The visceral melodic pulse heard in the bass playing of Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who died on February 3, is most closely associated with anchoring the messages and providing the sonic heartbeat within Bob Marley’s music. In 1970, Family Man and his brother, drummer Carlton “Carly” Barrett, began playing with …
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Joni Mitchell will have a lot of company when she takes the stage on Sunday for her first-ever Grammy Awards performance. Her friend and collaborator Brandi Carlile will be performing alongside her, as will Jacob Collier, Allison Russell, SistaStrings, Lucius, and Blake Mills, according to executive producer Raj Kapoor. As …
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Wayne Kramer, who died Feb. 2 at the age of 75, lived a truly rock n’ roll life, from his gloriously unhinged guitar playing with influential proto-punk revolutionaries MC5 to a prison term, years of addiction, and a musical comeback in the Nineties. In this 2018 interview, previously available only …
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T-Pain was at a karaoke party last year when an R&B-flavored country ballad starting playing over the system. The rapper-turned-singer didn’t recognize it, so he opened up Shazam to listen — and the result came back as “Tennessee Whiskey,” by Chris Stapleton. “I made it a part of my ‘sad …
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On Tuesday, Cody Fry’s record label, UMG-owned Decca Records, had promising news for the soulful pop singer: His single “Things You Said” had blown up on Douyin, (TikTok‘s separate mainland Chinese counterpart). Fry was excited, readying a plan to capitalize on an unexpected viral moment. The excitement ended within hours, …
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The Recording Academy celebrated Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz Thursday night at the Black Music Collective Ceremony, one of the most anticipated nights ahead of the 2024 Grammys. As each icon took the stage to accept the Global Impact Award, which recognizes personal and professional achievements in the industry, both …
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Welcome to ourweekly rundownof the best new music — featuring big singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more.This week, Usher delivers a smooth break-up ballad, Lil Yachty laments his Sunday scaries, and the Last Dinner Party offer a ferocious take on generational trauma. Plus, new music from Billy …
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The official title of the opera making its U.S. premiere next week is Last Days. But Matt Copson, who co-directed it and also wrote its libretto, knows everyone will call it something else: the Kurt Cobain opera. “That’s fine,” Copson says. “I’m up for that. It’s not about that, of …
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It’s a celebration for Benny the Butcher in New York’s Def Jam offices. I got to speak with the Griselda rapper in late December, the same day that the Buffalo MC and members of his team came down for a Def Jam-sponsored event ahead of his debut album with the …
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From singing backup at Elvis Presley’s 1968 comeback TV special to writing Michael Jackson‘s “She’s Out of My Life” to arranging the vocals on Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man, longtime Quincy Jones collaborator Tom Bahler has had an improbably jam-packed music career. But as he sees it, the peak of …
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