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New Orleans blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Tab Benoit first debuted on Billboardâs charts in September 1995 with his third studio album, Standing on the Bank. The set opened at No. 12 on Billboardâs Blues Albums chart before peaking at No. 9 the following month. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
The 2024 Kennedy Center Honors will feature a mix of the psychedelic and the soulful with a touch of jazz. The John F. Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts announced the selections for this yearâs 47th annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements on Thursday (July 18), a list that includes director Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather), jam godfathers the Grateful Dead, blues singer/guitarist Bonnie Raitt, jazz trumpeter/pianist/composer Arturo Sandoval and, in a first, The Apollo theater in Harlem in a special honor as an iconic American Institution.
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âThe Kennedy Center Honors recognizes artists who have made an extraordinary impact on the cultural life of our nation and continue to have an immeasurable influence on new generations,â said Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein in a statement about the event that will take place in Washington, D.C. on December 8 and air on CBS (and later stream on Paramount+).
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Rubenstein continued, ââA brilliant and masterful storyteller with an unrelenting innovative spirit, Francis Ford Coppolaâs films have become embedded in the very idea of American culture; a social and cultural phenomenon since 1965, the Grateful Deadâs music has never stopped being a true American original, while inspiring a fan culture like no other; Bonnie Raitt has made us love her again and again with her inimitable voice, slide guitar, and endless musical range encompassing blues, R&B, country rock, and folk; âan ambassador of both music and humanity,âArturo Sandoval transcended literal borders coming from Cuba 30-plus years ago and today continues to bridge cultures with his intoxicating blend of Afro Cuban rhythms and modern jazz; and on its 90th anniversary, The Apollo, one of the most consequential, influential institutions in history, has elevated the voices of Black entertainment in New York City, nationally, and around the world, and launched the careers of legions of artists.â
The Kennedy Center Honors celebrates individuals whose unique contributions to American arts and culture at an event where the the honorees are seated in the box tier of the Kennedy Center Opera House while their peers pay homage with performances and tributes.
In a statement, Raitt said, âI am deeply honored and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this yearâs Kennedy Center Honors. I have long been an admirer of the awards and have been so blessed to be able to participate in several shows honoring others. There is no higher level of esteem nor as delightful a celebration and I want to extend my sincere thanks to all who have chosen me to receive this honor. I look forward to the upcoming ceremony and festivities, which I know will be one of my lifeâs peak experiences.â
The Deadâs living members â Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bobby Weir â were equally effusive in their excitement about receiving one of the nationâs highest artistic honors. âIt goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement,â they wrote in a joint statement. âTo be recognized alongside the artists who have in the past received this honor is beyond humbling. The Grateful Dead has always been about community, creativity, and exploration in music and presentation. Weâve always felt that the music we make embodies and imparts something beyond the notes and phrases being played â and that is something we are privileged to share with all who are drawn to what we do â so it also must be said that our music belongs as much to our fans, the Dead Heads, as it does to us. This honor, then, is as much theirs as ours.â
They continued, âFrom our earliest days in San Francisco and as far as our tours have taken us, it has been and still is an incredible ride. Weâve had the opportunity to play with many talented musicians, interact with many gifted peopleâand to be part of something much larger than ourselves. Our music has always been about exploration and breaking through or finding our way around barriers, not just musically but also in bringing people together. The energy, the love, the connection and sharing â once again, thatâs what itâs all about. As we enter our 60th year of the Grateful Deadâs journey in 2025, weâre beyond grateful for this recognition and for the journey we are on together. This honor reminds us of all those moments and the people who helped us along the way. Thank you, Kennedy Center, and to all the folks who had a hand in bringing us here, for this incredible honor.â
Sandoval, too, said he was âprofoundly humbled and deeply honoredâ to be selected as a recipient of the prestigious award. âThis recognition is an extraordinary milestone in my career and a testament to the support and encouragement I have received from my family, friends, colleagues, and fans,â said Sandoval. âThroughout my journey, I have strived to create, perform, and inspire with passion and integrity. Being acknowledged by such an esteemed institution validates my efforts and motivates me to continue pushing the boundaries of my art. I am incredibly grateful to the Kennedy Center for this honor, and I look forward to contributing further to the vibrant cultural tapestry that the Center celebrates and nurtures. Thank you once again for this incredible honor.â
Michelle Ebanks, president/CEO of Harlemâs legendary Apollo â which over its long history has hosted everyone from Josephine Baker and Count Basie to James Brown, B.B. King, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke and Michael Jackson , among many others â also said her organization was elated by the first-time honor for an institution.
âWe are thrilled to be the first organization honored in the history of the Kennedy Center Awards, emphasizing The Apolloâs impact on the past, present, and future of American culture and the performing arts,â Ebanks said. âFrom the longest-running talent show in America with Amateur Night at The Apollo, which launched the careers of icons like Ella Fitzgerald and Lauryn Hill, to performances from beloved legends like Smokey Robinson and Lilâ Kim and todayâs biggest stars like Drake, The Apollo has always been a home for artists to create and a home for audiences to see incredible music and art from legendary artists.â
Last yearâs honorees included Queen Latifah, Dionne Warwick, the Bee Geesâ Barry Gibb, comedian Billy Crystal and soprano RenĂ©e Fleming.
To learn more about this yearâs honorees click here.
Slash charts new territory on Billboardâs rankings, as the guitaristâs new album, Orgy of the Damned, debuts at No. 1 on the Blues Albums chart (dated June 1). The new set, largely comprised of covers, is an all-star blues project, featuring guest vocalists including Gary Clark Jr., Beth Hart, AC/DCâs Brian Johnson, Demi Lovato, Iggy Pop and Chris Stapleton, among others. (Itâs also Slashâs first entry on the Blues Albums tally.)
Orgy is Slashâs first solo studio album since the rock iconâs 2010 self-titled set. Between the two solo endeavors, heâs released four studio sets featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators.
Orgy also launches in the top 10 on Billboardâs Top Album Sales, Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales charts, while also bowing in the top 20 on the Independent Albums and Top Rock Albums charts.
The Blues Albums chart ranks the top-selling blues titles of the week in the U.S., based on traditional album sales. Orgy sold 10,500 copies in the week ending May 23, according to Luminate. It marks the largest sales week for a blues album in a little over two years, since Bonnie Raittâs Just Like That⊠launched at No. 1 on the May 7, 2022-dated list, with 14,000 sold in its first week.
In a press statement, Slash said, âI love blues music, but I havenât really done the blues thing because I was always so busy with something else âŠÂ [the album] was a very spontaneous thing. We just threw it together. There was no researching or trying to find the right tracks â these are just songs I like.â
Among the songs on the album: Robert Johnsonâs âCrossroadsâ with Gary Clark Jr. on vocals and guitar, Willie Dixonâs âHoochie Coochie Manâ (made famous by Muddy Waters) with ZZ Topâs Billy F. Gibbons on vocals and guitar, and Peter Greenâs âOh Wellâ (first recorded by Fleetwood Mac) with Chris Stapleton on vocals.
Events that prevented Rachel Dangermond from properly reopening 100 Men Hall, where Ray Charles, B.B. King and Etta James once performed, in the beach town of Bay St. Louis, Miss., over the past six years: Flood. Hurricane. Pandemic. Hurricane. Tornado.
âIt is very much spit and glue,â Dangermond says. âVenues are hard.â
Dangermond, a 65-year-old journalist, has spent that time turning the 400-capacity Black-history landmark in a one-story house with blue front steps into a community center. On the hallâs schedule this year: a Saturday-morning writersâ group; a drag brunch; âcigars under the starsâ; a performance by bluesman Cedric Burnside; two battling harmonica players known as Harps On Fire; and a festival celebrating the late New Orleans pianist James Booker. Dangermondâs goal is to âkeep this juke joint with its historic value open and continue to keep its sacred act of playing music.â She adds: âIâm no longer the owner. Iâm more the facilitator of the story of this place.â
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100 Men Hall didnât start as a hall at all â it began in 1894 as an African-American co-op in which 12 founding members pledged to help each other pay medical and burial expenses. As it grew, the club evolved into the Hundred Members Debating Benevolent Association (DBA), a community support group during Jim Crow and segregation, which, according to Scott Barretta, a University of Mississippi sociology instructor, âhelped elevate people into the economy and provide them with social benefits and respectability, where otherwise they were being persecuted.â
In 1922, the DBA built the hall as a meeting space â a worn wooden pediment marked â100 MEN D.B.A.,â recreated based on the original, is at the top of the building â and it soon evolved into a venue for live events. At first, these were plays, wedding showers, Mardi Gras balls and drag shows. By the â30s, the club became a stop on the Chitlin Circuit, a network of American clubs catering to Black audiences that helped make stars of acts from Billie Holiday to the Jackson 5. âItâs like going back into the past,â says James Keating, a retired physician who publishes the newsletter for the Hancock County Historical Society, of the hall. âIt looks like a place that music is performed.â
In 2018, Dangermond was âin a moodâ when she found herself in Bay St. Louis, about an hourâs drive from New Orleans and a sort of unofficial suburb with a population of roughly 10,000. She had just lost two promising job prospects, including one as a spokesperson for the New Orleans police chief, and was staying with a friend when someone texted her that 100 Men Hall was available for sale â for $389,000, according to Zillow â including an attached apartment that a previous owner had built. (The value of the property today is nearly $670,000.)
Skeptically, Dangermond and her adopted son, then 9, showed up in bathing suits (theyâd been swimming) to the property. âIt was just a whim,â Dangermond recalls. âI had this sort of divine clarity. I walked through the door. There was nothing on the walls. It was just a vibe.
âNext thing I know, I was closing.â
Then came the unpleasant surprises. First was a notice that the State of Mississippi had revoked the clubâs nonprofit status, and Dangermond had to sign a consent agreement to resurrect it and pay a fine. She had to wait out the bureaucratic process for nonprofit status because without itm the club could not sell liquor at public events. Until she could resolve the issue, she put on political fundraisers and other private events at the hall. This set the table for public concerts by Burnside, the northern Mississippi guitarist, drummer and grandson of the late blues hero R.L. Burnside. âWeâre like, âOkay, this is going to be great!â and weâre building, building, building,â Dangermond says. âWe get to mid-year, and Hurricane Barry bore down on us. Before that, the rainstorm started flooding the neighborhood. I had an F-150 parked on the street and I looked out and the water was up to the window of the driverâs side. The musicians canât get here.â
Dangermond and the hall âlost a lot of money,â she says, but they rebounded and booked acts to play every month of 2020 â until the pandemic shut down live music. Like many venues, the hall tinkered with outdoor, masked concerts, but then came Hurricane Zeta and a corresponding tornado that tore the roof off the building, causing $150,000 in damage. Dangermond had sold her New Orleans home to pay for the club, then depleted her savings for the opening, so she relied on insurance and donations to pay for repairs.
âIt was like joy and pain,â she says.
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Today, 100 Men Hall puts on events almost daily and breaks even. Blues is a staple and an almost automatic sellout, no matter whoâs performing, even as the genre struggles to support clubs throughout the United States. Bay St. Louis locals stop Dangermond at the grocery store and regale her with tales of sneaking in as children to hear Sam Cooke perform. As a ninth grader in 1967, Maurice Singleton learned the swing-out dance from his sister and aired it out during a hall show by soul singer Roscoe Robinson. âIt was the first time I went in any building that was dimly lit for a performance,â recalls Singleton, a 71-year-old writer and teacher who lives in town.
Burnside, who performed an outdoor event at the hall just after the tornado literally blew the roof off in 2020, set up his band under a large tree near the âtin house,â a separate structure containing a mural of Etta James, founding Hancock County NAACP president Albert Fairconnetue and others. âIt makes me feel real juke-jointy. It was a certain energy about that building,â Burnside says, by phone from a tour stop in Athens, Ga. âIt reminded me of a big house party. Everybody [comes] together and drink a little moonshine, have a little food and listen to great music.â
The hall closed in 1982 after the Hundred Members Debating Benevolent Association finally broke up, and the building wound up in the hands of the Disabled Vets of America. In 2005, a couple ran it as an art gallery. Later, a musician and his wife reformed the DBA and scored a state grant to renovate the building, leading to the state historical marker in 2011. Dangermond still canât articulate the quality of the 100 Men Hall that led her to buy the place. But, she says, âMusicians want to play here, and they hear those voices in the walls. They get up on the stage and they feel it.â
Mike Wheeler says he has 16 gigs lined up in April at clubs in his hometown of Chicago â a solid run but nowhere near the number he was playing before the pandemic. âThings are 50% normal,â says the veteran singer-guitarist, who has performed with Buddy Guy, the late B.B. King and Koko Taylor. â[There are] more clubs open now, but mostly Wednesday through Sunday. Weâre trying to find the most gigs I can get in the city, but as far as tours and revenue, itâs kind of limited.â
Even in a blues mecca like Chicago, the genre has taken a significant hit over the past few years. Artists and club owners in musically vibrant cities cite numerous culprits â rising crime rates, the lingering pandemic-era habit of staying home, competition from nearby music festivals, home alcoholic-beverage delivery and the recent deaths of such headliners as Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Johnson, James âTail Draggerâ Jones and members of The Kinsey Report.
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âIt is sporadic, to say the least,â says Lisa Pellegrino, who manages Chi-townâs famed Kingston Mines blues club. âI donât think anybodyâs having a banner year.â
While Tony Mangiullo, founder and owner of nearby Rosaâs Lounge, is more upbeat â âThe business is good, thatâs all you need to know,â he says â he acknowledges the pandemic changed fansâ concert-going habits. âBy 1:30, 2 in the morning, people are tired, the musicians are tired, and weâre tired. In the past, you would have people staying late. Iâm really hoping we go back to that.â
Through its rickety constellation of indie labels, roadhouses and juke joints, the blues business is reinventing itself. Its biggest stars have died, retired or reduced their touring activity, leaving fewer headliners to carry festivals and weekend club dates. And while artists like Wheeler and clubs like Rosaâs keep the lights on with hard-drinking customers, door fees and ticket sales, the pandemic and its aftermath have forced many to rethink their models.
Mangiullo has invested in livestreaming and hopes to release live album compilations this fall; venerable Chicago-blues indie label Alligator Records partnered in 2021 with a new music company, Exceleration Music â founded by former Concord Music Group CEO Glen Barros â to handle physical distribution and other functions; and a new generation of stars, from singer Shemekia Copeland to guitar hero Christone âKingfishâ Ingram, has expanded the playing field from traditional clubs to gigs at arts centers and festivals, social media and satellite radio.
U.S. streaming numbers for the genre have increased 41% since 2020, from 1.7Â billion in 2020 to almost 2.5Â billion last year, according to Luminate. (In comparison, Taylor Swift racked up 17.5Â billion on her own.) But owners of indie blues labels say the revenue has little impact on their bottom lines. âIt takes a lot of streams to make a nickel,â M.C. Records owner Mark Carpentieri says. âOur better-known classic artists, like Hound Dog Taylor, Koko Taylor and Albert Collins, have a lot of life in the streaming services,â says Bruce Iglauer, founder of 53-year-old Alligator Records. âOur lesser-known artists do not particularly benefit from them.â
The genre remains reliant on touring, and if blues stars use social media to market to their older-skewing fan bases, theyâre more likely to use Facebook instead of TikTok. They also sell albums and CDs at gigs for autograph-seekers, and labels are scrambling to make as many titles as possible available on vinyl.
Ingram, whom Iglauer calls Alligatorâs âbig success story,â is a 25-year-old guitar hero who has grown into an international festival headliner, even though his most popular album, 2021âs 662, has just 9.3Â million streams in the United States and has sold 29,000 copies. Many in the blues business point to him as the future, a young talent who can refresh the genre. At first, Ingramâs friends were into hip-hop and didnât much care for blues; today, he tells Billboard, âI see a resurgence in young people liking it, especially young Black kids.â
Ingramâs manager, Ric Whitney, says blues artists are expanding their audiences by supplementing club gigs with shows at festivals, arts centers and other venues that feature a wider range of music genres and styles. âThere are a lot more places that are open to booking blues talent that arenât necessarily blues clubs,â he says.
Veteran blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa, who estimates his post-pandemic ticket sales are âback and then some,â says he has broadened his marketing efforts to rock fans who attend Foo Fighters, Eagles and Red Hot Chili Peppers shows. âWeâve always looked at it from the point of view [that], âIf Eric Clapton can pull 15,000 people in a market, thereâs clearly 15,000 people who like this kind of music,’â Bonamassa says. âItâs a classic rock-/blues-based audience, and thatâs where you want to target.â
Bonamassa suggests artists and clubs identify fan base demographics through Google Analytics and other data tools, then âlaser-focus marketing to the people that love this shit.â An effective blues cross-marketer has been Copeland, who uses her show on SiriusXMâs Bluesville channel to promote her albums and steady weekend touring. âThis year is going to be one of the best financially that she ever had,â says her manager, John Hahn.
Joe talks with Billboardâs Behind the Setlist podcast about touring, covering Tom Waits, and which younger blues musicians he thinks are exciting.
Others are struggling or modifying their business strategies. Terra Blues, the 34-year-old club in New Yorkâs Greenwich Village that books acoustic locals such as guitarists SaRon Crenshaw and Jr. Mack, relies on the lenience of a landlord. âIf not for that, we probably would be closed,â owner Ilan Elmatad says. âBluesmen do not tour anymore. Itâs too expensive. These days, theyâre staying where they are, whether itâs Mississippi or Arkansas. There are no blues clubs from Philadelphia to Montreal. Weâre the only one.â
The departure of reliable artists from the touring circuit, whether theyâve retired or died, led Austin talent buyer Zach Ernst to rethink his approach to booking acts at Antoneâs Nightclub and the Austin Blues Festival. For years, the clubâs late founder, Clifford Antone, was strict about sticking to traditional artists, but Ernst says heâs âlucky if I can do one or two blues shows a month.â And whereas blues festivals throughout the United States once relied on straight-down-the-middle artists from Luther Allison to Koko Taylor, the Austin Blues Festival has expanded its lineup beyond the genre, much like the New Orleans Jazz Festival in recent years. This yearâs festival stars Buddy Guy (whom Ernst calls âthe last Chicago blues headliner, periodâ), Brittany Howard and blues-adjacent acts from Big Freedia to Dumpstaphunk.
âEverywhere, promoters are dealing with: âHow do you deal with an aging fan base? How do you deal with a reduced number of headliners that are appealing to the baby boomer generation?’â Ernst says. âWe donât get too prescriptive by explaining exactly what weâre doing. Weâre just like, âHey, this is great music. Have a great time.’â
This story appears in the April 27, 2024, issue of Billboard.
From Barbie: The Album to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, soundtracks tied to blockbuster films have dominated much of the year. As 2023 draws to a close, Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders and Larry Jackson hope their new expanded soundtrack, released last Friday (Dec. 15) for the forthcoming Color Purple movie musical (which hits theaters Dec. 25), marks a new era for R&B soundtracks and continues the healing Alice Walker sparked with her paramount novel 41 years ago.
Walkerâs story has undergone countless iterations over the past four decades: an Oscar-nominated Steven Spielberg-helmed film in 1985, a Tony-winning Broadway musical in 2005, a Grammy-winning Broadway revival in 2015, and now a new movie musical directed by Grammy nominee Blitz Bazawule. Led by Fantasia, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and Halle Bailey, the new film offers a fresh perspective on the timeless narrative, as evidenced by its accompanying star-studded, globe-traversing Inspired By soundtrack. The new set is comprised of 21 new songs inspired by the film, in addition to 16 tracks taken from the Broadway musical. The genre-spanning set is heavily rooted in R&B â a conscious decision given the way R&B has been counted out by major labels over the past decade.
According to Sanders, who produced the 2005 Broadway musical and serves as executive producer on both the 2023 film and its soundtrack (released through Warner Bros. Pictures/WaterTower Music/gamma), Warner Bros. was always planning to do a soundtrack. âWe knew it would be an opportune moment for them to add another dimension to The Color Purple brand extension,â he remarks.
And thatâs precisely what the new soundtrack is. As cinematic universes continue to dominate mainstream media, The Color Purple has been crafting its own interconnected web of stories for 40 years â and the new soundtrack became a holy site for reunions and healing among the producers, artists, and cast. Â
The idea of a proper Inspired By soundtrack started to take form during an April lunch between Sanders and Jackson after the gamma. CEO had seen the film and felt its impact on early audiences. âWhatever veneer of impenetrable stoicism I had at that time, [the film] pierced it,â Jackson reflects. âTo me, the great Black films are the ones [where] people are talking back to the screen, theyâre applauding, thereâs conversations going on, and whooping and hollering. Itâs an interactive spirit, and this film has that.âÂ
For Jackson, it was Fantasiaâs performance that most moved him. The Billboard Hot 100-topping R&B star leads the film as Celie Harris-Johnson, a role for which she has already earned a Golden Globe nomination. Almost 20 years ago, Fantasia captivated Americaâs hearts and won the fourth season of American Idol. Shortly after her victory, she headed to the studio to record her debut LP, a Grammy-nominated effort on which Jackson would serve as A&R. That album featured singles such as âTruth Isâ and the Missy Elliott-assisted âFree Yourself,â a collaboration that now has a three-way connection to The Color Purple universe.Â
âThat was a lot for me at that time of my life â [Fantasia and I] were basically the same age and really related to what needed to be achieved,â Jackson reflects. âI was saying to Missy Elliott last night, she really helped me craft the sound for Fantasiaâs first album.âÂ
On the soundtrack, Elliott appears on two remixes: the Shenseea-featuring âHell No,â a song from the original musical, and âKeep It Movinâ,â a new addition to the musical co-written by Bailey. Like most of the artists involved in the soundtrack, Jackson says that the âWork Itâ rapper decided to join the project after a private screening of the film. Itâs the same way he landed Alicia Keys, who co-wrote and co-produced the soundtrackâs lead single (âLifelineâ), JohntĂĄ Austin, whose âWhen I Canât Do Betterâ marks his first collaboration with Mary J. Blige since their iconic âBe Without You,â and The-Dream. Fresh off a Grammy win for his work on BeyoncĂ©âs Renaissance, The-Dream could be headed down to the Oscars thanks to âSuperpower,â a new song he penned for the Color Purple end credits.Â
Often, end-credit songs are performed by artists who donât appear in the film â but in the case of The Color Purple, everyone was in early agreement that Fantasia was the only correct choice to belt the closing ballad. For one, both the song and the movie are Fantasiaâs formal re-entry into the public eye as a performer, but her specific voice and story were the best vehicle for The-Dreamâs lyrics. âThis is older Celie singing to her younger self â it is a quintessential âit gets betterâ song,â Sanders gushes. âItâs so fâking moving. I canât stop listening to it. I cry when I listen to Fantasiaâs rendition.â For âSuperpower,â Jackson told The-Dream, âI just want a spiritual, a song that will move on far past our time. Something that will be sung in high school graduations.âÂ
Although the SAG-AFTRA strike almost prevented Fantasia from recording the song, the timing worked out and she was able to cut her vocal in time. Given that Fantasia played Celie on Broadway for eight months during the Broadway showâs original run, her rendition of the end-credits song is the kind of full-circle moment that most artists dream of. âSuperpowerâ is a rousing song â one in which she deftly displays the expanse of vocal range and control â and a potential comeback vehicle for not just Fantasia, but the R&B soundtrack in general. In crafting The Color Purple (Music From and Inspired By), Sanders, Jackson and film director Blitz Bazawule drew inspiration from iconic R&B film soundtracks of decades past, including Sparkle, The Bodyguard, Boomerang and Waiting to Exhale.Â
âIt had always been on my bucket list to do a soundtrack that felt like the great soundtracks of the 1970s, or the ones in the â90s,â Jackson says. âIâve been involved in a few of them, but Clive [Davis] was always the one who was leading it. It never was something that I was driving with my own personal taste and sensibility, and this was an opportunity for that.âÂ
The Color Purple soundtrack bookmarks a year that began with troubling layoffs for one of the most storied labels in Black music history. In the middle of Black History Month (Feb. 16), Billboard reported that Motown was set to be reintegrated under Capitol Music Group â hence the layoffs â making for a less-than-preferable outcome after the company attempted a run as a standalone label back in 2021. Despite a precarious start to the year, R&B artists have once again forged a spot at the forefront of the mainstream, thanks to acts such as SZA, Victoria MonĂ©t, Usher, Coco Jones and more. Itâs a level of momentum, Sanders and Jackson hope to continue with their generation-bridging Color Purple tracklist.Â
In addition to the cast, The Color Purple soundtrack features contributions from Jennifer Hudson, Keyshia Cole, Mary J. Blige, Mary Mary, H.E.R., Ludmilla, Megan Thee Stallion and more. Like Fantasia, Jennifer Hudsonâs track marks another full-circle moment for The Color Purple universe. Hudson took home the 2017 Grammy Award for best musical theater album thanks to the Broadway revival, and, of course, she was a contestant on the same season of American Idol as Fantasia. In another connection, Hudson herself also starred in a blockbuster Black movie musical that hit theaters on Christmas Day: 2006âs Dreamgirls, for which she won the Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Although Walkerâs novel specifically highlights the stories of Black American women in the American South during the early 20th century, the new Color Purple soundtrack both globalizes those narratives and translates them to contemporary times. Megan Thee Stallionâs remix of âHell Noâ â a selection from the original musical â carries a special weight given the way she has refused to let misogynoir drown out her voice over the past few years. Jamaican cross-genre star Shenseea appears on a different âHell Noâ remix, and her inclusion on the tracklist â alongside Brazilian singer-songwriter Ludmilla â highlights how The Color Purpleâs narrative resonates with Black women around the world.Â
âEvery day was meeting to reaffirm why Iâm doing this, to remind myself the importance of this work,â explains director Blitz Bazawule. âItâs daunting. Youâre talking about a legacy that you donât approach if you donât have anything real to contribute.â Bazawule aimed to contribute new perspectives of childhood and Celieâs inner dialogue in his version of The Color Purple. In translating a Broadway play to the silver screen, Bazawule was pushed to think about which characters and moments in the plot needed songs. âKeep It Movinâ,â co-written by Bailey and Grammy-winning songwriting duo Nova Wav, was one of those songs. âNettieâs character, as I saw it, needed to impart to Celie some level of confidence that will stay with her sister before they reconnect at the very end,â Bazawule says. â[The song] shows a young girlâs innocence which will very soon be snatched away quite violently. I need that moment to be memorable and really reflect the love the sisters have for each other.âÂ
Bailey, who starred as the titular Little Mermaid earlier this year, is, of course, one-half of the Grammy-nominated sister duo Chloe x Halle. The âAngelâ singer drew from her relationship with her sister for âKeep It Movinâ,â a dynamic that exemplifies the symbiotic healing nature of The Color Purple soundtrack. As artists completed their contributions to the project, they experienced moments of healing themselves. According to Bazawule, those moments occurred throughout filming, spurred by the omnipresence of faith and gospel music on set. Gospel music is a clear throughline between the original music, the Inspired By soundtrack, and the way the musicalâs songs were reworked for the film. Â
âGospel is the foundation. When you think about how our version of The Color Purple functions, which is the oscillation between joy and pain and turning our pain into power, itâs the definition of gospel,â remarks Bazawule. âYou donât have anything without gospel, so, for us, it was central to how we advanced everything. I also was very clear that Iâd have to split my musical journey into 3 three parts: gospel, blues and jazz.â To bring a more cinematic, gospel-infused feel to the original Broadway music, Bazawule tagged in Billboard chart-topping gospel star Ricky Dillard; He also recruited Kebâ Moâ to bring in the blues, and Christian McBride for jazz. He even made sure his DP (Dan Lausten) and production designer (Paul D. Austerberry) got an authentic Black church experience. With both Fantasia and Domingo regularly leading the cast and crew in prayer, The Color Purple transformed into âspiritual work that shows up in the amount of healing that a lot of us went through making this film,â says Bazawule.Â
âYou cannot work on The Color Purple without understanding what anointing looks like,â Bazawule asserts. âWhen those singers open their mouths, thatâs church talking. That was very clear and it stayed critical up until the end.âÂ
Just days before The Color Purple is set to open in theatres, a Hollywood Reporter piece exploring the hesitancy of studios to promote movie musicals as musicals started to make the rounds online. Black movie musicals are few and far between, especially when holiday films and biopics are removed, and The Color Purple is hoping to dispel the notion that audiences arenât interested in seeing musicals on the big screen.Â
âI hope [The Color Purple] opens the door to many more and I hope directors and studios take more chances with Black movie musicals,â muses Bazawule. âAgain, when it comes to music, we are unmatched, so you just have to find the narratives. I hope and pray our movie will move the needle.âÂ
When Dan Auerbach, best known as the singer and guitarist of The Black Keys, decided to launch his own record label in 2017, it was largely out of his love for the music he was working on.
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âI had just been making so many records at that point, and I would make an album and give it to whatever label I was working for and it would just be, you know, kind of bittersweet,â Auerbach tells Billboard. âA lot of times I felt I had maybe something more to add in the label department.â
Six years later, heâs proved that to be true. The label, Easy Eye Sound â named after his recording studio in Nashville â has released more than two dozen albums, picked up 16 Grammy nominations and, in 2021, was named Billboardâs No. 1 Blues Imprint following a partnership it struck with Concord in February of that year. âEven in a Nashville landscape crowded with exceptional artistry, Dan has built something genuinely unique,â says Concord CEO Bob Valentine. âHis commitment to talent and originality are clear on every album.â
The label is home to a mix of young, emerging acts (Nat Myers, The Velveteers, Early James), established artists (Yola, Shannon & the Clams, Hermanos Gutierrez) and veteran bluesmen (Robert Finley, Jimmy âDuckâ Holmes), many of whom are releasing projects with Auerbach serving as producer. Already, the label has grown beyond just a vanity imprint for a successful rocker to use for whatever heâs working on at the moment, and into a full-fledged company, with five employees and a wide purview that extends across multiple genres.
âWe have some real breakthrough artists, young and old, and weâve shown that weâre able to help an artist through a career, not just one record,â he says. âWeâre working with an artist like Shannon and the Clams for three albums, and theyâve doubled their shows and the amount of people that come to see them. Someone like Robert Finley, who was playing on the street when I first met him, this is now what he does for a living and heâs going back to France for the third time this year to play more shows. Those kinds of wins get me excited about future projects.â
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But its roots are in the blues, and Auerbachâs latest album, Tell Everybody!: 21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy Eye Sound, is a passion project that calls back to his earliest days playing music. The compilation features contributions from Finley, Holmes, Myers, RL Boyce, Gabe Carter, Moonrisers and the late bluesmen Leo âBudâ Welch and Glenn Schwartz, as well as a solo song by Auerbach and one from The Black Keys.
âIâve got stockpiles of songs â Iâve had the studio now for 13 years, and thereâs hard drives full of music, hard-hitting, amazing-sounding records that we didnât have scheduled to come out,â he says. âI was thinking about how great those early Fat Possum Records samplers were when I was younger, and how it really introduced me to a lot of my favorite artists. So I wanted to do something a little bit like that, to be able to showcase some of the artists that people know and then some ones that they donât, some that theyâve never heard of and some that weâve never done recordings of before.â
Building on that lineage of Fat Possum â which began in the early 1990s as a label dedicated to recording lesser-known Mississippi blues artists, before branching out â extended to a show that Auerbach and Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney hosted at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville earlier this month, which brought the living contributors of the record together to perform live. That show was an homage of sorts to the Fat Possum Juke Joint Caravan shows of the 1990s and early 2000s, where the label would package artists like R.L. Burnside, âT-Modelâ Ford and Paul âWineâ Jones for a revue that would tour the country. âThat was a really beautiful moment for us, and it felt very natural, too, because the music is such a big part of who we are,â Auerbach says. âItâs good for the soul, you know?â
Dan Auerbach performs at the âTell Everybody!â Album Release Show on August 9, 2023.
Larry Niehues
That may mean more compilations on the horizon â Auerbach said that drummer Kenny Kimbrough, guitarist Eric Deaton and guitarist Kenny Brown were in town for the show, and they âmay or may not haveâ gone into the studio to record afterwards â but he and Easy Eye Sound have plenty going on in the interim. Thereâs a new Black Keys album on the way, which he says is âtaking shape now,â and Easy Eye Sound is reissuing Auerbachâs 2009 solo album Keep It Hid on Sept. 29, with new artwork and six new vinyl variants. But the blues is never far from his mind.
âItâs just so raw and unpretentious, like unrefined beauty. Something that you canât really study in school,â he says. âItâs just a very free-flowing, fâkinâ wild music, you know? And I just loved it for so many different reasons.â
Tommy Castro won the B.B. King entertainer of the year award for the second year in a row at the 44th Annual Blues Music Awards, which were held at the Renasant Convention Center in Memphis on Thursday May 11.
The eveningâs other top award winners were Buddy Guy, Albert Castiglia and John NĂ©meth, with two awards each. Guyâs The Blues Donât Lie picked up album of the year and contemporary blues album. Castiglia won blues rock album (I Got Love) as well as blues rock artist. NĂ©meth won traditional blues album (May Be the Last Time) as well as instrumentalist harmonica.
The double wins for Guyâs album make up for its Grammy loss in February. The album was nominated for best traditional blues album but lost to Taj Mahal & Ry Cooderâs Get on Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Likewise, Charlie Musselwhiteâs Mississippi Son won here for acoustic blues album after losing at the Grammys for best traditional blues album.
For the fourth consecutive year, Christone âKingfishâ Ingram took home contemporary blues male artist. Other artists who held on to their crowns for a second year in a row were Castiglia â blues rock artist; Danielle Nicole â instrumentalist bass, Curtis Salgado â soul blues male artist; and Sue Foley â traditional blues female artist (Koko Taylor award).
First-time winners were Laura Chavez â instrumentalist guitar; Thornetta Davis â soul blues female; and Dylan Triplett â best emerging artist album for Who is He?.
Tedeschi Trucks Band won band of the year for the third time.
In a nice touch, three awards are named after late blues legends. The entertainer of the year award is named after B.B. King, who died in 2015. The award for traditional blues female artist is named after Koko Taylor, who died in 2009. The award for instrumentalist â piano is named after Pinetop Perkins, who died in 2011.
Hereâs a complete list of winners for the 2023Â Blues Music Awards.
B.B. King entertainer of the yearÂ
Sugaray Rayford
WINNER: Tommy Castro
Eric Gales
Bobby Rush
Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)
Band of the yearÂ
Anthony Geraci & The Boton Blues Allstars
John Németh and the Blue Dreamers
Rick Estrin and the Nightcats
Southern Avenue
WINNER: Tedeschi Trucks Band
Song of the year
Altered Five Blues Band âGreat Minds Drink Alikeâ (Jeff Schroedl)
WINNER: Buddy Guy âThe Blues Donât Lieâ (Tom Hambridge)
Eric Gales âI Want My Crownâ (Eric Gales, Joe Bonamassa)
John NĂ©meth âThe Last Timeâ (John NĂ©meth)
Shemekia Copeland âToo Far to Be Goneâ (John Hahn/Will Kimbrough)
Best emerging artist album
Blue Moon Marquee /Â Scream, Holler & Howl
DaShawn Hickman /Â Drums, Roots & Steel
WINNER: Dylan Triplett /Â Who Is He?
Jose Ramirez /Â Major League Blues
Yates McKendree /Â Buchanan Lane
Acoustic blues album
WINNER: Charlie Musselwhite /Â Mississippi Son
Corey Harris /Â The Insurrection Blues
Duwayne Burnside /Â Acoustic Burnside
Harrison Kennedy /Â Thanks for Tomorrow
Rory Block /Â Ainât Nobody Worried
Blues rock album
WINNER: Albert Castiglia /Â I Got Love
Bernard Allison /Â Highs & Lows
Colin James /Â Open Road
Eric Gales /Â Crown
Tinsley Ellis /Â Devil May Care
Contemporary blues album
WINNER: Buddy Guy /Â The Blues Donât Lie
Diunna Greenleaf /Â I Ainât Playinâ
Janiva Magness /Â Hard to Kill
Larry McCray /Â Blues Without You
Shemekia Copeland /Â Done Come Too Far
Soul blues album
Kat Riggins /Â Progeny
Kirk Fletcher /Â Heartache by the Pound
WINNER: Sugaray Rayford /Â In Too Deep
The Love Light Orchestra /Â Leave the Light On
Trudy Lynn /Â Golden Girl
Traditional blues album
Kenny Neal /Â Straight From the Heart
Bob Corritore /Â Bob Borritore & Friends: You Shocked Me
Duke Robillard /Â They Called it Rhythm & Blues
WINNER: John NĂ©meth /Â May Be the Last Time
John Primer /Â Hard Times
Acoustic blues artist
WINNER: Doug MacLeod
Guy Davis
Harrison Kennedy
Rhiannon Giddens
Rory Block
Blues rock artist
Walter Trout
WINNER: Albert Castiglia
Tommy Castro
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Tinsley Ellis
Contemporary blues female artist
WINNER: Ruthie Foster
Beth Hart
Janiva Magness
Teresa James
Vanessa Collier
Contemporary blues male artist
Selwyn Birchwood
Chris Cain
WINNER: Christone âKingfishâ Ingram
Ronnie Baker Brooks
Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)
Soul blues female artist
Annika Chambers
Trudy Lynn
WINNER: Thornetta Davis
Kat Riggins
Vaneese Thomas
Soul blues male artist
John NĂ©meth
Johnny Rawls
WINNER: Curtis Salgado
Don Bryant
Billy Price
Traditional blues female artist (Koko Taylor award)
Dietra Farr
Diunna Greenleaf
Rhiannon Giddens
Rory Block
WINNER: Sue Foley
Traditional blues male artist
Billy Branch
Duke Robillard
WINNER: John Primer
Johnny Burgin
Sugar Ray Norcia
Instrumentalist â bass
Bob Stronger
WINNER: Danielle Nicole
Larry Fulcher
Michael âMudcatâ Ward
Willie J. Campbell
Instrumentalist â drums
Chris Layton
Cody Dickinson
Derric DâMar Martin
WINNER: Kenny âBeedy Eyesâ Smith
Tony Braunagel
Instrumentalist â guitar
Chris Cain
Christoffer âKidâ Andersen
Joanna Connor
Kirk Fletcher
WINNER: Laura Chavez
Instrumentalist â harmonica
Billy Branch
Bob Corritore
Jason Ricci
WINNER: John NĂ©meth
Dennis Gruenling
Instrumentalist â horn
WINNER: Deanna Bogart
Gregg Piccolo
Jimmy Carpenter
Mark Kaz Kazanoff
Sax Gordon Beadle
Instrumentalist â piano (Pinetop Perkins piano player award)
WINNER: Anthony Geraci
Ben Levin
Dave Keyes
Jim Pugh
Kenny âBlues Bossâ Wayne
Instrumentalist â vocals
Curtis Salgado
Danielle Nicole
Diunna Greenleaf
John NĂ©meth
WINNER: Shemekia Copeland
Nearly nine years after Johnny Winterâs death, a battle for control of the legendary blues guitaristâs music is being fought in court with allegations of theft and greed flying back and forth.
The legal fight pits Winterâs former personal manager and bandmate, Paul Nelson, against the family of the bluesmanâs late wife, Susan, who died in 2019.
Winterâs in-laws say Nelson and his wife improperly took more than $1.5 million from Winterâs music business, including auctioning off some of the late musicianâs guitars.
Nelson and his wife have countersued, saying Susan Winterâs siblings swooped in when she was medicated and dying of cancer and tricked her into giving them control of Winterâs music, stripping away Nelsonâs rights as the beneficiary of Susan Winterâs estate.
The case was scheduled to go to trial in a Connecticut court in April, but was rescheduled for September.
At stake is ownership of Winterâs music catalogue, proceeds from record and merchandise sales and authority to approve any commercial use of his songs, the value of which is uncertain.
âThe case is about preserving Johnny Winterâs legacy and vindicating and making sure the Nelsons havenât improperly taken the moneys rightfully owed to the plaintiffs,â said Timothy Diemand, a lawyer for the Susan Winterâs siblings, Bonnie and Christopher Warford.
Nelson wants to be reinstalled as the beneficiary of Susan Winterâs estate.
âThe Plaintiffs orchestrated the wrongful termination of Paul Nelson during a difficult time in Susan Winterâs last year of life,â the Nelsons said in a statement released by their lawyer, Matthew Mason. They said it was clear that both Johnny and Susan Winter wanted Nelson to be responsible for Johnny Winterâs music and legacy.
John Dawson Winter III was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas. He burst onto the world blues scene in the 1960s, dazzling crowds with his fast licks while his trademark long, white hair flew about from under his cowboy hat. He and his brother Edgar â both born with albinism â were both reknowned musicians.
Winter played at Woodstock in 1969 and went on to produce albums for Blues icon Muddy Waters in addition to his own music. In 1988 he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
Rolling Stone magazine listed him as the No. 63 best guitar player of all time in 2015. He released more than two dozen albums and was nominated for several Grammy awards, winning his first one posthumously in 2015 for Best Blues Album for âStep Back.â Nelson produced the album and also took home a Grammy for it.
Winter, who spent two decades living in Easton, Connecticut, before his death, battled heroin addiction for years and credited Nelson, whom he met in 1999, with helping him get off methadone, according to the 2014 documentary âJohnny Winter: Down & Dirty.â
Before he got clean, bandmates and friends said they were concerned because of his frail appearance and trouble talking. Nelson also credits himself with reviving Winterâs music career.
The Winters and Nelsons became good friends. Paul Nelson played guitar in Johnny Winterâs band and started running his music company beginning in 2005. Nelsonâs wife, Marion Nelson, did bookkeeping for the Winters and the music business, according to legal filings in the lawsuit.
Winter died at the age of 70 on July 16, 2014, in a hotel room just outside Zurich, Switzerland, while on tour. Susan Winter and Paul Nelson have said the cause of death was likely emphysema.
Susan Winter was the sole beneficiary of her husbandâs estate, which she put in a trust in late 2016. She named herself as the trustâs sole trustee and Nelson as the successor trustee, meaning he would inherit the rights to Johnny Winterâs music after she died.
But in June 2019, four months before her death from lung cancer, Susan Winter removed Nelson as the successor and replaced him with her sister and brother.
The Nelsons allege in their lawsuit that Bonnie and Christopher Warford got control by lying to their sister, wrongly telling her the Nelsons were mismanaging the music business and her affairs.
The Warfordsâ lawsuit accuses the Nelsons of improperly taking more than $1.5 million out of Winterâs business âunder the guise of royalty income, commissions, reimbursements, fees, social media expenses and other mechanisms, while obfuscating and misrepresenting these dealings to Susan Winter.â
They have also accused the Nelsons of taking three of Winterâs guitars, worth about $300,000 total, and selling them at auction without permission. The Nelsons deny the allegation.
âIn short, this is the classic case of a manager taking advantage of an artist-client, and worse here, an artistâs surviving family,â Diemand wrote in a legal filing.
Itâs not clear why Edgar Winter, a noted musician in his own right, was not involved in his brotherâs estate after his death. Edgar Winter and his representatives did not return phone and email messages seeking comment.
The Warfordsâ lawsuit is similar to one the Winters filed against Johnny Winterâs former manager Teddy Slatus for alleged financial wrongdoing around 2005. Slatus died in late 2005. Itâs not clear what happened with the lawsuit.
âJohnny and Susan have been battling lawsuits all their lives, and still canât rest in peace,â said Mary Lou Sullivan, who wrote a biography titled âRaisinâ Cane: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winterâ published in 2010.
Both the Warfords, of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Nelsons, of Weston, Connecticut, declined interview requests by The Associated Press.
Eric Clapton dropped the star-studded lineup for his 2023 Crossroads Guitar Festival on Monday morning (April 17). This yearâs event will take place over two nights (Sept. 23-24) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where Clapton will again gather some of the best guitar players in the world for headlining sets and impromptu collabs.
Though not everyone on the roster will repeat over the weekend, Clapton will perform both nights, joined by Gary Clark Jr., Sheryl Crow, Santana, Jakob Dylan, Albert Lee, Los Lobos, Stephen Stills, Taj Mahal, ZZ Top, the John Mayer Trio, Robert Randolph, H.E.R., Marcus King and many more.
Tickets for the fest will go on sale on Friday (April 21) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster; there are no two-day passes, only single-day tickets.
Also slated to perform at the event are: Joe Bonamassa, Doyal Bramhall II, James Bullard, Jerry Douglas, Andy Fairweather Low, Samantha Fish, Sonny Landreth, Pedro Martins, John McLaughlin, Del McCoury Band, Roger McGuinn, Kebâ Moâ, Ariel Posen, Eric Gales, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Ben Haggard, Sierra Hull, Christone âKingfishâ Ingram, The Bros. Landreth, Robbie Robertson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gustavo Santaolalla, Daniel Santiago, Molly Tuttle, Jimmie Vaughan, Breadley Walker and The War on Drugs.
Longtime co-sponsor Guitar Center will again host the Guitar Center Festival Village at the adjacent Xbox Plaza and Chick Hearn Court at L.A. Live, where some of the worldâs best guitar and gear manufacturers will host interactive exhibits where fans can try out new products and instruments.
In addition to some multi-million-dollar historical guitars on display at the Legends Collection area, there will also be an unveiling of the 25th anniversary Crossroads Guitar Collection, a rare series of limited-edition guitars based on some of Claptonâs vintage gear; a significant portion of profits from the sale of the guitars will go to aid Claptonâs Crossroads Centre at Antigua treatment and education facility.
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