Rock
Delta Spirit Flies High With New Album, ‘What Is There’
Check out the video premiere for ‘How Bout It’ It’s been six years since Delta Spirit released its last album, 2014’s Into the Wide, but after a restorative and busy hiatus, the rock group returns Sept. 11 with What Is There, their debut for New West Records. “A decade-plus spent in close proximity can take a toll on any relationship, especially if it’s in the creative sphere,” frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez tells Billboard of the band that formed in 2005 and is known for such Triple A hits as “California” and “From Now On.” “We hit pause, and thankfully saved our friendship. Our lives needed to grow independently in order to return to a more collaborative place. We weren’t sure if that was gonna happen for us, but gratefully after two years of working, we have an album th...
Paris Jackson & Gabriel Glenn Release Debut EP as The Soundflowers
Paris Jackson and Gabriel Glenn have debuted their new musical group, The Soundflowers, with a self-titled EP that arrived on Tuesday (June 23) via Imperial. The five-track EP features lead single “Your Look (Glorious),” with its simply romantic music video below, plus the highly anticipated “Geronimo,” which Jackson wrote when she was 15, inspired by loss, heartbreak and letting go. [embedded content] “A lot of our music, some of the songs on the EP and some of the songs that have yet to come are about pain,” Jackson said in a statement. “I’m sure to many it will come off as emo and sad, and that’s okay. But my hope is that it brings comfort to those who feel the way I did when I wrote the songs, especially ‘Geronimo.’ I’d like for the listeners wh...
Whitesnake on Restoring Old Art and Writing New Endings
Kyle Meredith With… Whitesnake Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public Whitesnake singer David Coverdale speaks with Kyle Meredith about the band’s trilogy of new compilations called Red, White, and Blues, and how the series was inspired by restoring old art. Coverdale dives into being influenced by Marc Bolan, The Who, and early Pink Floyd for the 2000 song “She Give Me”, how knee surgery led to the new song “Always The Same”, and what we can expect from the series, particularly a new ending for “Is This Love”. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Meredith digs deep into the artist’s work...
Matchbox Twenty Reschedules Summer Tour to 2021: See the New Dates
Matchbox Twenty announced the rescheduled dates for their U.S. summer tour today (June 22), which will run from July to October 2021. The major arena/amphitheater jaunt will now kick off in Uncasville’s Mohegan Sun Arena on July 16 and snake across the country before wrapping in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 7. Ticketholders will be honored for the new dates but can still request a refund if they’re unable to attend. The Palms Casino Resort tour stop in Las Vegas is the only one that’s been canceled. It remains unclear if The Wallflowers will still accompany the Rob Thomas-led rock troupe for the four-month-long North American journey. But Matchbox Twenty will still make these nights to remember even more special with limited-edition “instant&#...
Miley Cyrus, Shakira, Justin Bieber & More to Perform at ‘Global Goal: Unite for Our Future’ Concert
Musicians are lending their voices to another important cause. Global Citizen and the European Commission announced on Monday (June 22) the “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future” Concert. The event, which will be preceded by a summit, will shine a light on how the global coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted marginalized communities. The June 27 concert will feature performances by Miley Cyrus, Shakira, J Balvin, Justin Bieber and Quavo, Jennifer Hudson, Coldplay, Usher, Christine and the Queens, Chloe x Halle, and Yemi Alade. Billy Porter, Hugh Jackman and many others will also make appearances, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hosting. “This moment requires all of us to act. As Global Citizens, we’re calling on leaders around the world t...
Top 25 Albums of 2020 (So Far)
Welcome to our Mid-Year Report. All week long we’ll be sharing the music, movies, and television that have helped us survive a strange and confusing six months. We start today with our Top 25 Albums of 2020 (So Far). It’d be fatuous to pretend that the first six months of 2020 have been like any other. All of us are facing difficult realities: the pain of injustice, the loss of a loved one, or even just the despair of looking out the window and not knowing what tomorrow will bring or when it will come. For the purposes of this list, then, maybe it’s equally foolish to think music impacted us the same way it always does. Then again, perhaps that’s what makes music so integral to our lives: that no matter what the world or our individual lives look like, music has the magical knack of provid...
Jennifer Lopez, Paul McCartney & More Celebrate Father’s Day 2020
It’s all about Dad! As people celebrate dads for Father’s Day 2020 on Sunday (June 21), musicians did the same, giving the dads in their lives a shout-out to show their love and appreciation. Jennifer Lopez shared photos on Instagram of her twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony, wishing the “Tu Vide en la Mia” singer “the best day today.” She also recognized her fiance, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, with a video montage of past interviews in which she gushes about her love being a great father. The “Medicine” singer didn’t forget her own pops, though. For her dad, she resurfaced a TODAY show video in which she recalls how her dad has always supported her. “Dad, thank you for being you… for loving me for who I am,&...
Toni Cornell Honors Dad Chris Cornell on Father’s Day in Studio Tour: He Was ‘My Best Friend’
The memories are still sweet. Chris Cornell‘s daughter Toni Cornell took over Billboard‘s Instagram Stories on Father’s Day (June 21) to remember the late Soundgarden frontman with a tour of his home studio in Miami. “I’m so grateful that I was lucky enough to have a dad who was also my best friend,” she said. “Music was our life, so it really created a special bond between the two of us, even when we weren’t on the road. Here in this studio, he taught me how to play the guitar, how to record songs.” The 15-year-old recalled how she used to sit next to the iconic rocker as he wrote music, scribbling her own tunes. She added, “Being here in this room, I feel like I’m around him, and really makes this my happy place.” Th...
Toni Cornell to Remember Dad Chris Cornell in Billboard Instagram Takeover on Father’s Day
Chris Cornell‘s daughter Toni will reminisce about the late Soundgarden frontman when she takes over Billboard‘s Instagram Stories at noon ET on Father’s Day, Sunday (June 21). During the takeover, the 15-year-old will talk about her dad, who died in May 2017 while on tour with the iconic Seattle grunge band. In addition, Toni will share with viewers some of the celebrated musician’s cherished personal belongings and discuss what they meant to the rocker. Since the Soundgarden vocalist’s death, Toni has been keeping her dad’s legacy alive through music and charity. She has released songs that the father-daughter duo worked on together, as well as a cover of “Hunger Strike,” which was written by Cornell for Temple of the Dog, the Seattle super...
Kurt Cobain ‘MTV Unplugged’ Guitar Sells for Sky-High $6 Million
Grunge became gold Saturday (June 20) as the guitar Kurt Cobain played on Nirvana’s 1993 MTV Unplugged performance sold for an eye-popping $6 million at auction. The 1959 Martin D-18E that Cobain played in the band’s rare acoustic performance and subsequent live album was sold to Australian Peter Freedman, owner of Røde Microphones, at the Music Icons event run by Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California. The bids opened at $1 million for the sale that ended up breaking several world records. Cobain used it to play tunes including “About a Girl” and “All Apologies” at the Nov. 18, 1993, show in New York that came less than five months before the singer and songwriter died at age 27. A day earlier at the same auction event, a custom guitar played by Prince at the height of his stardom...
Prince’s Custom Guitar From the 1980s Brings Big Dollars at Auction
NEWS 6/20/2020 by Associated Press A custom guitar played by Prince at the height of his stardom in the 1980s and 1990s has sold for a staggering $563,500 at auction. The “Blue Angel” Cloud 2 electric guitar skyrocketed beyond the estimate of $100,000 to $200,000 it was expected to fetch at the Music Icons sale run by Julien’s Auctions on Friday (June 19) and Saturday in Beverly Hills. Prince played the blindingly blue guitar with the artist’s “love” symbol on its neck beginning on the 1984 Purple Rain Tour, on the classic albums Lovesexy and Sign O’ The Times. He used it into the early 1990s. Archivists going through Prince’s possessions at his Paisley Park home and musical headquarters in Minnesota recently found the guitar that was thought to be lost during the four years since his deat...
Evanescence’s Amy Lee Reveals How She Once Burned a Hole in Mickey Mouse’s Heart: Exclusive
Ouch! Things took a bit of a dark turn when Amy Lee, the frontwoman of Evanescence, showed off her home studio in an exclusive video on Billboard’s Instagram Saturday (June 20). As part of Billboard‘s “My Top 10” series, the rock vocalist shared some of the favorite things she keeps around when she’s making music, and quite a few were throwback items to her youth. As she kicked off the at-home tour, Lee pointed out that what’s in her creative space is “part audio gear and part ’80s toy collection, because that’s who I am and that’s how I roll.” Among the fancy equipment and instruments was a Mickey Mouse lamp from her childhood bedroom minus the lampshade — and his heart. “I had forgotten there was this other lig...
