Music
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Artists see a lot of strange and beautiful things from the stage, and sometimes they just have to call them out and call in the proper authorities. Case in point: during Sabrina Carpenter‘s Short n’ Sweet tour stop at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on Tuesday night (Oct. 22), the “Please Please Please” singer was so […]
Ever wondered what Dolly Parton‘s songs would sound like backed by a full orchestra? Fans can find out next year when the country icon’s new multimedia symphonic story-telling experience, Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony, makes it debut with the Nashville Symphony on March 20, 2025.
The world premiere of the show that features Parton’s songs and the stories behind them will feature images of the singer on screen, “leading audiences in a visual-musical journey of her songs, her life and her stories,” according to a release announcing the event. With the help of guest vocalists and musicians, the show will debut new and innovative orchestral versions of Parton’s songs “woven together into a full-evening multimedia symphonic story-telling experience.”
“The threads of my life are woven together through my songs. That’s why this project, Threads: My Songs In Symphony, is so special to me,” Parton said in a statement. “It’s all about sharing my music and my musical journey with audiences in a new way. I’m really excited for fans to experience it for the first time with the Nashville Symphony!”
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The show will feature such beloved hits as “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” as well as some of Parton’s personal favorites. The March premiere with the Grammy-winning Nashville Symphony, led by Principal Pops conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, will feature a special appearance by Dolly.
“We are honored to help launch this extraordinary production with Dolly Parton in Nashville at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center,” said Nashville Symphony president/CEO Alan D. Valentine in the statement about the show that is being produced by Parton along with Schirmer Theatrical and Sony Music Publishing. “Enhanced by the stories and images that make up the threads of her extraordinary life and career, her legendary and timeless catalog – combined with the power and majesty of our Nashville Symphony orchestra – will create an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone.”
Check out the dates for the 2025-2026 performances of Threads: My Songs in Symphony below.
March 20, 2025 — Nashville Symphony Orchestra
May 17, 2025 — Fort Wayne Philharmonic
June 17, 2025 — Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
June 29, 2025 — San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Sept. 7, 2025 — The Cleveland Orchestra
Sept. 18-20, 2025 — Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Oct. 10, 2025 — The Alabama Symphony Orchestra (Birmingham)
Jan. 23-25, 2026 — Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Feb. 14-15, 2026 — Oregon Symphony (Portland)
March 28, 2026 — Phoenix Symphony Orchestra
May 1, 2026 — Eugene Symphony Orchestra
Bernie Taupin is slated to receive the Outstanding Career Achievement Award during the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) to be held on Nov. 20 at The Avalon in Hollywood, Calif. The show, now in its 15th year, honors composers, songwriters and music supervisors for their contributions in music for film, TV, video games and more.
Submissions for all HMMA categories are open through Oct. 31. The complete list of final nominations will be announced on Nov. 4.
Taupin, of course, is best-known for his long, hit-studded and award-winning collaboration with Elton John. The pair were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and received that organization’s top honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2013. In 2020, they received both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best original song for co-writing “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from the hit biopic Rocketman. Earlier this year, they received the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, as well as an Ivor Novello for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Most recently, Taupin cowrote (with John, Brandi Carlile, and Andrew Watt) the original song “Never Too Late” for the Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late. The song is performed by John and Carlile.
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Remarkably, their only songwriting collaboration to receive a Grammy nomination was the soundtrack to the 1971 teen romance film Friends (no relation to the later TV megahit), which won best original score written for a motion picture or a television special. Go figure.
Taupin has also had some notable successes independent of John. He co-wrote Heart’s “These Dreams” and Starship’s “We Built This City,” both of which topped the Billboard Hot 100. He received a Grammy nod for best country song for cowriting “Mendocino County Line,” which was recorded by Willie Nelson & Lee Ann Womack. His song “A Love That Will Never Grow Old,” sung by Emmylou Harris for the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack, won a Golden Globe for best original song. Taupin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence award category in 2023. Fittingly, John did the honors in inducing him.
Past HMMA Career Achievement Award recipients include Marc Shaiman, Kenny Loggins, Smokey Robinson, Diane Warren, Earth Wind & Fire, Glen Campbell, Dave Mason, John Debney, and Christopher Young.
Tickets are available now at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/2024hmmawards/1419072. For more information, visit hmmawards.com.
Alt-rock singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet, known for his 90s hits “Girlfriend” and “I’ve Been Waiting,” is currently recovering from a debilitating stroke that occurred while on tour in Toronto on Oct. 12.
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The news was confirmed by Sweet’s longtime manager, Russell Carter, in a statement on Tuesday (Oct. 22).
According to Carter, Sweet was immediately admitted to Toronto Western Hospital where he received urgent care. Though his condition was stabilized, he has since been transferred to a rehabilitation center in Omaha to undergo extensive therapy.
Carter described Sweet’s situation as “a long, difficult road to recovery,” adding that the artist will require weeks of around-the-clock care followed by months of rehabilitation.
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“Matthew has always been intensely focused and tenacious in all of his endeavors, not only in his recording career, but in all of his artistic and intellectual pursuits,” Carter shared.
“I am confident that his signature determination will serve him well as he focuses now on recovery to good health.”
Due to the stroke, Sweet was forced to cancel his cross-country tour, including both his headline dates and his supporting slots for Hanson.
On Oct. 10, Sweet’s team had already announced the cancellation of his shows via Instagram due to medical illness, but the full extent of the situation was only revealed this week. “Matthew’s primary source of income—like most professional musicians—is live touring, and he cannot perform for the foreseeable future,” Carter explained.
To help cover Sweet’s rising medical expenses, his family and management team have launched a GoFundMe campaign. The campaign notes that while Sweet received life-saving care in Toronto, health care for Americans in Canada is not free, and Sweet lacks both insurance and touring income during this period.
“We have set up a GoFundMe campaign so family, friends, and Matthew’s amazing network of fans can contribute to help pay his medical expenses,” Carter said.
The fundraiser aims to raise $250,000 to cover the cost of Sweet’s care, with donations already surpassing $115,000 from over 2,000 supporters.
The GoFundMe campaign was organized by Catherine Lyons, of Russell Carter Artist Management, who reiterated the severity of Sweet’s condition, noting that the musician’s recovery will be a long process, requiring multiple stages of care.
Sweet emerged from the Athens, Georgia music scene in the 1980s and became a figure in the 90s power-pop revival with the release of his album Girlfriend in 1991, with the album’s title track and the single “I’ve Been Waiting” becoming fan favorites.
Read the statement from Russell Carter in full below:
Last week, Matthew Sweet was forced to cancel an extensive cross-country tour of both headline dates and opening slots for longtime friends, Hanson after suffering a debilitating stroke in Toronto late Saturday evening (October 12).
Matthew was quickly admitted to Toronto Western Hospital where he was put into excellent care and taken out of immediate danger. Matthew was transferred to a rehabilitation center back home in Omaha today where he will undergo extensive therapy.
He is now on a long, difficult road to recovery. All of us who know and love Matthew have hope for a speedy recovery. Matthew has always been intensely focused and tenacious in all of his endeavors – not only in his recording career, but in all of his artistic and intellectual pursuits.
I am confident that his signature determination will serve him well as he focuses now on recovery to good health.
Matthew’s medical expenses in Canada and Omaha are exorbitant and his primary source of income – like most professional musicians – is live touring. He cannot perform for the foreseeable future. We have set up a GoFundMe campaign so family, friends, and Matthew’s amazing network of fans can contribute to help pay his medical expenses.
Please contribute if you can and please repost the link to the GoFindMe fundraiser anywhere you can.
Stevie Wonder used his Detroit homecoming as an opportunity to clap back at presidential candidate Donald Trump for disrespecting the city during the campaign.
“I just gotta say for the record, I don’t like nobody talking bad about Detroit,” the Motown icon told a sold-out crowd on Tuesday night at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on the latest stop of his Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart tour. He then led the audience in a chant of “Don’t cha do it!,” pointedly aimed at Trump.
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Wonder was referencing the Republican candidate’s disparaging remarks during an Oct. 13 speech to the Detroit Economic Club, where he warned that if his Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, is elected, “the whole country will end up being like Detroit — a mess.”
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He also called Detroit “a developing area more than most places in China.” His remarks generated equally harsh criticism from Detroit and Michigan civic leaders as well as labor leaders.
Wonder, who has publicly, endorsed Harris as “not just any woman, a wonderful woman, and she has done the work consistently.”
He announced the Sing Our Song! tour less than three weeks before its Oct. 8 opening in Pittsburgh, playing 11 shows in mostly swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the wake of his surprise single, “As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart.”
The swipe at Trump — on a night former President Barack Obama was campaigning for Harris nearby at Detroit’s Huntington Center (introduced by Eminem) — was not Wonder’s only political comment on Tuesday.
Later in the show he recited, for the first time ever, the lyrics of a new song, “Politic Playa,” which Wonder said will appear on his next album, Through the Eyes of Wonder, slated for release in March. T
he pointed song includes verses such as “you campaigned throughout the nation, saying you’ll unite the land/But when you get in office, you completely change the plan,” with a chorus that runs, “Politic playa/Why you playin’ politics so wrong/Politic playa/You get what you want, then you’re absent, up and gone.”
Introducing “Village Ghetto Land,” on which he sang accompanied only by a 12-piece string section, Wonder, who was born in Saginaw and moved to Detroit when he was four years old, recalled the violence and poverty he witnessed in the neighborhood in which he grew up.
“I just remember all this stuff was going on…a lot of what we saw then is what we’re seeing now, and that’s unacceptable. We gotta fix that,” he said, turning his attention to politicians as he added, “It’s not about what they say; it’s what they do. And my freedom and my rights for what I want can’t be bought.”
Wonder took one more shot at Trump while vamping during “Do I Do,” referencing the Economic Club remarks again before saying, “All this has gotta stop…Let’s make America LOVE again.”
Wonder’s Detroit show was also distinguished by some special moments, including a bit of fellow Motowners the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” early on and the tour debut of “My Eyes Don’t Cry,” which had a line of fans on the arena floor doing an impromptu hustle.
During his mid-show break from the stage, meanwhile, Detroit’s Perfecting Greater Grace Singers choir performed Aretha Franklin’s “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)” before Wonder’s six backing vocalists paid tribute to the late Frankie Beverly with a rendition of Maze’s “Before I Let Go.”
Wonder also had to overcome some technical problems that shorted out the PA system three times during the night.
After the first — which interrupted “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” — was resolved he thanked the fans “for being patient, ’cause we can work it out, right?” before launching an impromptu rendition of the Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out,” which he covered for a Top 20 single in 1970. The second and third came in rapid succession during “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing,” and an exasperated Wonder, while remaining composed, commented, “I’m sure the sound crew feels messed up.”
When it was finally fixed, he quipped “Oh, Stevie, Stevie, we forgive the mess up, and we’ll never mess up like that again.”
Wonder has four more dates on the Sing Your Song! tour, which wraps up Nov. 2 in Chicago.
Former President Barack Obama lost himself in the music, the moment on Tuesday night (Oct. 22) at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s Detroit rally ahead of the 2024 presidential election next month. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The Detroit native rapper took the stage to introduce […]
The Zombies have enlisted Q Prime for label and distribution services, it was announced Tuesday (Oct. 22).
Under the agreement, Q Prime will manage marketing, manufacturing, distribution and licensing for the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees’ new imprint, Beechwood Park Records. The imprint includes the pioneering British band’s catalog, which the group acquired the rights to last year from Marquis Enterprises Ltd. “There’s a very narrow window in a Venn diagram where love, admiration and business overlap. That’s what the deal is all about,” said Q Prime co-founder Cliff Burnstein in a statement.
Starting next year, Q Prime will physically reissue four of The Zombies’ albums, remastered from the original tapes. This includes the band’s seminal 1968 album, Odessey & Oracle, in its original mono mix; the LP, which was recorded for 1,000 British pounds, includes the classic songs “Time of The Season,” “Care of Cell 44″ and “This Will Be Our Year.” Its release will coincide with a new Zombies documentary, Hung Up On A Dream, directed by musician and filmmaker Robert Schwartzman and co-produced by Schwartzman’s Utopia Films, The Ranch Productions and Tom Hanks’ Playtone.
Chris Tuthill and Cindy da Silva of The Rocks Management, who have represented the band for the past 11 years, oversaw the deal along with attorney Monika Tashman of Loeb & Loeb. “We went through a painstaking process to find a strategic partner who would truly understand the unique qualities of these beloved recordings,” said Tuthill in a statement. “Ultimately, we knew we had to stay true to the band’s history. They have always benefited from a non-traditional and independent approach to both music and business, which is one of the reasons their songs are continually rediscovered by new generations of fans.”
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After former publishing executive Rick Krim introduced the management team to Q Prime, da Silva added, “We were incredibly impressed by the team and infrastructure that Q Prime assembled with their long-term clients Metallica to nurture and grow their own catalog, and their genuine desire to collaborate with us and the band to do the same for The Zombies.”
The Zombies’ four surviving founding members are lead singer Colin Blunstone, keyboardist Rod Argent, bassist Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundy. The band first appeared on the Billboard charts with 1964’s “She’s Not There,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Ab-Soul made an appearance on DJ Hed and Gina Views’ SiriusXM show Effective Immediately, over the weekend to talk about his upcoming album Soul Burger when the subject of J. Cole came up.
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Gina Views asked him what the groupchat was like when J. Cole dropped his Kendrick diss song “7 Minute Drill” and then his Might Delete Later mixtape which included the song “Pi” featuring the Carson rapper and battle rapper Daylyt. Soulo admitted to being surprised by the track being on the mixtape and told a hilarious story about the day he found out.
“First of all, I was a little upset with Cole — not upset, but like… Cole was supposed to be on ‘Fuck Out My Face [FOMF],’ he revealed. “Cole is the homie, for real. That’s what I want to make very clear to the whole world. I just needed like a 12… I played him the album and he picked [FOMF] and I bugged him about it because I was trying to play the game at that point, and it just didn’t come to fruition.”
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He continued by saying, “But I did this joint — me and Lyt did the joint ‘Pi.’ I did it for Daylyt. I said like, ‘Let’s do a back and forth thing, it was kinda like a sparring [session] between me and him, and it’s called ‘Pi’ literally because me and Daylyt’s [version] ended on 3:14.”
Adding, “I wake up — I don’t know if it’s the next morning, but soon after — Lyt’s like, ‘Bro’ and sends me the song and Cole on there going crazy. I’m like, ‘Wait, what the f—k?’ I’m lowkey hot. I’m like, ‘Lyt, bro, this is one of the best rappers in the world. You gotta let me know before… I’m on his head like, ‘Bro, you have to let me know if you’re gonna send this shit off. He ate us up.’ Just off first listen, cuz got like 48 [bars] off.’ It wasn’t mixed yet and his vocals were louder than ours. I’m waking up to this, my ears are fresh. I called Cole immediately.”
He then mentions that Cole told him their verses inspired him. “Man, y’all was going so crazy, I just got in the spirit. My pen just started moving.” Ab added that he respected where the Carolina rapper was coming from. “Cole’s really an emcee emcee. I told him I was tryna play the game. Now it makes sense why he was more attracted to ‘Pi’ than ‘FOMF.’ That says a lot about him. All he needed to do was a 12. He had the upper hand. I gave him the whole thing.”
Not to be a rapper that enjoys being one-upped, Soul said he told Cole that they need to record a proper track where they go bar for bar.
Many assumed that Ab-Soul threw shots at Cole on his most recent song “Squeeze 1st 2” when he rapped, “Metasota warned me they wanna war/ But actually they forfeiting like their wardrobe for half of the week” and released the song after Cole dropped his song “Port Antonio” where he addresses bowing out of the “Big 3” beef. But those assumptions were debunked when TDE president Punch took to X to clear things up, tweeting, “I hate to clear up rumors, I usually let them fester and see how far they go, but ALL verses on Pi were recorded long before Like That,” in response to HipHopDX host Jeremy Hecht tweeting that Soul got at Cole for not telling him that “Pi” would be included on a project.
You can watch the full interview below:
Billie Eilish is recovering after hitting her leg hard and not quite soft. The multi-Grammy winner took to her Instagram Stories to show off a nasty leg bruise she retained after tripping and falling on steps as she left the stage during her show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Friday (Oct. 18). On […]
With Sagittarius season around the corner, Nicki Minaj made some time to show love to her “Sag Queen” Taylor Swift on social media. The “Super Bass” rapper took to her Instagram Story on Tuesday (Oct. 22) reposting Taylor Swift’s recap celebrating The Eras Tour returning to the U.S. for a three-show run at Miami Gardens’ […]