State Champ Radio Music
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Beloved jam band Goose hits the stage this weekend, June 14-15, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and the String Cheese Incident for All Good Now, the 30th anniversary of Baltimore promoter Tim Walther’s 1995 outing with Gov’t Mule and John Scofield at Wilmers Park, Maryland.
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“Back then it was just me, some bands, a fax machine and a bunch of fliers,” Walthers tells Billboard of that first-year effort. Since then, he’s grown his small promotion company into one of the most influential indie promoters in the mid-Atlantic region with over 2 million tickets sold across 3,000 club shows and 68 festivals, staging events at venues across the region, from the famed 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. to the bustling mountaintops of West Virginia.
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“We’ve always stayed true to our roots while also having our eye on something bigger for fans of jam bands and improvisational music,” Walthers says. This weekend’s festival also includes sets from Lawrence, Molly Tuttle, the Disco Biscuits, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and more. The festival is divided by two stages, a symphony woods section and a Shakedown Street where fans can shop and socialize.
Walther notes “there was no promoter playbook” when he first started the All Good Music Festival & Campout in 1997 with landowner Arthur Wilmer to launch “a new kind of music festival—one driven by spirit, spontaneity, and shared values. We were just trying to figure it out and make enough to make it to the next festival.”
Over time, the crowds swelled from 940 people to 23,000 fans, with 1,200 people hired annually to work on the event, which has become a rite of passage for jam band fans from around the world. The festival “never lost its soul,” Walther tells Billboard. “There’s no overlapping sets and whenever possible, fireworks.”
To view set times and buy tickets, visit allgoodpresentslivemusic.com.
Rodney Brown, drummer on 1967’s “Funky Broadway,” a Dyke & the Blazers classic and one of the first hit songs to use a variation on the word “funk” in its title, died May 17 of unknown causes in an unknown location. The lifelong Phoenix resident, who’d been the last surviving member of the band’s original lineup, was 78.
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Brown’s distinctive skipped-beat syncopation on “Funky Broadway,” a track covered by many artists, most notably Wilson Pickett with a Billboard Hot 100 No. 8 hit later that year, turned out to be influential. Clyde Stubblefield employed a similar technique on James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” released in 1970, which became a widely sampled breakbeat on numerous hip-hop classics.
“‘Funky Broadway’ started the funk beat that was heard around the world,” says Lucius Parr, a veteran Phoenix guitarist whose ’70s band, the Soul Keepers, featured Brown on drums. “‘Funky Broadway’ had a break where they gave Rodney this drumbeat solo — ‘wiggle your waist, baby, shake, shake, shake,’ all that stuff. It was just Dyke and the drummer.”
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The original “Funky Broadway” single, split into two pieces, with “Part 1” on the A-side of the single and “Part 2” on the B-side, peaked at No. 65 on the Hot 100 in August 1967, as well as No. 17 on the R&B chart (now the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart). The band’s independent label, Artco, struggled to break the song on the radio because programmers responded, “You can’t say ‘funk’ on the radio,” according to John P. Dixon, an Arizona music historian who helped found the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. DJs at white stations, at the time, associated the word with Black culture and avoided it: “It was just one of those words, they felt, as a rock ‘n’ roll radio station, they would have a hard time,” Dixon says. “People would get turned off by it.”
(Jazz tracks had used the word several times before “Funky Broadway,” including Horace Silver’s “Opus de Funk” in 1953, but these songs were never chart hits. Also, country singer and comedian Ray Stevens, who is white, had a No. 91 Hot 100 hit in 1966 with “Freddie Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five Piece Band).”)
Pickett’s version had the effect of desegregating the word, but tragically, the Blazers were never able to fully capitalize on the song’s success: Frontman Arlester “Dyke” Christian was shot to death in Phoenix in 1971.
Influenced by James Brown and the Temptations, Rodney Brown first picked up drums after he was playing basketball in a park and happened to see a band playing nearby. His mother bought him a drum kit. Dyke & the Blazers’ saxophonist, Bernard Williams, invited him into the band, and his first gig with them was at a local Elks Club. “When we made the record, they gave me a drum solo,” Brown said in a 2004 interview for the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. “I’d only been playing six months when we made ‘Funky Broadway.’”
After performing before large crowds on a 1967 tour — including a run at New York’s Apollo Theatre, where James Brown was in attendance, according to interviews with band members — the original lineup broke up. Christian convened a new version of the Blazers, which at one point included James Gadson, a prolific session drummer who appeared on songs by the Jackson 5, Paul McCartney, Herbie Hancock, Bill Withers and many others.
This Blazers iteration, including musicians who would go on to play with the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band and Earth, Wind & Fire, hit No. 4 on the R&B chart with “Let a Woman Be a Woman – Let a Man Be a Man” and No. 7 with “We Got More Soul,” both in 1969.
Rodney Brown played in bands sporadically after his Dyke & the Blazers experience. At the time of his death, he was working in real estate. “Funk started right here in the desert,” he said in 2004, “and we were part of the group that started it.”
This week, Billboard’s New Music Latin roundup and playlist — curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — features fresh new music, including Grupo Frontera’s surprise EP Y Lo Que Viene and Buscabulla’s LP Se Amaba Así, to name a few. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
Pulp has scored its first No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart in 27 years with eighth LP More (June 13). The Jarvis Cocker-led band previously had two chart-toppers to its name (1995’s Different Class and 1997’s This is Hardcore), and a number of top 10 placings throughout its career: 1994’s His ‘N’ Hers […]
After three months, Alex Warren’s reign atop the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart has come to an end as Sabrina Carpenter ousts him from the No. 1 spot (June 13). His spell was broken by Carpenter’s “Manchild,” which achieved the feat with 6.8 million streams in its opening week. The song and its playful video were […]
Nicki Minaj has received a formal apology from Shannon Sharpe after the rapper dissed him on Lil Wayne‘s “Banned From NO (Remix).” In the latest episode of Sharpe’s Nightcap podcast, the NFL legend said he was sorry to Minaj, and explained how their misunderstanding led to him being name dropped on Weezy’s new track. “Bout […]
Ye — the rapper formerly known as Kanye West — has shown up to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal trial in New York City, pulling up to the courthouse in an all-white outfit Friday (June 13).
In footage shared by TMZ, the Yeezy founder steps out of the backseat of a car and walks inside, shaking a couple hands and throwing up a small wave on his way. In addition to a matching white denim jacket-and-jeans set, he sports a pair of sunglasses.
According to Variety, Ye told one journalist that he had come to show support for the disgraced Bad Boy Records founder. The publication also reports that West’s name had been included in a questionnaire for potential jurors to test whether they were familiar with any of the “hundreds of celebrities and people in Combs’ orbit.”
Combs has been on trial since May on allegations of sex trafficking and racketeering, with federal prosecutors accusing him of running an elaborate criminal enterprise aimed at facilitating his so-called freak-offs — drug-fueled events wherein he allegedly forced people, including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, to have sex with male escorts while he allegedly watched and masturbated. His legal team has denied all of the charges, with Combs’ attorney Teny Geragos telling the jury in opening statements a few weeks ago: “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case. We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
If convicted, Combs faces life in prison.
A few days prior to Ye’s appearance at the trial, Combs’ legal team’s motion for a mistrial was denied. The defense had tried to claim that the prosecution had knowingly introduced false testimony by Bryana Bongolan – a witness who last week alleged that Combs had dangled her from a 17-story balcony in 2016 — but Judge Arun Subramanian ultimately ruled: “This is not fodder for a mistrial. This is the adversarial process at work.”
Ye has previously shown support for Combs amid the latter’s legal issues, with the former asking President Donald Trump to “please free my brother Puff” on X in February. Combs had already spent months in custody at that point following his September arrest.In March, Ye dropped a song titled “Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine” that appeared to feature Combs’ voice on a phone-call recording. “I just want to thank you so much for just taking care of my kids, man,” the voice seemingly belonging to Diddy said in the snippet. “Ain’t nobody reach out to them, ain’t nobody call them.”
Ye replies on the track: “Absolutely, I love you so much, man. You raised me. Even when I ain’t know you, know what I’m saying?”
The two hip-hop titans also worked together in the past, both appearing on Ty Dolla $ign’s “Guard Down” in 2015. In 2022, Ye presented Combs with the Lifetime Achievement honors at that year’s BET Awards.
This beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar may last forever like the beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule has. On Thursday night (Jun. 12), the Grand National Tour had its first of two back-to-back shows in Drake’s hometown of Toronto and it didn’t disappoint in the drama department. The Compton rapper performed his knockout […]
New Music Latin is a compilation of the best new Latin songs and albums recommended by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors. Check out this week’s picks below.
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Grupo Frontera, Y Lo Que Viene (Grupo Frontera)
Following Mala Mía, the joint EP with Fuerza Regida that dropped last December, Grupo Frontera surprises fans with a new five-track EP called Y Lo Que Viene (and what’s coming). The set kicks off with the Carín León-assisted “Mutuo,” a country-tinged norteño song where they chant about unreciprocated love. In the following tracks, “La Buena Eras Tú” with Netón Vega and “¿Qué Haces Por Acá?” with Mister Chivo, the Texas-based group delivers two refreshing cumbia tunes. “No Se Parece a Ti,” the only solo track on the set, is a weeping Tejano highlight where frontman Payo Solís compares his “perfect” new girlfriend with his “unforgettable” ex. Meanwhile, in a second collaborative effort, Frontera teamed up with Manuel Turizo for “La Del Proceso” — a soft cumbia single that effortlessly transitions into a thumping electro-merengue groove.
With the release of Y Lo Que Viene, Frontera pledges a portion of all proceeds to support the Latin community during the ICE raids. “In light of the ongoing events across the country and the injustices faced by our fellow immigrants, we feel a deep responsibility to use our platform and music to make a difference […] We will be donating a percentage of all proceeds to organizations on the frontlines, fighting for and supporting our communities. We also encourage our listeners to take action — whether that means donating, protesting, educating others, or simply showing up for those in need. Every voice matters,” the group expressed on their Instagram stories on the eve of release date. — JESSICA ROIZ
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Hamilton, “Y Por Ahí Me Dicen y Que” (Cigol Music Group)
Cartagena native Hamilton shares his inspiring life story in his new song “Por Ahí Me Dicen y Que” (“They Tell Me So What”). Produced by Jao Beats, with a soft melody that accompanies his heartfelt interpretation, the artist reflects on his humble origins and expresses gratitude for living what was once just a dream. The song becomes an anthem to perseverance, faith in God, and staying authentic, leaving a powerful message that not giving up has its rewards. In a statement about the release, Hamilton says the song is linked to Juneteenth: “I’m Black and I’m Colombian, and I grew up with few resources, but now I have a different life, and I want other Black artists to know that they can achieve their dreams too.” — LUISA CALLE
Buscabulla, Se Amaba Así (Domino Recording)
On Se Amaba Así, Buscabulla turns inward, examining love, connection, and perception through a kaleidoscope of Latin and tropical influences filtered with ethereal synth-pop precision. The Puerto Rican duo’s second album — its first in five years — sees co-founders Raquel Berrios and Luis Alfredo del Valle dive deeper into their intimate reflections on modern relationships, infusing stories of romantic struggles with pulsating basslines and dreamy melodies.
The collection’s opening track, “El Camino,” sets the stage with warped disco guitars and laid-back percussion, its mellow sound belying the song’s emotional intricacies. Meanwhile, pre-released single “Te Fuiste” marries a calm yet persistent beat with cascading synths that wash over listeners, inviting them to linger in its serene melancholy. And the focus track, “Miraverahí,” delivers syncopated, thumping bass lines beneath Berrios’ breathy, celestial vocals, exploring the disorienting shifts in love and connection — all while keeping the rhythm alive.
Throughout the 10 tracks, Buscabulla demonstrates its knack for transporting listeners to lush soundscapes that feel intimate yet expansive. While much of Se Amaba Así orbits concepts of vision — understanding the past, assessing romance, imagining the future — the duo keeps listeners tethered with grooves and textures that ground its self-reflective musings. — ISABELA RAYGOZA
Judeline, “Chica de Cristal” (Interscope Records)
After making her U.S. debut at Coachella earlier this year, the Spanish-born singer-songwriter is making waves with “chica de cristal,” a gorgeous song that perfectly captures Judeline’s melodic dream-pop essence. Produced by LILCHICK, Sacha Rudy, Tuiste and Gese Da O, Judeline embraces nostalgia as she explores the emotions left behind after a breakup. Her disarming, ethereal vocals soar as a subtle-yet-intentional drum beat sets the tone for this moody track. Judeline released her debut album Bodhiria last year via Interscope, and most recently had released “Tú Et Moi” (featuring Brazilian funk carioca artist Mc Morena), where she sings in Spanish, French, and Portuguese. — GRISELDA FLORES
La Nueva Ola de Cumbia & La Coreañera, “Cumbiando” (Veo Sonora/Universal Music México)
Los Angeles-based collective La Nueva Ola de Cumbia features Tejano accordionist La Cumbiañera on “Cumbiando,” a revamped and upbeat version of the 1980s classic “Bailando,” by Spanish group Alaska y Los Pegamoides. Clearly inspired by icons like Chico Che, Los Ángeles Azules and even Celso Piña, this highly danceable track combines vallenato, pop, hip-hop, and reggaetón, while always respecting cumbia. This innovative Latin-flavored offering is the result of the fusion of cultures among the members of La Nueva Ola de la Cumbia: the voice of Colombian singer Chelyn Dion; the guitar and bass of Mexicans Luzio “El Sucio” Nava and Primitivo Ríos; the timbales of Nicaraguan Tacho Vázquez; the percussion of Peruvian Wereke Valdivia; and the drums of Hipólito Madero. In case this musical madness was missing an extra touch, the group wears Mexican wrestling masks as part of its wardrobe in the fun music video. — TERE AGUILERA
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Serbia’s long-running EXIT Festival says that this summer’s edition of the event might be its last in the country.
The electronic event reports that its government funding and cultural grants have been revoked due to the festival publicly aligning with student-led anti-corruption protests that happened after the Novi Sad railway station collapse in November 2024, a tragedy that killed 15 people. The festival also says its sponsors have withdrawn due to pressure by pro-government entities.
“This is the hardest decision in our 25-year history but we believe that freedom has no price,” EXIT founder and director Dušan Kovačević says in a statement provided to media and posted to EXIT’s social channels. “With this act we are defending not only EXIT but the fundamental right to free expression for all cultural actors around the world. We invite them to stand with us in this fight.”
EXIT Festival is set to happen July 10-13 in Novi Sad, Serbia. The lineup features Tiësto, The Prodigy, Eric Prydz, Solomun, DJ Snake and many others.
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The event has a long history with pro-democratic movements, starting in 2000 as a pro-student movement meant to fight for freedom in Serbia and the Balkan countries. Happening at the Petrovaradin Fortress in the city of Novi Sad, the festival has won myriad awards that have distinguished it as one of the top festivals in Europe.
“Through music, creativity, and activism, EXIT has connected generations and nations, rebuilt broken ties, and built bridges where others route to divide,” Kovačević’s statement continues. “We have brought numerous European festival awards to our country and region, along with hundreds of millions of Euros in tourism revenue and international recognition that global experts consider invaluable.
“However, ever since we publicly stood with the students of Serbia in their fight for a freer and more just society, we have been subjected to immense financial and political pressures aimed at stripping us of our fundamental rights to freedom of thought and expression. Despite being completely cut off from public funding at all levels of government, and with some sponsors forced to withdraw under state pressure, we refuse to be silenced. As a result, this year’s anniversary edition will be the last to take place in a Serbia where freedom of speech is systematically suppressed.”
