Woody Creek is a country road collision between the reliable green tractor pulling slide guitar, fiddle, and banjo and the rural rocking musings of a Frey/Henley collaboration.
Photos by Rod Snyder of Rich Robinson’s live performance at the Northstar in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 2004
Produced by George Drakoulious (Black Crowes, Tom Petty)the trio
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter have arrived with the release of their newest album Oh My Girl. It is a beautiful compilation of vocals and instruments that when listened to, blends the moody sounds of eerie guitar and gorgeous longing voices.
Carlos Santana has begun collecting songs for his next studio album. “I’m going to complete the next Santana album with [BMG chairman/CEO] Mr. Clive Davis,” the artist tells Billboard. “Right now we’re collecting songs. It’s like [the 1999 album] ‘Supernatural.’ What we did was we crafted songs like glass slippers, and then we find the Cinderellas.”
As with his past few albums, the songs will precede the collaborations with other artists. “We’re in the finding songs part,” Santana says. “I’m just supremely grateful [to everyone] from Lauryn Hill to Dave Matthews to Placido Domingo. Most people only work with one level and stay there. Where ‘I only do salsa, I only do norteno,’ and they stay there. I only play music. Period. And that gives me a different spectrum that others don’t enjoy.”
Asked when this new album will be finished, Santana replies, “When it’s done.” The set will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Shaman,” which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
As for the all-Spanish-language album Santana was mulling a few years back, the project has been shelved for now.
“I would like to work with so many people,” he says. “One of my favorite bands is still Molotov. And of course Mana, Los Jaguares. And there are a lot of people [from Latin America] that we don’t even know. But it’s not in the agenda now. I think I would need to establish a different agenda with Spanish radio, Univision and Telemundo.”
As previously reported, Santana will be honored as the 2004 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year via performances by Black Eyed Peas, Matthews, matchbox twenty’s Rob Thomas, Robi Draco Rosa and Ozomatli, among others. The tribute will be held Aug. 30 at Los Angeles’s Century Plaza Hotel.
Source billboard.com.
The Dead, Phish, Dave Matthews Band and five other artists are pictured on a limited-edition print released by HeadCount, a not-for-profit nonpartisan group dedicated to registering voters.
Live music’s top photographers, Danny Clinch, Jay Blakeberg and C. Taylor Crothers, all donated the use of their work for this print, which is available at HeadCount.org, and affiliate band Web sites.
This is the first collectible item ever to feature images of The Dead, Phish and Dave Matthews Band, three of the most popular touring acts of all time. All the proceeds from the sale of these 18 x 24, full-color prints will support HeadCount
Funk legend Rick James was found dead at 9:45 a.m. PT this morning (Aug. 6) at his Los Angeles home by a caretaker, according to a police spokesperson. He was 56. The cause of death was believed to be natural. The artist had a history of drug problems that led to poor health in recent years, including a 1998 stroke.
In addition to his own slew of pop and R&B hits, such as “Super Freak (Part 1),” “You and I” and “Mary Jane,” James wrote and produced songs for the likes of Teena Marie, the Temptations and Eddie Murphy. The one-time Navy deserter fell prey to drugs, and spent time behind bars in the 1990s for assault and holding a woman against her will.
James was recently honored with the Heritage Award from performing arts society ASCAP. Prior to the ceremony, he told Billboard he was planning to release a 30-song double-CD on his Sony/RED-distributed label, Ma Records.
“God sat me down to pay attention,” James said about the stroke. “Then he told me to get back up and hit the stage, and I’m enjoying it.”
James also claimed he was ready to retire from the music business “to do something more spiritual.” His daughter Ty, a rapper, is recording and negotiating a deal for her own solo album.
The artist roared back into the public consciousness earlier this year thanks to a series of hilarious, oft-quoted sketches on Comedy Central’s “Chapelle’s Show.” The show’s host/creator, Dave Chappelle, was in early talks to star as James in a film based on his upcoming autobiography, “Memoirs of a Super Freak.”
Source billboard.com.
Their name is the Asher Kahn Band and they are virtually unknown in the music entertainment world.
King’s X leader Doug Pinnick has completed work on a long-in-the-works album with Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament. The duo does not have a name but the 15-track album is tentatively titled “Montana,” according to King’s X’s official Web site. Richard Stuverud, Ament’s collaborator in his side band Three Fish, also participated in the sessions. No release date has been announced.
Pinnick describes the sound as “sort of a southern rock/classic sound, a bit of the Rolling Stones vibe, a little jam band vibe some groovy/funky tunes and a few beautiful ballads.” Pinnick and Stuverud handle all the singing, while Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready recently dropped by to add guitar to seven tracks.
The “Montana” album is just one of many projects on Pinnick’s plate. He is working with Winger guitarist Reb Beach on a CD of “’80s type music” that sounds like “Bon Jovi, Dokken [and] Whitesnake sort of but with my twist for vocals,” Pinnick says. The set is tentatively titled “Devil’s Children.”
King’s X has a double-disc live album in the can, sporting “no overdubs so at times [it] is really rough but has lots of vibe,” according to Pinnick. The group has also begun talks with its former label, Atlantic, to reissue its first four albums in a boxed set with a bonus disc of rehearsals. “This project is in just the talking phase right now,” Pinnick says.
Finally, King’s X is working on a new studio album, which will be the follow-up to 2003’s “Black Like Sunday.” Says Pinnick, “We are doing it like we used to in the early days; some old demos and lots of new stuff. Hopefully this is what you diehards are waiting for.”
The group will hit the road this fall, beginning Sept. 21 in Fort Worth, Texas, and running through a Nov. 17 finale in Baltimore.
Source billboard.com.
R.E.M.’s fall North American tour will find the veteran rock act playing some of the most intimate venues it has visited in years. The 29-date trek kicks off Oct. 13 at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre and will wrap Nov. 27 in Denver. As previously reported, R.E.M. will warm up for the dates on the Vote for Change tour, playing five shows with Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty and Bright Eyes beginning Oct. 1 in Philadelphia.
Although the trek will feature such arenas as New York’s Madison Square Garden (Nov. 4) and Boston’s FleetCenter (Oct. 29), it will also find R.E.M. performing in such intimate confines as Akron, Ohio’s E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall (Oct. 27, capacity 2,925) and an Oct. 25-26 stand at the Chicago Theatre (capacity 3,604).
Tickets for some shows will go on-sale Aug. 21. Members of R.E.M.’s fan club will be offered special ticket opportunities.
The tour comes in support of the group’s new Warner Bros. album, “Around the Sun,” due Oct. 5 in North America via Warner Bros. First single “Leaving New York” arrives commercially Sept. 27 outside North America.
Here are R.E.M.’s tour dates:
Oct. 1: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center, Vote for Change tour)
Oct. 2: Cleveland (Gund Arena, Vote for Change tour)
Oct. 3: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Arena, Vote for Change tour)
Oct. 5: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center, Vote for Change tour)
Oct. 8: Orlando, Fla. (TD Waterhouse Centre, Vote for Change tour)
Oct. 13: Los Angeles (Greek Theatre)
Oct. 14: Santa Barbara, Calif. (Santa Barbara Bowl
Oct. 15: San Francisco (Greek Amphitheatre)
Oct. 16: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
Oct. 19: St. Louis (Fox Theatre)
Oct. 20: Indianapolis (Murat Theatre)
Oct. 22: Nashville (Ryman Auditorium)
Oct. 23: Atlanta (Gwinnett Arena)
Oct. 25-26: Chicago (Chicago Theatre)
Oct. 27: Akron, Ohio (E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall)
Oct. 29: Boston (FleetCenter)
Oct. 30: Atlantic City, N.J. (Borgata)
Nov. 1: Washington, D.C. (DAR Constitution Hall)
Nov. 4: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Nov. 5: Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun)
Nov. 7: Pittsburgh (Palumbo Center)
Nov. 9-10: Toronto (Hummingbird Center)
Nov. 11: Ottawa, Ontario (Civic Centre)
Nov. 12: Montreal (Bell Centre)
Nov. 14: Thunder Bay, Ontario (Fort Williams Gardens)
Nov. 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba (Centennial Concert Hall)
Nov. 17: Calgary, Alberta (Saddledome)
Nov. 19-20: Seattle (McCaw Hall)
Nov. 21: Vancouver (Orpheum Theatre)
Nov. 26: Salt Lake City (E Center)
Nov. 27: Denver (Fillmore)
Source billboard.com.
