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Little Feat, the archetypal ’70s band originally formed by Lowell George — a guitar virtuoso fired from the Mothers of Invention by Frank Zappa — has survived years of breakups, drug problems and even George’s untimely death in 1979. Now, the band is ready to reintroduce itself in a new format.
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On Thursday (April 3), the current members of the beloved band announced the launch of Feat Fest 2025, a three-day festival taking place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York A portion of the live shows will be recorded for an upcoming album.
“The town of Woodstock, NY, like most iconic spots on the American musical map, has become more than a place, it’s a feeling. The same could be said for the sound of Little Feat,” said Scott Sharrad, the group’s current frontman and lead guitarist, in a statement. “The connection of the band to this location goes all the way back to the 1960s and 70s … now it’s Little Feats’ turn to decamp, hang out a while and infuse the mountain air with some Feat Boogie.”
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Little Feat also announced the release of its new single “Midnight Flight” from their forthcoming new album Strike Up The Band, dropping May 9 via Hot Tomato. “I wrote this song in the winter of 2020,” Sharrad said. “It’s got that boogie feel that gets people up.”
Little Feat built a cult following in the late ’60s and ’70s as your favorite rock band’s favorite rock band, combining a sound that was part New Orleans rhythm-and-blues, part southern-rock with a healthy dose of country, funk, and jazz. The band has been cited as an important influence on everyone from Bonnie Raitt and the Rolling Stones to the 1975’s Matt Healy. Some of their most popular songs include “Willing,” “Dixie Chicken,” “Spanish Moon” and more. They have released a total of 16 studio albums and 10 live albums to date.
The current lineup of Little Feat includes founding member Bill Payne on keys, alongside Fred Tackett on guitars/vocals, Kenny Gradney on bass and Sam Clayton on percussion/vocals. Recently enlisted younger members include Sharrard and Tony Leone on drums, who both joined the group in 2020.
Tickets for Feat Fest go on sale Friday, April 4. Visit the band’s website for more information, and check out the official video for their new song “Midnight Flight” below:
Kesha is standing up for the transgender community.
The superstar sat down with Bob the Drag Queen for Paper this week, where they opened up about messages they want to share with their U.S. fans as the current presidential administration continues to put measures into place to dismantle the rights of trans people.
“I would love to be able to stand in front of my fans and be like, ‘Everything’s fantastic and don’t you worry,’” Bob shared. “But I don’t think that’s real. Sometimes things get worse before they get better. Sometimes things get worse and they don’t get better. But you have to remember the resilience of queer people, of Black people, of women, of any marginalized person to exist despite it all. To exist no matter what.”
Kesha agreed, adding, “Trans visibility day has me thinking about what a huge support the trans community has been. The queer community has been my community and has always been there for me. That’s where I belong. And beyond that, to any marginalized person, like you were just saying, I want everyone out there to know that they have an ally, someone that is a warrior. I will not lay down, I will not be quiet about basic human rights. And as someone who’s had her freedoms taken away from her and fought like hell to get them back, I’m going to echo that throughout my work until the day that I die.”
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Transgender Day of Visibility started back in 2010 when trans activist Rachel Crandall created the holiday to celebrate “the lives of transgender people” as a whole rather than just the discrimination against the community, according to GLAAD.
Kesha, who is gearing up to release her sixth album, . (Period), revealed that she wants the upcoming project to be a “safe space for people to feel fully embodied and liberated.” She continued, “If you want to find your community and find a safe space for you to fully embody exactly who you are and be celebrated, I invite you to come join us. I would like to start a revolution of love. I want to create a traveling summer of love, a community of love. I want to give all of us a place to come and be ourselves.”
As for the current government, Kesha said, “I have never seen a less embodied group of individuals waving around their chainsaws. It’s terrifying. In the midst of all this chaos, the most political thing we could do is love ourselves and love one another and create a space where we can come together and spread as much love as possible. So that’s my objective for the summer.”
Kesha’s . (Period), arrives via Kesha Records on July 4.
It has come to our attention that individuals are fraudulently using the Billboard name and trademark to run what seems to be a cryptocurrency scam operation. This is not legitimate and not in any way affiliated with Billboard. If you have fallen victim to such a scam operation, it is suggested that you contact the […]
On Wednesday night (Apr. 2), Fake Shore Drive‘s Andrew Barber tweeted out a leaked song titled “Take the Soul” and claimed that the track was “Playboi Carti and A$AP Nast over Alchemist production.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Naturally, fans went into a frenzy on X, with […]
In an increasingly global music world, stars are popping up from every corner of the planet. But rising Colombian star Venesti may be the first to come from Guapi, a small, remote town near Colombia’s Pacific coast where there is nothing resembling a music industry.
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“This is a place with maybe 25,000 people or less. People who come from a place like Guapi, don’t think they can be successful at this level,” says Venesti, who at 14 years old move to nearby Cali, known as a capital of salsa and a breeding ground for new rhythms.
Venesti, real name Faiber Stiven Caicedo Castro, carved out the artistic name Venesti from a play on words on his middle names, and began to do a mix of tropical and pop informed by the Afrobeats of his hometown. Last year, he won his first Billboard Latin Music Award, for Best Latin pop song for “No Es Normal,” alongside Nacho and Maffio.
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Building on the song’s mix of pop beats with Afro roots and sensibility, Venesti released his sophomore album Origen on March 28 — a 12-track set that incorporates traditional Afro Caribbean rhythms with Afrobeats, reggaetón and ultimately pop for broad appeal.
“I wanted to find my roots, my culture,” says Venesti. “This is an evolution of my sound. I’ve gone through salsa, bachata, and I’ve rescued many sounds from each genre, I’ve encountered a lot of folklore, fused with Afro culture.”
The album features many collaborators, from known names like Guaynaa and Nacho to rising Colombian DJs and artists. Some may not be as known to mainstream Latin audiences but they’re part of Venesti’s journey from small town boy with big dreams to his arrival in Cali, and later, Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena, all places whose music informs this album.
Below, Venesti gives us his picks of five tracks to begin his journey with.
“Taca Tu Tacu”
This came from a session with Gangsta, who is one of the most incredible producers today. We’d been talking forever and finally met in Miami. We chatted at home and set it up. I told I wanted to create a fusion of ancestral sounds, and he brought up currulao, a genre from the Pacific coast that’s set in five beats, and we put it inside the chorus. There’s like a currulao in the Afrobeat, and it may be my favorite song. [In terms of the lyrics] I began my career writing poetry, but I wanted a chorus here that you could feel rather than sing. The “Taca Tu Tacu” is the beat of my heart. The poem is recited by my heart.
“Tamo Ahí” (with DJ Pope)
This is the song that has that danceable rhythm, but the song is all about courtship, and you’re there, almost there. DJ Pope is Balvin’s longtime DJ and he’s also someone who’s come up to me and congratulated me for getting to where I am coming from a place like Guapi.
“Felina” (with Nacho)
I worked with Nacho in “No es normal” and I had that personal goa lof having him sing Afro. We agreed to do something else after “No es normal” and he had wanted to do another merengue. I said, bro, if you allow me, let me show you this other rhythm. And he fell in love. We did several songs, but in the end, we stayed with “Felina.”
“Me vas a extrañar” (with Jeivy Dance & Andy Alaska)
This is a heartbreak song. It’s sad to remember happy moments that are over, but it’s also about realizing it’s time to let go of the people who’ve hurt you. It’s about putting it all out there. I worked on this one with Jeivy Dance, this huge talent from Cartagena, and Andy Alaska, a DJ who’s going through a great moment. I hadn’t realized that Afro was being done like this in other parts of Colombia and the Pacific. The four DJs that are in this album are here based purely on friendship.
“Number 1”
This is the guy who is winning over the girl every day with little gestures. And when I say “gestures,” I don’t mean gifts; I mean a look, a call, those little things that matter, that are subtle. It’s a very romantic song and I think people will really connect with it.
CBS is set to present the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) for the first time this year. The three-hour broadcast will also simulcast on MTV, which launched the show in 1984. A one-hour live pre-show will air across Paramount Media Networks. This year’s show is set to air live on Sunday, Sept. 7 starting at […]
As springtime settles into its groove, Chicago-bred R&B darling Ravyn Lenae is on the precipice of a moment thousands of fans have dreamed of for nearly ten years. At press time, “Love Me Not,” the jaunty lead single from 2024’s acclaimed Bird’s Eye LP, sits at No. 5 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 — just a heartbeat away from becoming her first Billboard Hot 100 entry.
For most Lenae fans, 2017 was when she first captivated their attention. After signing to Atlantic Records the year prior, Lenae churned out a beloved feature on Smino‘s “Glass Flows,” opened for SZA‘s Ctrl Tour, and released “Sticky” — a single from her 2018 Crush EP, which helped streamline the aesthetics of her first two EPs into a swirling mixture of funky, Steve Lacy-blessed guitar, Dilla-esque beats, and a devastatingly vast vocal range whose uppermost parts echo Solange‘s fluttery falsetto. Eight years later, Lenae gave “Sticky” its crowning moment midway through her fourth and final sold-out show at New York’s legendary Blue Note Jazz Club on Wednesday night (April 2).
Built around her majestic sophomore album, Bird’s Eye, which Billboard‘s editorial staff named the No. 3 best R&B album of 2024, Lenae’s Blue Note set focused on her most recent album, weaving in selected older tracks to underscore her message of maturation and coming home to yourself while navigating your twenty-somethings.
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Beginning with “Sattelites” — a cut from Hypnos, her 2022 debut album — Lenae quickly constructed the live world of Bird’s Eye with “1 of 1” and vinyl-exclusive bonus track “Goodbye 2 You.” Backed by just a drummer and a six-string bassist (who deftly transferred his skills to acoustic guitar when necessary), Lenae slinked around the stage like a forest nymph; her fiery deep-red tresses flowed behind her like a carefully contained flame, adding a striking flourish to the pose she hit at the end of each song.
Although she didn’t hit high-octane combinations — after all, the Blue Note is a dinner club! — she refused to remain stationed behind the microphone stand. Whether she was accentuating each snare hit with a funky shoulder pop, recalling early Motown-era Diana Ross with her animated facial expressions and neck movements, or ethereally painting the space with her oft-outstretched arms — Lenae left no doubt that not only does she know how to work a stage, but she also is more comfortable than ever both in the booth and onstage.
Lenae got so comfortable that she choked herself up — and moved several audience members to silent tears — with her heartbreaking true-to-life anecdotes. In one particularly beautiful moment in which time seemed to stop, Lenae recounted the incredibly painful memory that inspired her Childish Gambino-assisted “One Wish.” Before she dove into a breathtaking rendition of the Bird’s Eye single — her vocals were virtually flawless the entire night, and she frequently hit new (and even more impressive) riffs and harmonies — Lenae explained, as she has in previous shows, that “One Wish” was born out of her father ghosting her after promising to show up to her 10th birthday party. She sucked all the air of the club with that story, and breathed it right back into the space with her stunning performance.
A similar moment happened before she launched into “Pilot,” the reflective, penultimate track on Bird’s Eye. Through recounting her own 20s journey, Lenae, 26, urged the audience to “talk to their moms and grandmas” to help remember “what made [them] excited to wake up in the morning when they were 15.” Near the end of the song, she switched the “I just know I’m twenty-four/ Small to the world I’m in” to different ages, underscoring the song’s universality.
By the time the show came to a close, Lenae played every song on the standard version of Bird’s Eye (barring “Bad Idea”), as well as fan-favorites like “Xtasy,” “Venom” and “The Night Song.” To send her final Blue Note crowd back to the streets of Greenwich Village, Lenae blazed through “Love Me Not,” leading the crowd a sing-along that truly underscored the weight of the moment. Surrounded by a crop of listeners clearly comprised of mostly longtime fans, Lenae got to bask in the chords of her current breakthrough hit just before midnight struck in one of NYC’s most iconic venues.
Ahead of her stint as an opener for the final leg of Sabrina Carpenter‘s sprawling Short n’ Sweet tour later this year, Ravyn Lenae delivered an outstanding show that somehow improved on an already-terrific sophomore LP.
Drake‘s highly anticipated video for $ome $exy $ongs 4 U standout “Nokia” finally dropped earlier this week and it’s been getting some mixed reviews. One notable person who was underwhelmed by the Toronto rapper’s visuals was popular streamer Kai Cenat, who reviewed the video on his stream recently. Trending on Billboard “Music video? Not a […]
“You will still be there at the end of the ball.”
This opening line from Liu Lian’s 2021 birthday song, “Be Present,” beautifully captures her journey. At 27, Liu Lian began writing birthday songs as a way to affirm her existence and address her anxieties about self-worth and presence.
At that time, she wished for a ‘you’ who would still be around when the party was over. As time went on, Liu Lian, who once longed for forever because of ‘you,’ grew and developed her own perspective, eventually becoming an observer at the party.
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When asked which soundbite she would choose to represent herself, Liu Lian responded immediately: “I have a lyric that says, ‘you will still be there at the end of the ball.’ But now, I’d like to change ‘you’ to ‘I.’”
Billboard China’s exclusive series, HER VOICE, invites female musicians to share their views on the world and how they express their inner thoughts through music.
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Have there been moments in your life when you thought, “It’s really wonderful to be a woman”? If so, which moment stands out?
I feel that way most of the time. It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific moment because it feels like a continuous feeling.
If you could talk to any female musician from history, who would you choose? What would you want to discuss with her?
Shiina Ringo. Honestly, though, I’m not sure what I’d say—meeting someone you deeply admire can leave you speechless. When I interviewed Linkin Park, I felt the same way; without prepared questions, I might have struggled to find the right words.
I’m really interested in her creative process, even though I understand that some aspects can’t be fully conveyed through conversation. I’d also love to learn about the challenges she’s encountered, how she’s tackled creative blocks, and how she’s kept her artistic energy alive over the years.
Additionally, I’d love to get a glimpse into her everyday life—what she does in her free time, what topics she enjoys discussing with friends—so I can see her as an ordinary person.
Recommend a song or short film from your new album to your fans. Why do you like that one the most?
There are so many choices, but if I had to pick one, I’d recommend the song and short film Split. It tells a touching story about a blind woman who, years later, confronts the man who trafficked her—her own father. The narrative is complete and deeply moving. This song is rooted in personal experience, illustrating how someone familiar with self-doubt and failure can rise again, blooming even in adversity. It’s perfect for those moments when you need a dose of motivation and strength.
Liu Lian
Courtesy of Liu Lian/Billboard China
Godsmack announced the departure of longtime guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin. The news was shared on Wednesday (April 2) in a lengthy statement revealing that both men had decided to retire from the band after nearly three decades of service.
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“We send this message to all of you to share some bittersweet news with you regarding a significant change in our journey together,” read the letter signed by founding singer Sully Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill and their two former bandmates. “After almost 3 incredible decades, two of our most cherished members, Tony Rombola and Shannon Larkin have decided to retire from the band permanently, on good terms, but for no other reason than to fulfill their desire to live a more simple and quiet life away from touring.”
Rombola joined the hard rock group a year after it was founded, replacing original guitarist Lee Richards in 1996 and Larkin signed on in 2002, replacing founding drummer Tommy Stewart.
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“This decision was not made lightly. Tony and Shannon have been such a big part of our history, bringing their unique talents, creativity, and passion that have shaped our music and our message,” the statement continued. “Together, we have experienced countless, unforgettable moments and heartfelt interactions with fans like you around the world. We are immensely grateful for every memory we’ve created together.”
According to Blabbermouth, in a since-deleted Facebook video, Larkin, 58, and Rombola, 60, confirmed they are doing okay, but that after many discussions with Erna and Merrill “we did quit the band last year… they understood that we didn’t want to tour anymore — that’s the reason — and we understood that they wanted to tour. And so we understood each other. And in the end, Godsmack’s out there touring and we are happily here living our lives.”
Erna said he and Merrill are excited to “explore new directions,” though they said they’ve not yet made any permanent decisions about the mens’ replacements. “We will be continuing this journey together, and we look forward to sharing the decisions we make with all of you as they happen,” the remaining duo said. In the meantime, Evanescence drummer Will Hunt and Dorothy guitarist Sam Doltun have been filling in on Godsmack’s ongoing 2025 world tour with P.O.D. and Drowning Pool, which will is slated to hit Berlin on Friday (April 4).
Check out Godsmack’s announcement below.
