Wendy and Lisa Teaming Up With Annie Lennox for Trio Project

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic What does “going country” mean to Beyoncé — musically speaking? That’s a mystery that really had to wait until this week to be solved. We’d already picked up a good idea of what country means to her culturally, in her few public statements in advance of “Act II: Cowboy Carter,” amplified in the one trillion thinkpieces published during the last two months, many of which really did help spur a vital conversation about Black exclusion and reclamation in one of America’s most important indigenous artforms.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Most of the really essential rituals of American life — religious observances; Halloween and New Year’s Eve; opening day in baseball — are cyclical, endlessly repeatable experiences, independent from individuals or cults of personality. But to that list, a lot of us would add the ritual, stretching past 50 years now, of Bruce Springsteen in concert. And as the world found out last year, that guy can take a sick day.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Sierra Ferrell is bringing some goddess energy to the cover of her excellent new album, “Trail of Flowers,” and that fits. Just two albums into her career, Ferrell is already on the fast track to queenliness, if not godhood, among roots enthusiasts. In a world where a neo-bluegrass guy like Billy Strings can suddenly become a star among the kids, Ferrell may be the closest thing we have to that among female stars.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic There was a lot of intramural celebrity love to go around — both the self-consciously smarmy kind and the real, earnest thing — as Josh Homme produced an all-star benefit concert for his Sweet Stuff Foundation Wednesday at the Belasco in Los Angeles, with a cast of musical and comedic guests ranging from St. Vincent and Beck to Bill Burr and Sarah Silverman.

Metallica covered Elton John at the 2024 Gershwin Prize in Washington, D.C. last night (March 20) – check out the footage below.John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin were honoured with the Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song at the ceremony, which was hosted by Billy Porter.Ahead of the event, Metallica said they were “beyond excited and proud to have been invited to perform” at the “very special event” before describing John and Taupin as a “legendary songwriting team”.The group opened the show with a rendition of ‘Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’ from John’s 1973 double album ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’.One of those things you thought you’d never see in Washington — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson head-bopping along to @Metallica at the @librarycongress #GershwinPrize for Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Olivia Rodrigo fans who wanted to own all of her “Guts” bonus tracks until now had to develop an expensive Discogs habit, since copies of the very limited vinyl editions that included them have commanded collectors’ prices, and the songs were not put up for streaming. But those extra tracks will finally be made available in a more widespread way with this Friday’s release of “Guts (Spilled),” a deluxe edition that puts the four previously vinyl-only tracks up for digital consumption — while throwing in a fifth, brand-new bonus track to boot.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Geno Michellini, a familiar voice to Los Angeles rock fans as the afternoon DJ during the ’80s and ’90s on KLOS, died March 2 at age 77. The death was not widely reported until Monday. An official obituary written by friends David Forman and Frank Martin said he “passed peacefully at home of natural causes with his beloved cat Bud Bud by his side.” Michellini’s death follows by about five months that of fellow L.A./San Francisco DJ Dusty Street, with whom he was said to be especially close, helping care for her before her passing.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Toby Keith, who died Feb. 5, is one of three inductees named Monday as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with fellow country star John Anderson and legendary country-rock guitarist James Burton. Keith will be inducted posthumously, of course, but he was not elected posthumously.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jimmie Allen is no longer the subject of a sexual assault lawsuit that was filed by one of his former managers last June, as the Jane Doe in question has now dropped the country singer from the suit as part of a settlement. In a statement issued to Variety and other media, the woman’s attorneys at FeganScott confirmed that they have filed paperwork asking the U.S.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Angela McCluskey, the Scottish-born, L.A.-based frontwoman for the popular ’90s band the Wild Colonials, died Thursday at age 64. The singer died after being in a coma following emergency surgery for an arterial tear. The death was announced in a post on McCluskey’s Instagram account Thursday night.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Grammy-winning “Golden Hour” was Kacey Musgraves’ honeymoon album, flush with love and promise in 2018. Its more dramatic followup, 2021’s “Star-Crossed,” turned out to be her divorce album, for most intents and purposes.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic CMA Fest has announced its lineup for the festival’s 2024 edition, taking place in Nashville June 6-9, and as usual, the roster for the nightly stadium shows is a who’s who of recent country charttoppers and awards contenders, with Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson foremost among the newer crop of headliners. The names gracing the Nissan Stadium main stage lineup aren’t entirely that fresh.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Kacey Musgraves‘ arrow is leading her into U.S. arenas this fall, where she’ll be doing a show rooted in her new album, “Deeper Well,” which, as the title indicates, is about embracing the realness of life.

Renowned singer-songwriter Eddi Reader is bringing her highly-anticipated spring tour to the Fair City.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Changes in latitudes will bring the spirit of the Florida keys to the Hollywood Bowl next month, as the late Jimmy Buffett will get an all-star salute from a lineup of musical heavyweights that includes Paul McCartney, the Eagles, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Jon Bon Jovi and Kenny Chesney. The one-night-only concert, dubbed “Keep The Party Going: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett,” will take place at the Bowl in one month, on April 11. Other stars on board for the memorial bash include Sheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, Zac Browne, Jackson Browne and Pitbull.

He was the flirty barman in hit ITV sitcom Benidorm for 11 years from 2007 to 2018. But now actor Jake Canuso, who's 54, is unrecognisable from his time playing hottie Mateo Castellanos. Jake starred alongside celebs including Crissy Rock – who's since opened up about her childhood abuse ordeal – as well as Johnny Vegas, Steve Pemberton and Sherrie Hewson, ending up as the show's longest-serving character and appearing in all 74 episodes.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Steve Lawrence, a king among easy-listening crooners who rocketed to fame in the ’50s and ’60s as half of the duo Steve and Eydie, died Thursday at age 88. Lawrence died at home in Los Angeles, and the cause of death was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, according to a spokesperson for the family, Susan DuBow. Lawrence’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis had finally put an end to his touring career in 2019, after a run in the public eye that spanned six and a half decades.

and Josephine Baker led glamorous lifestyles in the 1920s, the term “the roaring twenties” has become one of the most unbecoming of the English language. Not least because culture writers thought we’d all exit lockdown and be thrust into a debauched ’20s of our own, but mainly because of the phenomena of prohibition bars, where “in-the-know-drinkers” wear feathered headbands and sip gin and tonics from mismatched chinaware.I’d suggest that most recent dress—a spring/summer 2011 Roberto Cavalli number, which pulled from the year 2010—is the closest thing culture will have to recreating a true 1920s fantasia.

Zendaya is hitting the red carpet!

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Man — she feels like a Barbie. And is one, officially, now: Shania Twain has had a one-of-a-kind Barbie made in her likeness by Mattel.