Music Features

T he election may be just a few weeks away, but don’t ask Jelly Roll for voting advice. As a convicted felon who spent time in and out of jail for robbery and drug possession, country music’s face-tattooed star lost his right to cast a ballot. “People go, ‘Why don’t …

Country legend Keith Urban is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, but he had no idea how deeply he’d be affected by his trip to see Springsteen on Broadway a few years back. When Springsteen described having a dream where he tells his father he embodies him as a performer — …

J onathan Kanter is standing in the basement recording studio of his Bethesda, Maryland, home, surrounded by an enviable collection of dozens of vintage and limited-edition guitars. It’s a warm June evening and the place feels like the Platinum Room at Guitar Center, with the walls covered in blond wood …

Leading up tothe Grammy nominations on Nov. 8, Rolling Stone is breaking down 13 different categories. For each, we’re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night. This nomination year had rock-solid full-lengths from four Grammy perennials of recent vintage — Taylor Swift, …

This story originally ran in an April 1974 issue of Rolling Stone. In Peru, one kept a daily journal; now Kristofferson bends grinning over its pages, on which, in the winter of ’70, Andes mud spilled and dried like blood spots. “Hell,” he offers rurally, “wouldn’t surprise me none you …

The haunting intro on the Rolling Stones‘ “Monkey Man,” the galloping keyboard solo on the Beatles‘ “Revolution,” the piano that anchors the Who‘s “The Song Is Over,” and countless other indelible classic-rock moments were all the work of one man: session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. A classically trained player from Middlesex, …

The last time Kris Kristofferson ever performed in public, he was paying tribute to a friend. Showing up for others is something Kristofferson, whodiedSaturday at the age of 88, did his entire career, whether it meantinsistingthat John Prine receive a record deal, or showingpublic supportto Sinéad O’Connor when the world …

I n the old chapel of a former Christian Science church in San Francisco, late-afternoon sun pours orange through the windows, and several giant servers are hard at work. The tall, black towers fill two large alcoves, and their cooling fans emit a serene, industrial hum as blue lights blink. …

This week Neil Young did two amazing club shows at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, with his new band the Chrome Hearts. He began both nights with “I’m the Ocean,” one of his fiercest songs, from the 1995 Pearl Jam collaboration Mirror Ball. “People my age, they …

Back in June, KCON LA — the world’s largest annual Korean pop culture festival — announced that the first-generation K-pop group g.o.d would be performing at its event in July. When KCON USA’s official Instagram account posted the group’s name without any periods, some commenters cracked religious jokes. “Is he …