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August 28, 2007

Springsteen touring with E Street Band this fall

To support a new album titled Magic due out October 2, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will be touring the U.S. and Europe this fall. The touring lineup will feature Roy Bittan on keyboards, Clarence Clemons on saxophone and percussion, Danny Federici on keyboards, Nils Lofgren on guitar, Patti Scialfa on vocals and guitar, Garry Tallent on bass, Steven Van Zandt on guitar, and Max Weinberg on drums. The dates, announced today, are as follows:

NORTH AMERICA
October 2, Hartford, CT, Hartford Civic Center
October 5, Philadelphia, PA, Wachovia Center
October 9-10, East Rutherford, NJ, Continental Airlines Arena
October 14, Ottawa, ON, Civic Centre
October 15, Toronto, ON, Air Canada Centre
October 17-18, New York, NY, Madison Square Garden
October 21, Chicago, IL, United Center
October 26, Oakland, CA, Oracle Arena
October 28, Los Angeles, CA, venue TBA
November 2, St. Paul, MN, Xcel Energy Center
November 4, Cleveland, OH, Quicken Loans Arena
November 5, Auburn Hills, MI, Palace Of Auburn Hills
November 11, Washington, DC, Verizon Arena
November 14, Pittsburgh, PA, Mellon Arena
November 15, Albany, NY, Times Union Center
November 18, Boston, MA, TD Banknorth Garden

EUROPE
November 25, Madrid, SPAIN, Palacio De Deportes
November 26, Bilbao, SPAIN, Bilbao Exhibition Centre
November 28, Milan, ITALY, Datchforum
November 30, Arnhem, NETHERLANDS, Geldredome
December 2, Mannheim, GERMANY, Sap Arena
December 4, Oslo, NORWAY, Oslo Spektrum
December 8, Copenhagen, DENMARK, Forum Copenhagen
December 10, Stockholm, SWEDEN, Globe Arena
December 12, Antwerp, BELGIUM, Sports Paleis
December 13, Cologne, GERMANY, Koln Arena
December 15, Belfast, IRELAND, Odyssey Arena
December 17, Paris, FRANCE, Palais Omnisports De Bercy
December 19, London, UK, O2 Arena

Posted by Peter at 3:33 PM | Permalink

August 27, 2007

Third National Jug Band Jubilee to be held October 12-14

One of the more arcane native American music forms is apparently being swept into the edges of the string band revival. The Third Annual National Jug Band Jubilee is scheduled for Louisville, Kentucky, October 12-14.

Featured artists include the Carolina Chocolate Drops (North Carolina), the Juggernaut Jug Band (Louisville), the Dirdy Bidies Jug Band (New Jersey), the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs (Ohio), the Jake Leg Stompers (Tennessee) and the Second Fiddles (New York). Louisville musician Pokey LaFarge will perform between sets.

The event is co-produced by the Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Performances take place in the newly renovated Iroquois Amphitheater Friday (5-10 p.m.) and Saturday (noon-10 p.m.). An educational set Sunday afternoon will take move to the Oldham County Schools Arts Center in Crestwood (the remodeled and expended Crestwood Baptist Church, ca. 1873) and feature Sule Greg Wilson, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the Juggernaut Jug Band.

Rod Wenz, president of the National Jug Band Jubilee, notes, "Jug bands and their fans around the world consider Louisville the early home -- perhaps the birthplace -- of jug band music. The Jubilee is beginning to grow into that reputation, a just tribute to the creative African-Americans who are the roots of this century-old music style."

For more information, visit: www.jugbandjubilee.org.

Posted by Grant at 9:00 AM | Permalink

August 23, 2007

Neil Young announces October release

The stars seem to be lining up for a classic rock fall (and, doubtless, the industry is hoping for a classic rock Christmas) with news that Neil Young will release Chrome Dreams II October 16.

Recorded more or less live (or, at least, spontaneously), mostly at Feelgood's Garage near Redwood City, California, the album was finished before news of the sessions slipped out. Players include Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina, pedal steel guitarist/dobro player Ben Keith, and bassist Rick Rosas, according to a Reprise Records press release.

Young describes the result as "an album with a form based on some of my original recordings, with a large variety of songs, rather than one specific type of song.…Where Living With War and Everybody's Rockin' were albums focused on one subject or style, Chrome Dreams II is more like After The Goldrush or Freedom, with different types of songs working together to form a feeling. Now that radio formats are not as influential as they once were, it's easier to release an album that crosses all formats with a message that runs through the whole thing, regardless of the type of song or sound."

The album title acknowledges one of Young's several projects never to see the light of day. An album titled Chrome Dreams was announced for a November 1976 release, and never materialized.

Of these new Chrome Dreams, Young says (via press release), "Some early listeners have said that this album is positive and spiritual. I like to think it focuses on the human condition. Like many of my recordings, this one draws on earlier material here and there. I used to do that a lot back in the day. Some songs, like 'Ordinary People', need to wait for the right time. I think now is the right time for that song and it lives well with the new songs I have written in the past few months. I had a blast making this music."

Posted by Grant at 9:02 AM | Permalink

August 22, 2007

Mellencamp recording with T Bone

Fresh from his work on the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant album, Raising Sand, T Bone Burnett is now working with John Mellencamp in the artist's Bloomington, Indiana, studio, Belmont Mall.

The untitled and unscheduled and as yet uncompleted album is being recorded with Mellencamp's touring band: Mike Wanchic (guitars), Andy York (guitars), John Gunnell (bass), Dane Clark (drums), Miriam Sturm (violin) and Troye Kinnett (keyboards, accordion).

Posted by Grant at 9:38 AM | Permalink

August 16, 2007

New Springsteen album due October 2

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will release a new album titled Magic on October 2 on Columbia Records. It's Springsteen's first studio record with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002. Brendan O'Brien returns as producer. The eleven-song track listing is as follows: 1. Radio Nowhere; 2. You'll Be Comin' Down; 3. Livin' In The Future; 4. Your Own Worst Enemy; 5. Gypsy Biker; 6. Girls In Their Summer Clothes; 7. I'll Work For Your Love; 8. Magic; 9. Last To Die; 10. Long Walk Home; 11. Devil's Arcade.

Posted by Peter at 1:04 PM | Permalink

August 7, 2007

Three added to Country Music Hall of Fame

With Brenda Lee and Barbara Mandrell on hand, the Country Music Association announced Ralph Emery, Vince Gill, and Mel Tillis as new members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Their additions bring the Hall's total to 101.

All three men will formally be inducted during an invitation-only ceremony in October.

Broadcaster Ralph Emery will be inducted in the "Non-Performer" category, which is awarded every third year, rotating with the "Career Achieved National Prominence Prior To World War II" and "Recording And/Or Touring Musician Active Prior To 1980" categories.

Vince Gill becomes the third artist inducted in the "Career Achieved National Prominence Between 1975 And The Present" category, created in 2005. Perhaps Rodney Crowell can be lured to present Gill at the formal ceremony, following Gill's speech bestowing the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting to Crowell in 2006.

Mel Tillis, a formidable songwriter plus or minus his famous stutter, is being inducted in the "Career Achieved National Prominence Between World War II And 1975" category.

Inductees are chosen by the CMA Hall of Fame Panel of Electors, some 300-plus anonymous voters appointed by the CMA Board of Directors.

Posted by Grant at 2:35 PM | Permalink

August 6, 2007

RIP Lee Hazlewood

The iconic singer and songwriter Lee Hazlewood's three-year battle with cancer came to an end August 4 in Henderson, Nevada, in the company of his son Mark, his daughters Debbie and Samantha, and his wife Jeane.

Portions of the press announcement are worth quoting: "For over half a century, Lee Hazlewood proved himself to be one of the most ingenious, inspired and impressively stubborn sons-of-a-bitch the music industry ever saw. His career -- a word that Hazlewood himself scorned -- saw him take on almost every aspect of the music industry -- a word that Hazlewood himself was equally dismissive of -- and come out on top every time."

Hazlewood will principally be remembered for his duets with Nancy Sinatra, "These Boots Were Made For Walking" and "Some Velvet Morning". He played no small role in the career of Duane Eddy, and signed Gram Parsons' International Submarine Band to his label in the mid-'60s.

He relocated to Sweden in the 1970s, where he was associated with the work of film director Torbjorn Axelman, and moved between Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the United States in later years. He would record a variety of albums up until his death, but his handful of 1960s albums would give heft and credibility to the lounge revival of the 1990s. His vocal style and rebel status made him a particularly attractive figure to a number of punk/indie-rock icons, notably Mark Lanegan (whose career began as lead singer of the Screaming Trees), Nick Cave, and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth. Shelley reissued a number of Hazlewood's albums on his Smells Like label.

The family has asked that donations in his name be made to the Salvation Army.

Posted by Grant at 8:55 AM | Permalink

August 3, 2007

Alison Krauss/Robert Plant album announced

Apparently John Paul Jones isn't the only Zeppelin alumni to become entranced by the music of bluegrass and the women who sing it. Rounder Records has announced the October 23 release of Robert Plant's collaboration with Alison Krauss, titled Raising Sand and produced by T Bone Burnett.

The album, their press release says, was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles, and features supporting musicians Marc Ribot (guitar), Norman Blake (guitar), Mike Seeger (things with strings), Jay Bellerose (drums), and Dennis Crouch (bass).

Plant, the press release goes on, "is quick to define Raising Sand as more a band record than a duet record, as it puts the two great singers in a variety of vocal and instrumental combinations." Material was chosen by Burnett, with input from Plant and Krauss. Impetus for the project dates back to a phone call from Plant seven years back, telling Krauss he'd like to work with her some day.

Track listings follow:

Rich Woman (Dorothy LaBostrie-McKinley Millet)
Killing The Blues (Rowland Salley)
Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us (Sam Phillips)
Polly Come Home (Gene Clark)
Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) (Phil and Don Everly)
Through The Morning, Through The Night (Gene Clark)
Please Read The Letter (Robert Plant-Michael Lee-Jimmy Page-Charlie Jones)
Trampled Rose (Tom Waits-Kathleen Brennan)
Fortune Teller (Naomi Neville)
Stick With Me Baby (Mel Tillis)
Nothin' (Townes Van Zandt)
Let Your Loss Be Your lesson (Milt Campbell)
Your Long Journey (A.D. Watson and Rosa Lee Watson)

Posted by Grant at 12:48 PM | Permalink