Sabrina Carpenter is as good as any current pop star at cultivating controversy and attention —the latest evidence was the now-subsided furor over her absurd Man’s Best Friend album cover, which seems to take cues from Spinal Tap’s Smell the Glove. “She’s leaning into it and laughing about it at …
Read More »Texas Singer Tanner Usrey Isn't Afraid to Look Inward on New Album 'These Days'
“People say I need a viral moment,” Tannery Usrey says. “But you know what? That moment happens every time I write a new song, and every time I step onstage. If you chase that viral moment, it’ll eat you to death.” For a decade, Usrey has toured relentlessly, with the …
Read More »Jon Batiste Makes 'Americana Blues Statement' on Rootsy New Album 'Big Money'
As a teenage musician, Jon Batiste used to call himself “a new-age blues artist.” Now, many genre-jumps later, he’s taking a deeply enjoyable left turn towards roots music on his seventh studio album, Aug. 22’s Big Money — and reminding the world he’s always been a bluesman at heart. “I’m …
Read More »How Polyphia's Tim Henson Landed on Hans Zimmer's 'F1' Score
Guitar fans — especially Gen-Z ones — need no introduction to 31-year-old virtuoso Tim Henson, who has been reinventing the instrument for more than a decade with his wildly experimental future-prog quartet Polyphia, who play fractured, trippy instrumentals that often seem more influenced by hip-hop, electronic music, and even video-game …
Read More »Justin Bieber, Blackpink, Tyla, and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week
Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more.This week, Justin Bieber surprise-drops his first album in four years, Blackpink reunite for a high-energy club banger, and Tyla serves up a sultry dance-hall inspired summer hit. Plus, …
Read More »Original Eagles Guitarist Bernie Leadon Comes to Terms With the Past in New Batch of Songs
Right before the Eagles played the final encore of their two-year, 109-date History of the Eagles Tour in July 2015, Glenn Frey walked up to guitarist Bernie Leadon and gave him a big hug. Leadon is the band’s founding guitarist and a co-writer of many of their early songs, including …
Read More »The Heavy Metal Festival Aiming to Curb Teen Suicide
W hen Nate Newton, bassist for the band Converge, first learned how steep the suicide rate among Native American teens was, he was shocked. “I was like, ‘That can’t be right. That’s so absolutely fucked up,’” he tells Rolling Stone. Native Americans have the highest suicide rate of any ethnic …
Read More »Givēon on His 'Accountability' Era and Making His Best Album Yet
Early in our Zoom interview, which Givēon takes from a moving vehicle, I ask him point-blank: “Who hurt you?” He’s on his way to California’s Lucerne Valley desert to perform songs from his excellent sophomore album, Beloved. Set on a reflective stage in the sand for a Spotify exclusive, he’ll …
Read More »All the Texas Country Artists Raising Money for Flood Relief
In the wake of the deadly July 4 flooding in central Texas, a growing list of artists from the Texas music scene, as well as across country music, have pledged donations, launched campaigns, or arranged benefit concerts. On Wednesday evening, Robert Earl Keen announced on social media that he will …
Read More »Rocket Are Ready to Launch Into the Stratosphere
Every band member cried when they got the news. Guitarist Desi Scaglione heard first and told lead singer and bassist Alithea Tuttle; their manager taunted drummer Cooper Ladomade with a few hints before finally spilling; guitarist Baron Rinzler was at a bar when the rest of the band filled him …
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