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First Country Holiday Edition: New Original Christmas Music From Dan + Shay, Carrie Underwood, Dolly Parton & More
Reigning CMA duo of the year Dan + Shay’s two originals this year serve as flip sides of the same coin: one spritely, the other sad. The upbeat “Take Me Home For Christmas” is a bouncy ode to going home with your beloved to their hometown for the holidays, so you can go caroling and relive her childhood memories. “Christmas Isn’t Christmas” is a lush piano and string ballad that plays on the pair’s gorgeous harmonies about how Christmas is “just a day at the end of December” if you’re apart from the one you love—though Jesus may agree to differ. Carrie Underwood & John Legend, “Hallelujah” Not to be confused with the Leonard Cohen classic, the new tune featured on Underwood’s chart-topping holiday album “My Gift” combines both romance, the meaning of the holiday, and hope. In lesser ha...
The 13 Best Things That Happened in Music This Week (November 27)
Take a look at all of the week’s can’t-miss music moments below. AC/DC’s new album charged in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 AC/DC’s Power Up debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart this week, giving the legendary rockers their third chart-topping set. The new LP started with 117,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 28, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. See the full Billboard 200 rundown for the week ending Nov. 28 here. The 2020 American Music Awards were a night to remember Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, BTS, Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes, Dua Lipa, and Doja Cat and Bebe Rexha all performed during the AMAs on Sunday (Nov. 22), making for a star-studded evening. Of course, some awards were handed out, too! Check out the full winners’ list here to...
Alanis Morissette Reimagines John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’
Now that Thanksgiving is over, Alanis Morissette is getting into the Christmas spirit by sharing her version of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” The new version stays true to the original including the iconic Lennon-Ono bedroom scene. But in Morissette’s version, you see her cuddled up with her family. The visual also includes clips of her bandmates and their families. [embedded content] “It is an honor to cover this heartwarming song. The lyrics feel more pertinent than ever and this year has been a year of great resilience and adapting and feeling all the feelings,” Morissette said in a statement. “May this song serve as a big hug to you and your sweet families and friends. Everything is going to be okay in the end, and if it’s not okay, it’s not the end. 🙂 ...
Van Morrison and Eric Clapton Team Up for Anti-Lockdown Song ‘Stand and Deliver’
Van Morrison has teamed up with Eric Clapton on his latest anti-lockdown song, “Stand and Deliver.” Set to release on Dec. 4, the track’s proceeds will go toward Morrison’s Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund, which aims to assist musicians who are facing financial hardships because of the global pandemic and lockdown measures that followed. Morrison previously released the lyrically pointed songs “Born to Be Free,” “As I Walked Out” and “No More Lockdown.” Due to the pandemic, Clapton, who performs the Morrison-written track, worries about the fate of the live music industry. “There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration,” Clapton said (via Variety). “We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The al...
Liam Gallagher Shares New Holiday Song ‘All You’re Dreaming Of’
Liam Gallagher has just released a new track — his first original music since 2019’s Why Me? Why Not. “All You’re Dreaming Of” is a beautiful piano ballad, classic and emotional, augmented with strings. The tune is Gallagher’s contribution to 2020’s holiday music rotation. [embedded content] “Considering the year that we’ve all had, I hope this brings back some much-needed love and hope,” the ex-Oasis frontman said in a statement. “Bing Crosby would have been proud.” The song was co-written by Gallagher and longtime collaborator Simon Aldred and produced by Andrew Wyatt. Aside from its digital release, “All You’re Dreaming Of” will also be pressed on special vinyl editions including a black 7-inch, a white 12″ that contains the original demo and a red 7-inch, which you can only get through...
George Harrison Estate Releases Stereo Mix of ‘All Things Must Pass’
George Harrison’s solo album, All Things Must Pass, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year. To honor it, Harrison’s estate is honoring the milestone with a new stereo mix of the title track. “The new stereo mix of the album’s title track is just a taste of more things to come in 2021 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of my father’s legendary All Things Must Pass album,” George’s son Dhani Harrison, said in a statement. He also added, “We’ve been digging through mountains of tapes, and they just kept coming – boxes and boxes of them. Making this album sound clearer was always one of my dad’s greatest wishes and it was something we were working on together right up until he passed. But with the help of new technology and the work of Paul Hicks on this project, we are now ...
Meg Myers on Getting Sober, Writing Her Most ‘Honest’ Album Yet
Coming off tour in late 2018, Meg Myers was depressed and disillusioned, feeling like she’d traded too much of herself in exchange for her two exhilarating LPs, 2015’s Sorry and 2018’s Take Me To The Disco. “I didn’t make a lot of my own choices,” the alt-rock songwriter tells SPIN. “Unconsciously, I allowed myself to be manipulated a lot. I was in a really dark place for a long time.” Bad habits didn’t help. Myers was drinking and smoking too often; she’d even gotten hooked on chewing tobacco during a visit to see family in her native Tennessee. (She finally stopped after six months spent packing her lip like a baseball player. “It was so disgusting,” she says.) CREDIT: Courtesy of Big Hassle The singer, then 32, had lost control and desperately needed a change. She began medi...
JEFF SCOTT SOTO Says Singing For JOURNEY Was A ‘Pinch Me’ Moment In His Career
Jeff Scott Soto says that his time with JOURNEY was “an incredible moment” that gave him an opportunity to live out “a rock and roll fantasy.” Soto, who previously sang with Yngwie Malmsteen, joined JOURNEY about a week and half into a six-week summer 2006 tour with DEF LEPPARD, after Steve Augeri began having vocal issues. Soto had earlier worked with JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo in the short-lived side project SOUL SIRKUS. JOURNEY named Soto its permanent lead singer in December 2016 before firing him just five months later. Asked in a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio if he’s had any “pinch me” moments in his career, Jeff said (hear audio below): “Oh, absolutely. That’s an easy one. I mea...
SEPULTURA’s ANDREAS KISSER Says Coronavirus Crisis Is ‘A Time Of Opportunity’
SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser has told the “213Rock” podcast that the coronavirus pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to reflect on things and to reconsider what we do, how we do it and why we do it. “I think it has two points of this — one really bad and one really good,” he said (hear audio below). “It is a time of opportunity; that’s for sure. You see a lot of new concepts of what the world is and what the nature is. In the first months, or the first days of the pandemic, you [saw] nature responding — a lot of animals appearing in the cities, because they were empty and stuff. And the air was much better here in São Paulo, Brazil.” He continued: “So it is a time of opportunity to rethink why we are running so much. What’...
GEORGE LYNCH And JEFF PILSON Cover DURAN DURAN, PRINCE, OASIS, Others On ‘Heavy Hitters’ Album
Guitar-shredding virtuoso George Lynch has reteamed with his former DOKKEN bandmate Jeff Pilson for a set of new studio recordings that turn pop music classics into powerful metal anthems. Due on December 18 via Deadline Music, a division of Cleopatra Records, Inc., “Heavy Hitters” features jaw-dropping renditions of DURAN DURAN‘s “Ordinary World”, Prince‘s “Kiss”, ONEREPUBLIC‘s “Apologize”, Carole King‘s “I Feel The Earth”, OASIS‘s “Champagne Supernova” and more. George discussed the “Heavy Hitters” project in a recent interview with Audio Ink Radio. He said: “I’ve got another project I did with Jeff Pilson called ‘Heavy Hitters’, which is really intere...
Taylor Swift Announces folklore: the long pond studio sessions Film
Unable to tour due to the ongoing pandemic, Taylor Swift opted instead to write and record her new album folklore. The album’s intimate, lo-fi sonics are largely a reflection of its recording process, as the normally bombastic pop singer was forced to record the 16-track LP in isolation, with collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff contributing remotely. Now, months after the album’s release, the trio is finally meeting in-person for a live performance of folklore. Premiering tomorrow (!), November 25th on Disney+, folklore: the long pond studio sessions finds Swift, Dessner, and Antonoff holed up at The National’s Long Pond Studio in Hudson, New York, performing tracks from the album live for the first time. What’s more, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon even stops by to sing his duet with S...
BTS Bring “Life Goes On”, Holiday Cheer to Corden: Watch
On Monday, BTS fans were gifted the best holiday present of them all: the Bangtan Boys under their Christmas tree. Following appearances on Good Morning America and the 2020 American Music Awards, the K-pop megastars visited The Late Late Show with James Corden, where they performed their latest single “Life Goes On” in extraordinary festive fashion. The group’s virtual setup was made to look like a series of cozy living rooms decked out in seasonal decor, complete with Christmas trees, wreaths, candles, and even indoor snow. All seven members of BTS — J-Hope, Jimin, Jin, Jungkook, V, RM, and Suga — were of course dressed for the occasion, outfitted in toasty sweaters, cardigans, and hoodies. We now clearly need an entire merch line dedicated to BTS Christmas. Replay the video down be...
