the United Kingdom through downloads alone and has since been #1 for four weeks straight.

St. Elsewhere will be released May 9th on the Downtown/Atlantic label.

Gnarls is in Los Angeles this week preparing for their appearance at Coachella, with a backing band that includes Nine Inch Nails’ co-founder Chris Vrenna on drums, Justin Meldel Johnsen the famed bass player for Beck, and Holly Palmer performing background vocals.

Tickets for the Webster Hall show will be $25 and go on sale this Wednesday, April 25th at 12PM. They are available through www.ticketweb.com and the Mercury Lounge Box Office.