Singer-Songwriter
Neil Young’s Battle with Polio May Have Colored His Stand Against COVID Misinformation
Neil Young has taken a stand against Spotify and Joe Rogan over COVID-19 falsehoods, following through on his ultimatum to leave the streaming giant if it continued to platform The Joe Rogan Experience. This will come as no surprise to longtime fans; Young has long been a proponent of vaccination, going back to his battle with polio when he was about five years old. According to his 2012 memoir Waging Heavy Peace, the “Harvest Moon” singer was diagnosed with polio in 1951 and spent time in Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital as he battled the life-threatening disease. He ultimately recovered, though the disease left him with a slight limp. The polio vaccine was first widely disseminated in 1955, and Young was one of the beneficiaries. As he recently wrote on his website,...
Grace Gaustad Unlocks the “Black Box” of Mental Health
Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Singer-songwriter Grace Gaustad joins the Going There podcast to unlock that “black box” of mental health, particularly when it comes to the lasting effects of anti-LGBTQ+ bullying. Speaking with Dr. Mike, Gaustad describes how she was bullied because of her sexuality, and how that triggered her becoming severely depressed. Related Video The BLKBX: wht r u hding? musician explains how she started the non-profit organization the BLKBX Project in conjunction with her new album release. This organization focuses on teen mental illness, and addresses the fact that most people face stressful and traumatic issues such as bullying and mental illness in isolation. It’s not uncommon to struggle in...
Natalie Imbruglia on Her New Album Firebird and Being an “Uber Fan” of The Strokes
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Natalie Imbruglia sits down with Kyle Meredith to discuss Firebird, her first album of new material in over a decade. Advertisement Related Video The Australian-British singer-songwriter tells us about the writer’s block that had her sidelined for the better part of the last decade, having a strong theme of independence on the record, and working with Albert Hammond Jr. A self-professed “uber fan” of The Strokes, Imbruglia also tells us she looked to Bonnie Tyler and the ’80s on “Maybe It’s Great,” and took inspiration from author Echkart Tolle. Listen to Natalie Imbruglia discuss Firebirdon this new episode of Kyle Meredith W...
Tim Heidecker Drops New Single “Dark Days”: Stream
Tim Heidecker has unveiled his new single “Dark Days.” Stream it below. The track finds the comedian-turned-musician reflecting on life through the COVID-19 pandemic over country-leaning instrumentation. “Well the stores are all closed/ Everything good shut down/ So many people had to move out of town/ Some people are taking to praying/ But I ain’t there yet/ Hope is the last thing I hope to forget,” he sings before the chorus kicks in. “I wrote this in the darkest days of the pandemic when things really felt unhinged, and it’s filled with little Easter eggs of the moment… baking bread and all that stuff,” the Bridesmaids alum shared in a statement. “At the last minute I changed the last line to be a question rather than a statement because I didn’t want it to be a total bummer. I hop...
Adele’s 10 Best Songs
It’s sometimes surprising to remember just how long Adele has been part of the pop culture conversation. Her breakout, “Hometown Glory,” was released when she was only nineteen years old, and it’s a track the singer-songwriter penned at just sixteen. Since then, Adele has obliterated records to the tune of fifteen Grammy awards across three full-length studio albums. Her crossover appeal is the result of a unique mix of gifted vocals, vulnerable songwriting, and a personality overflowing with sharp wit. It’s been over five years now since Adele released new music — a curious stint as host of Saturday Night Live in 2020 was more of an opportunity for the vocalist to try her hand at comedy and acting than it was a hint of a musical comeback — but finally, new tunes from Adele are on the hori...
Song of the Week: Mitski Cuts to the Bone with “Working for the Knife”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Mitski makes a welcome comeback. When the world needed her most, Mitski disappeared. In her two-year absence from music, from touring, and from social media, fans of the indie rock superstar found solace in her career highlights like “Nobody” and “Your Best American Girl,” which often centered around the fear of not living up to the expectations set by both others and yourself. “Working for the Knife,” her first new music since 2018’s Be the Cowboy, is no exception to the Mitski formula. From the get-go, “Working for the Knife” of...
How Mary Lambert Makes Mental Health More “Legible”
Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Musician Mary Lambert shares her struggle with bipolar disorder on the latest episode of Going There with Dr. Mike. Advertisement Related Video The Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter speaks with Dr. Mike Friedman about how she experienced both manic episodes — in which she seemed more elated, energized or grandiose — and depressive episodes where she had no energy and was unable to do even basic tasks. These episodes often felt like they come out of nowhere, leaving her feeling trapped by a biological process over which she had no control. Lambert explained that during her manic episodes, she felt at ris...
Tasha Announces New Album Tell Me What You Miss the Most, Shares “Perfect Wife”: Stream
The first leaves in Chicago are beginning to turn, which means it’s the perfect weather to listen to the Windy City’s own Tasha. The singer/songwriter has announced her new album Tell Me What You Miss the Most, out November 5th, and shared the lead single “Perfect Wife.” The follow-up to 2018’s Alone at Last was produced by Tasha alongside Eric Littman. As she tells it, the new album shows significant artistic growth. “When I made Alone at Last, I had only been writing songs for two years. I hardly even knew what kind of song writer I was,” she said in a statement. “But this record feels much stronger as far as a representation of my songwriter and musicianship. I did feel like I was piloting it in a way that I haven’t really felt before.” You can hear some of that...
Neil Young Announces Bootleg Recording of His 1970 Carnegie Hall Performance
Neil Young has announced the first volume in his upcoming series of bootleg recordings. The Neil Young Official Bootleg Series — Carnegie Hall 1970 is set to be released October 1st via Shaky Pictures/Reprise Records. The 23-track collection captures the magic of the singer-songwriter’s near-mythic performance on the night of December 4th, 1970 — the first of two back-to-back shows at the legendary New York City venue. Throughout the evening, Young performed a stripped-back setlist of songs like “Down by the River,” “Cinnamon Girl,” and the then-newly unveiled title track to After the Goldrush. He also played early versions of numerous tracks which, up to that point, had yet to be released — or even recorded — including “Bad Fog of Loneliness,” “Old Man,” and “See the Sky About t...
Billy Joel Performs “Iris” with Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik at Buffalo Concert: Stream
Billy Joel had a surprise for the crowd present at his show in Buffalo on Saturday night: an appearance by none other than the Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik. “Welcome to my hometown,” the frontman told Joel after being brought onstage at Orchard Park, NY’s Highmark Stadium to cheers from the assembled concertgoers. From there, he launched into his band’s biggest hit — 1998’s “Iris” — with some help from the legendary piano man on keys. “And all I can taste is this moment/ And all I can breathe is your life/ And sooner or later, it’s over/ I just don’t wanna miss you tonight/ And I don’t want the world to see me/ ‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand/ When everything’s made to be broken/ I just want you to know who I am,” he wailed on the second verse and subsequent chorus as the crowd ...
Adia Victoria Announces New Album A Southern Gothic, Drops “Magnolia Blues”: Stream
Adia Victoria has announced her forthcoming third album, A Southern Gothic, and shared the LP’s lead single “Magnolia Blues.” The 11-track studio studio offering is set to arrive September 17th via Canvasback Music and Atlantic Records. It features collaborations with everyone from Stone Jack Jones (“My Oh My”) and The National’s Matt Berninger (album closer “South for the Winter”) to Jason Isbell, Margo Price, and Kyshona Armstrong (the star-studded “You Was Born to Die”). Victoria recorded A Southern Gothic in both Paris in late 2019 and during the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, she said she “wanted the album to be a time stamp of where I was in 2020. I wanted to pay homage and be honest to what I had to work with. I didn’t feel the need to go back and change it ...
Bob Dylan’s Latest Bootleg Series Boxset Covers Singer’s Early 1980s Period
Columbia Records announced today that the sixteenth volume of its ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series will be released September 17th in conjunction with Legacy Recordings. The five-disc box set, titled Bob Dylan – Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985), will cover the iconic singer-songwriter’s early ’80s period, which spans the release of 1981’s Shot of Love, 1983’s Infidels, and 1985’s Empire Burlesque. According to the tracklist, the 57-song collection will include everything from outtakes and alternate versions of studio recordings to rehearsal footage and live recordings of “Enough is Enough” and “License to Kill” captured at Ireland’s Slane Castle and a 1984 appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, respectively. Elsewhere, the box set features a mix of Dyl...
