At the age of 66, bluegrass legend Del McCoury has certainly been there and done that. As a true ambassador for bridging bluegrass to a younger and wider audience, the genre owes the man some due resects. So rather than lay back and bask in fame and glory, McCoury is still making the best music of his life, while remaining a road horse.
More than a history lesson, PUNK gains its prevalence by calling out the apathy that runs through culture today. Even more notable is that Letts points to culture
Medeski has never been contained by one set of musical values, which is why, when the announcement came from Ropeadope records that he would be collaborating as both producer and guest on a record by Sacred Steel legends the Campbell Brothers, it was hardly surprising.
Tracks that funk legend Rick James was working on before his death last August will form the new album “Rick James Forever,” due Aug. 16 via Sanctuary. Although the final track list is not yet confirmed, Billboard.com has learned the set will feature a collaboration with James’ daughter Ty, “My Life,” plus “Do You Wanna Play?,” featuring Johnny Gill and Howard Hewitt.
Other cuts earmarked for “Rick James Forever” include “Taste,” “When Your Body’s Mine,” “Sapphire,” “Freak Baby,” “Sex Slave,” “Deeper Still,” “Funk With Me,” “Stroke” and “Brass Bed.”
Discussions are in the works for a James tribute concert to coincide with the new album’s release, but no details have yet been set.
James died Aug. 6, 2004, of a heart attack. The artist, who had battled drug addiction for years and suffered a 1998 stroke, had methamphetamine, cocaine, Vicodin and Xanax in his system at the time of death, according to the autopsy report.
Source billboard.com.
On July 12, Legacy Records will release Okemah and the Melody of Riot, the first album in seven years from Son Volt. This comes on the heels of a 20-track compilation that included five unreleased tunes and a live DVD.
Son Volt has been making a return this year. For the past several years, it’s been bandleader Jay Farrar who’s been out on the road as a solo act, but the line between a Farrar thing and a Son Volt thing has always been a little fuzzy.
The band will tour in September, starting in Bellingham, Wash., on the 3rd. The next night the Volt travels a short distance to Seattle, then it’s off to Portland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Shows include Los Angeles, Austin and Dallas, with the last gig booked for New Orleans’ House of Blues on September 20, but the Web site hints at an “international tour.”
Sat 09/03/05 Bellingham, WA Night Light Lounge
Sun 09/04/05 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival
Wed 09/07/05 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
Fri 09/09/05 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Sat 09/10/05 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst
Mon 09/12/05 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
Tue 09/13/05 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
Wed 09/14/05 Flagstaff, AZ Orpheum Theatre
Fri 09/16/05 Austin, TX Stubb’s Barbeque
Sat 09/17/05 Dallas, TX Gypsy Tea Room / Ballroom
Tue 09/20/05 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues
Source pollstar.com.
The Band will be the subject of a comprehensive boxed set this fall that will feature 37 previously unreleased tracks. Due Sept. 27 via Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing, “A Musical History” will include five audio discs and a DVD featuring a wealth of rare live performance footage.
The 111-song box begins with formative tracks the Band crafted with Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan in the early and mid-1960s, including previously unreleased “song sketches” of “Words and Numbers,” “Beautiful Thing,” “Caledonia Mission” and “The Stones I Throw.”
Beyond such classics as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Weight,” the late ’60s/early ’70s are represented with previously unreleased live versions of “Strawberry Wine,” “Rockin’ Chair” and “Look Out Cleveland,” taped June 2, 1971, at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
The latter portion of the group’s career is augmented with a previously unreleased live collaboration with Dylan on “Highway 61 Revisited” (taped Jan. 31, 1974, in New York) and such rarities as a “song sketch” of “Twilight” and a live take on “Forbidden Fruit.”
The DVD contains a bounty of gems from the vault, including the Band’s three-song, Oct. 30, 1976, performance on “Saturday Night Live,” which has never been released in its entirety. Other performances were captured at Robbie Robertson’s studio (“Jam”/”King Harvest (Has Surely Come)”), on the famed Festival Express tour of Canada (“Long Black Veil,” “Rockin’ Chair”) and at London’s Wembley Stadium (“The Genetic Method”/”Chest Fever”).
“A Musical History,” which was overseen by Robertson with producers Cheryl Pawelski and Andrew Sandoval, will be packaged with a 108-page hardbound box.
Source billboard.com.
Having nearly completed work on its sophomore Domino/Epic album, U.K. rock act Franz Ferdinand has unveiled plans for a fall North American tour. The month-long trek will begin Sept. 20 in Chicago and has dates on tap through Oct. 18 in Toronto. The group is expected to return for more shows in the first portion of 2006.
Like its 2004 predecessor, the new album will be a self-titled affair. A number of songs from the set, due Oct. 4, were road-tested earlier this spring during a series of gigs in Russia, which allowed the band to fine-tune them before recording final versions.
Franz Ferdinand’s tour dates:
Aug. 9: San Sebastian, Spain (Estadio de Anoeta; w/ U2)
Aug. 11: Madrid (Estadio Vicente Calderon; w/ U2)
Aug. 20-21: Staffordshire/Chelmsford, England (V Festival)
Aug. 30-31: Edinburgh (Edinburgh Castle)
Sept. 20: Chicago (Aragon Ballroom)
Sept. 21: Minneapolis (Target Center)
Sept. 22: Kansas City, Mo. (Uptown Theatre)
Sept. 23: St. Louis (Pageant)
Sept. 25: Austin, Texas (Austin City Limits Festival)
Sept. 27: Denver (Fillmore Auditorium)
Sept. 28: Magna, Utah (Great Salt Air Amphitheatre)
Oct. 1-2: Seattle (Paramount Theatre)
Oct. 3: Portland, Ore. (Rose Garden Arena)
Oct. 4: Vancouver (Orpheum Theatre)
Oct. 6: San Francisco (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium)
Oct. 7: Los Angeles (Greek Theatre)
Oct. 9: San Diego (SDSU Open Air Theatre)
Oct. 11: Las Vegas (the Joint)
Oct. 17: New York (Theatre at Madison Square Garden)
Oct. 18: Toronto (Ricoh Centre)
Oct. 28: Paris (Zenith)
Oct. 31: Rouen, France (31st)
Nov. 1: Lille, France (Zenith)
Nov. 2: Metz, France (Les Arenes)
Nov. 4: Grenoble, France (Zenith)
Nov. 7: Dusseldorf, Germany (Phillishalle)
Nov. 8: Berlin (Tempodrom)
Nov. 9: Hamburg, Germany (Colour Line Arena)
Dec. 12: Munich (Zenith)
Source billboard.com.
Dave Matthews, Neil Young, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp will head to Chicago this year for Farm Aid. The twentieth-anniversary concert, to be held at the Tweeter Center on September 18th, will wrap a weeklong series of events, including club shows and a film festival, in the city to benefit American farmers.
“It’s good to be back in Illinois where it all started,” Nelson said Monday at a press conference at Chicago’s Grant Park. “This state is showing how good food can connect places like Champaign and Chicago. It inspires us to think about family farmers every day. I’m looking forward to playing on the Farm Aid stage, playing music with my friends.”
Farm Aid, which began in Champaign in 1985, was the brainchild of Bob Dylan and spearheaded by Nelson and Mellencamp. The concerts have raised $27 million for family-owned American farms.
Tickets to this year’s show go on sale July 30th. More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Source rollingstone.com.
