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05 Apr 2023

Tanya Tucker Announces New Album Following Her Country Music Hall of Fame Induction

On Monday (April 3), Tanya Tucker was announced as one of the Country Music Hall of Fame’s newest inductee-elects, alongside Patty Loveless and songwriter Bob McDill. The two-time Grammy winner Tucker wasted no time adding to the heralded moment, revealing her upcoming album, Sweet Western Sound, will release June 2 via Fantasy Records.

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The 10-song set will reunite Tucker with producers Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings, who helmed her 2019 album While I’m Livin’, the project that garnered Tucker her first Grammy wins for best country album, as well as best country song, for its single “Bring My Flowers Now.”

“Sweet Western Sound is another revelation and I’m excited to see what folks think of our new endeavor,” said Tucker said via a statement. “It’s ALWAYS a trip working with Brandi and Shooter. I didn’t know if we’d be working together again on a new album after While I’m Livin’!! But we did it! Lots of new things we did this time and I even co-wrote some of the songs, which means a lot to me. Brandi says we’re MAGIC together, and I’m starting to believe her!!!!”  

The Phil and Tim Hanseroth-written track “Kindness” leads the project, which also features contributions from Elton John’s longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, Allison Russell’s Birds of Chicago bandmate JT Nero, Billy Don Burns and Craig Dillingham. A voicemail-generated rhyme from Tucker’s hero and friend, the late Billy Joe Shaver, opens and closes the album.

In addition to contributing production and co-writing four songs on the project, Carlile lends her voice to the track “Breakfast in Birmingham,” which Carlile co-wrote with Taupin. Sweet Western Sound also includes the previously released song “Ready As I’ll Never Be,” which also served as the closing song to Tucker’s 2022 documentary, The Return of Tanya Tucker, Featuring Brandi Carlile.

Tucker is also slated to headline two concerts at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, set for June 3-4.

See her announcement and the tracklist for Sweet Western Sound below:

  1. “Tanya” (written by Billy Joe Shaver, Tanya Tucker)
  2. “Kindness” (written by Tim Hanseroth, Phil Hanseroth)
  3. “Breakfast In Birmingham,” featuring Brandi Carlile (written by Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin)
  4. “Waltz Across a Moment” (written by Shooter Jennings)
  5. “Ready As I’ll Never Be” (written by Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker)
  6. “The List” (written by Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker)
  7. “Letter to Linda” (written by Tanya Tucker, Shooter Jennings)
  8. “City of Gold” (written by JT Nero)
  9. “That Wasn’t Me” (written by Brandi Carlile, Tim Hanseroth, Phil Hanseroth)
  10. “When the Rodeo Is Over (Where Do the Cowboys Go?)” (written by Billy Don Burns, Craig Dillingham)

05 Apr 2023

Jason Isbell Shoots Back at Kid Rock’s Anti-Bud Stance With Bad News About Bob’s Favorite Beer

Pretty soon, Kid Rock might be a devil without a case… of beer. After the conservative rapper-turned-country crooner posted a video earlier this week in which he blasted three cases of Bud Light using a semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle while intoning, “f– Bud Light and f–k Anheuser-Busch,” Jason Isbell had some bad news for the MAGA hat-wearing Bullgod.

“This is finally how we get him,” Isbell wrote. “Leave no bigoted beers to drink.” The comment came above a re-tweet of a post in which a user noted that Robert Ritchie’s beer of choice — Coors Light — is “guilty too!” The post featured an infographic noting that Coors “has had an anti-discrimination policy including sexual orientation since 1978, one of the first American corporations to do so.”

The image also said that the company “has financially supported its GLBT employees group since 1993,” while listing a number of LGBTQ-friendly bars where you can enjoy the brew that Rock promoted in a 2003 Super Bowl ad.

Rock’s rifle video came shortly after trans activist Dylan Mulvaney teamed up with Anheuser-Busch to promote the brand’s Easy Carry Contest, posting a video of herself talking about the campaign and even receiving “possibly the best gift ever” — a commemorative can of Bud Light with her face on it.

Mulvaney’s video immediately sparked outrage from right-wing commentators, who lambasted the brand for working with a transgender influencer. Anheuser-Busch responded to the backlash first in a statement to Fox News, which they reiterated to Billboard, saying the company works with “hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics and passion points,” and adding that Mulvaney’s commemorative can “was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”

The clip also came just weeks after a mass shooting at a private Nashville elementary school in which an assailant using a semi-automatic military-style rifle murdered three nine-year-old children and three adult staffers. Rock’s beer rant raised the ire of Fred Guttenberg, the father of a child who was killed during the Parkland shooting in Florida in 2018.

Guttenberg — who has turned into an outspoken gun control advocate in the wake of the massacre in which 14 teenagers and three staffers were killed — lambasted Rock for glorifying the kinds of war weapons often employed in mass shootings.

“Hey @kidrock, this dad is ‘feeling a little frisky today,” Guttenberg tweeted, mimicking Rock’s playful tone in a post that showed his late daughter trying to evade the murderous school shooter. “Let me be ‘as clear and concise’ as I can with you. This is my daughter Jaime (under the black oval) and these are the students running over her for safety to avoid getting shot by the AR 15 that killed her. F–K YOU!!!

Billboard has reached out to Kid Rock and Dylan Mulvaney for comment.

Rock’s video — which did not specifically mention Mulvaney or the LGBTQ-friendly Bud campaign — came amid amid a nationwide targeting of transgender people by conservative state legislatures around the U.S. Kentucky became the latest state to pass anti-trans legislation into law last week when lawmakers overrode Gov. Andy Beshear‘s veto of a bill banning gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 18, while also compelling physicians to cease any ongoing gender-transition care for minors.

See Isbell and Guttenberg’s tweets below.

05 Apr 2023

Whitney Houston’s ‘I Go to the Rock’ Debuts on Top Gospel Albums Chart

Whitney Houston’s I Go to the Rock: The Gospel Music of Whitney Houston arrives at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart dated April 8.

The set, released March 24, earned 4,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending March 30, according to Luminate.

The 14-track collection, which includes six previously unreleased songs, marks Houston’s second entry on the Top Gospel Albums chart. Her first faith-based LP, the soundtrack to the film The Preacher’s Wife, entered at No. 1 in December 1996 and proceeded to dominate the list for 26 frames. It has charted for 158 weeks and was most recently on the ranking this January.

Houston co-starred in the comedy-drama, which was directed by Penny Marshall, and whose cast also featured Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance (plus Lionel Richie).

I Go to the Rock comprises studio recordings and live performances. The six songs not available until now: “He Can Use Me,” “I Found a Wonderful Way,” “Testimony,” “This Day,” “He/Believe” and a live version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which ruled the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in 1970. Houston’s take on the ballad was recorded with gospel star CeCe Winans in June 1995 at a VH1 Honors special.

Houston, who passed away Feb. 11, 2012, at age 48, posted 11 No. 1s among 23 top 10s on the Hot 100. On the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart, she has scored four No. 1s, among eight top 10s. The Preacher’s Wife generated one of those top 10 singles: the No. 4-peaking “I Believe in You and Me,” as well as the No. 15 hit “Step by Step” (written by Annie Lennox).

05 Apr 2023

Flavor Flav Joined Students At Harvard For An Emily Dickinson Table Reading

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2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards - Show

Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty

OG Hip-Hoppers know that Flavor Flav is a legend in the music game. Although today’s generation isn’t as familiar with the Public Enemy artist as we are, some Ivy leaguers got the chance to meet with the rap icon and learn why he’s so beloved in the Hip-Hop culture.

According to TMZ, Flavor Flav made a trip out to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he met some of the students of Harvard University where he joined a table read of Emily Dickinson’s 1896 poem “A Clock Stopped” and broke down how it actually connected into his own bars over time. After having some fun with the class with his eccentric personality, Flav actually donated one of his oversized clock pieces to the Hip Hop Archive Research Institute which was accepted by Professors Henry Louis Gates and Tommie Shelby.

You have to wonder how many of those time pieces Flavor Flav has at home. Hundreds? Thousands maybe? And where does he get them? Just sayin.’

But Flavor Flav isn’t quite done with his time at Harvard as he plans on staying for a while, but enrolling in the school isn’t exactly on the agenda.

We’re told Flav still has plenty of festivities in the pipeline … he’s scheduled for a writer’s workshop, a sitdown with PBS and he’s volunteering to feed the homeless inside the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter with a few student groups.

Props to Flavor Flav for partaking in said activities. We wonder if he’ll be bunking with someone at a college dorm. Heck, he might end up partying at some fraternities or sorority parties while he’s there. Why not?

But Flav wasn’t the only celebrity on hand this week at the Ivy League school as other notable names on the campus included the likes of Lupe Fiasco (who used to teach at Harvard but not teaches at MIT), Dee-1, DJ Stretch Armstrong, and Khaliah Ali.

Must be celebrity week at Harvard.



05 Apr 2023

Recording Academy Teams With United Nations on Climate Crisis-Focused Concert Series

The Recording Academy is using the power of music for good.

On Wednesday (April 5), the organization announced a new partnership with several United Nations Human Rights-supported global initiatives on a campaign that will engage major artists to use their talents and platform to galvanize support for UN human rights goals, including advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, women’s empowerment, climate justice and a broad range of other human rights issues.

The first activation under the initiative is the Right Here, Right Now Mini Global Climate Concert Series, which will see popular arena acts performing in small concert venues around the world while highlighting climate issues including floods, droughts, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, food insecurity, clean water, ocean acidity, deforestation, mental health and more. The series is set to kick off April 13 at the Boulder Theater in Colorado with The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz alongside special guest Yola. The performance, produced by AEG Presents and supported by the University of Colorado Boulder, will be filmed by Citizen Pictures for a later broadcast.

The concert series is a partnership between the Recording Academy and the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, a public-private partnership developed by David Clark Cause alongside UN Human Rights that seeks to address climate change as a human rights crisis.

“We are honored to be working with several United Nations-supported global music initiatives to bring together artists and create unique music events to promote social justice around the world,” said Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. in a release. “Music has no boundaries so we are excited to partner with the artist community and work with the United Nations to further their human rights goals and ultimately, better the world.”

The Right Here, Right Now initiative plans to hold additional concerts in cities on multiple continents, with discussions already underway for shows in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Johannesburg, Bogotá and Dubai. Proceeds will go to United Nations Human Rights climate justice initiatives as well as MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s music charity, which is establishing The Right Here, Right Now MusiCares Fund to focus relief efforts on music communities impacted by the climate crisis.

“Music provides a platform for the biggest megaphone in the world,” added Clark Cause in a statement, adding that Boulder was chosen as the kickoff city because it “has become the ‘Davos of Climate Change,’ since the University of Colorado Boulder recently convened world leaders, top climate experts, business leaders, and human rights advocates, along with students from our Education Coalition that includes over 2,300 universities – for the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit co-hosted with United Nations Human Rights last year.”

Celebrities who have previously lent their support to the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance and United Nations Human Rights include Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cher, Camila Cabello, Annie Lennox, LL Cool J, Cyndi Lauper, Pitbull, Jack Black, the Lumineers, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Bridges, Edward Norton, Bob Weir, Dead & Company, Kesha, Joss Stone and Michael Franti.

“Throughout history, music has been an important outlet for communication, cultural expression, and expression of dissent. As the Global Partner of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, UN Human Rights welcomes the news that the Recording Academy will be joining the alliance as the Global Partner of Right Here, Right Now Music, in order to help promote our mutual goals and objectives to help prevent the worst impacts of the climate catastrophe on persons, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations,” said Benjamin Schachter, UN Human Rights team leader for environment and climate change.

The Right Here, Right Now Mini Global Concert at Boulder Theater is being advised on best sustainability practices by Sound Future Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to accelerate climate innovation for the live event industry.

05 Apr 2023

Meek Mill Points Out That He and Indicted Donald Trump Share a Lawyer: ‘Trump Graduated From the Streets’

The image of a grim-faced Donald Trump at the defendants’ table on Tuesday (April 4) during the former president’s arraignment on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to cover up hush payments to a porn actress made history for a number of reasons.

But amidst the avalanche of coverage of the first former commander in chief to be criminally arraigned — Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges — one thing you may have missed was an Instagram Story from Meek Mill about another bizarre wrinkle to the tale.

“Trump graduated from the streets… sharing criminal lawyers [with us]… Joe Tactical,” Meek wrote below the now-iconic image of a glum Trump seated in a Manhattan court room flanked by his lawyers, according to Complex. Meek was moved to weigh in because the man to Trump’s left was none other than lawyer Joe Tacopina, who was part of Mill’s legal team during the rapper’s successful bid to overturn his sentence for violating probation form a decade-old gun and drug case.

Another slide in the Story printed up the receipts tying Meek to twice-impeached Trump, depicting the MC standing next to Tacopina after a hearing. The two worked together when Tacopina — a tough-talking attorney known for representing rapper YG on suspicion of robbery, Sopranos actor Lillo Brancato on murder/weapons charges and actress Taryn Manning on assault charges — helped get Meek sprung from jail after serving five months on the probation violation.

Trump has denied the claims that he personally wrote checks to reimburse his former fixer, Michael Cohen, to pay for the silence of two women the former Apprentice star allegedly had affairs with during the 2016 presidential election. Trump, who is running for president for a third time, is due back in court in December.

05 Apr 2023

Donald Glover Says ‘This Is America’ Was Originally a Drake Diss Track

Childish Gambino‘s “This Is America” was praised upon its 2018 release as a searing, poignant commentary on race and police brutality in the nation. But, honestly, according to a new GQ cover story interview with Donald Glover, the song started as something much less noble: a jokey Drake diss track.

“I had the idea three years before. I told [director] Hiro [Murai] the idea, and he’s like, ‘I really want to do that.’… The idea for the song started as a joke,” he said in a video accompanying the interview in which the actor/rapper broke down his most iconic roles, including Lando Calrissian in Solo, Earn in Atlanta and Troy Barnes in Community. “To be completely honest, ‘This is America’ — that was all we had was that line. It started as a Drake diss, to be honest, as like a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, this s–t sounds kind of hard though. So I was like, let me play with it.”

Glover’s Gambino heated up a mostly one-sided feud with Drizzy in 2014 when he said during an Australian gig this his rapper alter ego was better than Drizzy, Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q combined. He later said his bravado was just part of the gig, no hate intended and the two have reportedly become friends in he years since.

He said he and Murai studied Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 “Thriller” video for a long time to figure out “how do you make something… how do you make people care about anything anymore?… Well, you have to have a moment in real time.” What informed the song that went on to win record and song of the year at the 20919 Grammy Awards, he said, was all the Black Lives Matter social protests at the time, which inspired him to make what he described as a “‘We Are The World,’ like for trap [music.]”

And, in addition to shooting it on film for added drama, he said it was three total takes to give it that “continuous” feel.

The interview also touched on Glover meeting Ludwig Göransson when the future Oscar-winning composer (and Gambino collaborator) was working on the music for Community while describing their “amazing chemistry.” Glover also talked about how not getting a shot at Saturday Night Live — pal Amy Poehler reportedly told him his edgy stand-up is what scotched the deal — was probably a good thing.

“I dodged so many bullets. Me being on SNL would’ve killed me,” he said. “I got friends who made it on SNL and, at the time, I was like, damn. But if I got on SNL, my career wouldn’t have happened. Thank God I didn’t get some of those pilots. I wanted so desperately to be on Parks and Rec because it was the cool, hipster show.”

The interview about Glover’s new production company Gilga, included news of Glover mentoring former first daughter Malia Obama on her first short film. “The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once. ‘You’re Obama’s daughter,’” he recalled telling her. “So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around.”

His longtime collaborator and Gilga creative partner, Fam Udeorji, said the plan was to support Malia in her creative endeavors however they can.  “Understanding somebody like Malia’s cachet means something,” he said. “But we really wanted to make sure she could make what she wanted — even if it was a slow process.”

Watch the GQ interview below.

05 Apr 2023

‘The Voice’ Contestant ‘Smashed’ Battle of Soul: Watch

The Battles round rumbles on as The Voice’s contestants pull out their best, or face elimination.

On Tuesday night’s (April 4) episode, Team Niall singers Jerome Godwin III, the 20-year-old Ashford, AL native, went head-to-head with Talia Smith, the 29-year-old who calls Queens, NY home.

Both tackled Sam Smith’s “Like I Can” for a performance that had the coaches bouncing along, and Niall Horan out of his seat.

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Kelly Clarkson was impressed with Godwin’s control, and Smith’s range and capability. “I could not take my eyes off of you,” she remarked. It’s not her choice to make, but she’s “bummed to see either one of you go.”

Jerome “smashed it,” added Chance the Rapper. “You could sing anything. I feel like you’d be really good with gospel and soul, but I also think you could do, like, Broadway stuff.” Smith, he reckoned, had some “pitch issues,” but she found the pocket halfway through the song.

Blake Shelton concurred – Godwin “took this battle.”

Decision time. Yes, there were “obviously some pitch issues across the board,” noted Horan. Still, it was an “unbelievable performance,” the Irishman enthused. This Battle would always come down to “who had the most composure.” And that was Godwin.

Smith proved she was a good sport, thanking the coaches and producing a late surprise. She revealed that she’s carrying a baby.

Watch the Battle below.

05 Apr 2023

Gang Of Youths, Tash Sultana, Tina Arena Lead Winners at 2023 Rolling Stone Australia Awards

U.K.-based, Sydney-formed Aussie rock act Gang Of Youths, and singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana were among the big winners Tuesday night (April 4) at the 2023 Shure Rolling Stone Australia Awards.

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Sultana was on hand to the receive the Rolling Stone Global Award at Sydney’s The Argyle. “I’ll keep it short and sweet, just like me,” they quipped.

The “Jungle” singer enters the next phase of their career with a fresh indie-pop single “James Dean,” the first through a new deal with Kobalt. Sultana already owns an ARIA Award for 2018’s Flow State (for best blues & roots album), an LP that peaked at No. 2 in Australia, and No. 51 on the Billboard 200.

Gang Of Youths scooped best record, for the band’s Angel in Realtime, which blasted to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in March 2022, their second leader.

Frontman Dave Le’aupepe delivered a pre-recorded thank-you to the packed house. “Most of all I want to thank youse back in Australia for caring about a record that was made entirely to serve the memory of my father. This is for my dad as well, who taught me how to live,” he explained.

Sydney indie act Lime Cordiale won the Rolling Stone Readers’ Choice Award, with frontman Oli Leimbach collecting the spoils. “Thanks everyone, I thought we were up for ‘Most Popular’ award, but that’s okay,” he quipped. “This is crazy, we’re really stoked, thanks everyone for everything.” 

Also on the night, Perth indie-rockers Spacey Jane nabbed the best single honor for “Hardlight,” lifted from the band’s ARIA No. 1 studio album Here Comes Everybody, and the No. 3 ranked song in triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown of 2022.

Golden-voiced singer Budjerah took home best new artist, adding to a collection that includes an APRA Music Award and the coveted Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist ARIA Award.

The evening, however, belonged to Tina Arena, the living legend who was named as the inaugural recipient of the Rolling Stone Icon Award.

Introducing Arena to the stage, the Brag Media’s editor-in-chief Poppy Reid remarked: “Tina Arena is one of Australia’s highest-selling artists, she’s a once-in-a-generation talent, but more than that, she is an icon for young people everywhere.”

She added, “Her work comes from a place of love, it comes from obsession, and it shows in everything she does. From her music, to her activism, her feminism, her allyship and the way she fights the sickness in our society around ageism, to her using her platform to lift others up. She’s an inspiration to me and everyone I know.”

Arena’s rousing speech was both hilarious and biting, as she took time to thank those who deserved a shout out, and shouted out those ageists and misogynists who continue to hold-back female artists.

“I’ve never been one to conform to stereotypes, or expectations. I’m not interested in being cool,” she said. “I won’t toe the line. I tell it like it is. I’m true to my internal compass, because authenticity is an absolute must for me. I sing from the heart, and I write from the depths of my soul. It resonates with some people, because some people are craving what is ultimately real. They’re craving truth in a world filled with absolute bullshit.”

She continued, “As artists, we have a huge responsibility to do our job with integrity. We must not confirm. We must not allow the powers that be to manipulate and use the arts to push their own agendas. An artist’s job, in my own humble opinion, is to lift people up, to inspire change and empathy. It’s not to be the mouthpiece for different social and political propaganda.”

Arena’s Icon status is well-deserved. Her 12-strong catalogue of studio album (including three recorded in the French language) have sold 10 million combined copies, and yielded seven ARIA Awards including the album of the year honor for her 1995 hit Don’t Ask, a category no other solo female artist had won at the time. 

Don’t Ask was the highest-selling album of 1995 in Australia and, with more than 1 million domestic sales, and to this day is one of the biggest-selling albums by an Australian female singer. 

She’s venerated in her adopted homeland, France, where she was awarded one of country’s highest civil decorations, the Ordre national du Mérite (French Order of Merit), for her contribution to the arts, and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2015.

Arena delivered the highlight of the RS Awards with Budjerah for a surprise duet to “Chains,” a hit from Don’t Ask.

2023 Shure Rolling Stone Australia Awards Winners:

Rolling Stone Icon Award

Winner: Tina Arena

Best Single

Winner: Spacey Jane – “Hardlight”

Amy Shark – “Only Wanna Be With You”

Budjerah – “Ready for the Sky”

Courtney Barnett – “Rae Street”

Keith Urban – “Brown Eyes Baby”

Ruel – “Growing up is ___”

The Kid LAROI – “Thousand Miles”

Vance Joy – “Clarity”

Best New Artist

Winner: Budjerah

Blake Rose

Eliza & The Delusionals

Forest Claudette

James Johnston

Lara D

Merci, Mercy

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

Best Record

Winner: Gang of Youths – angel in realtime

5 Seconds of Summer – 5SOS5

Julia Jacklin – Pre Pleasure

Parkway Drive – Darker Still

Spacey Jane – Here Comes Everybody

The Wiggles – ReWiggled

Thelma Plum – Meanjin

Vance Joy – In Our Own Sweet Time

Rolling Stone Global Award

Winner: Tash Sultana

Alison Wonderland

Gang Of Youths

Iggy Azalea

Keith Urban

Kylie Minogue

Rüfüs Du Sol

The Wiggles

Tones And I

Troye Sivan

Vance Joy

Rolling Stone Readers’ Choice Award

Winner: Lime Cordiale

Boy & Bear

CXLOE

Daniel Johns

Ruby Fields

San Cisco

Teenage Dads

The Chats

The Wiggles

Tones And I

05 Apr 2023

Bob Dylan Leads Stacked 2023 Montreux Jazz Festival Lineup

Bob Dylan, Sam Smith, Lil Nas X, Nile Rodgers and Janelle Monáe are among the big stars confirmed for the 57th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival, set to take place mid-year on the shoreline of Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

Also lining up this time are Christine and the Queens, Chilly Gonzales, Mavis Staples, Mark Ronson, Norah Jones, Lionel Richie, Iggy Pop, Caroline Polachek, Chris Isaak and many others, organizers announce today (April 5).

This year’s show is set to run June 30 to July 15.

Dylan returns to Montreux for the first time in a decade to present his 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways, which arrived at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Rough and Rowdy Ways earned Dylan his 23rd career top 10, as he became the first act to have achieved at least one new top 40-charting album in every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s.

Meanwhile, the iconic fest’s two venues, the Auditorium Stravinski and Montreux Jazz Lab, will host performances from across the music spectrum, and from the late ‘50s to the present day.

Auditorium Stravinski boasts a stacked bill with Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, Maluma, and many others, its performers owning a combined 85 Grammy Awards. Sam Smith will perform for the first time at the Auditorium, eight years after wowing the crowds at the Montreux Jazz Lab.

Established in 1967 by late jazz connoisseur Claude Nobs, the festival has hosted many of the greats of contemporary music, from Prince to David Bowie, Nina Simone, Quincy Jones, Marvin Gaye, Elton John and others. Mathieu Jaton has directed the fest since 2013, the year Nobs passed away.

Nearly 250,000 spectators attend the event in a regular year, which continues to evolve and introduce audiences to styles and tunes well outside the broad world that is jazz; the event paused in 2020 due to pandemic, returned in 2021 with a downsized format, and was back to its regular programming in 2022.

Also appearing on this year’s program is Brit Award-winning indie-pop duo Wet Leg, Grammy Award-winning Australian electronic trio Rufus Du Sol, and Aussie retro soul act the Teskey Brothers.

On the closing night, uber-producer Mark Ronson will present a specially curated and “unique collaborative concert,” organizers say, featuring special guests Yebba and Lucky Daye.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (April 6) at montreuxjazzfestival.com.