Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Luke Bryan to Stream Live New York Show

This Friday, August 7th, country superstar Luke Bryan will celebrate the release of his fifth full-length album, Kill the Lights with a live-streamed performance and party at New York City's Irving Plaza.
Tickets are on sale Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. ET to Citi cardholders. For fans unable to attend, the exclusive concert will stream live at 9:00 p.m. ET on Yahoo's Live Nation Channel. Fans can also stream the concert through the Yahoo Screen App on mobile devices.


Kill the Lights is the follow up to Bryan's most successful project to date, Crash My Party. The reigning Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year has placed 12 singles at Number One and sold 7.5 million albums with 30 million digital tracks downloaded. His current Kick the Dust Up tour will continue through October, and is also the title of the first single from the new album.

"'Kick the Dust Up' isn't indicative of everything on [Kill the Lights]," Bryan told Rolling Stone Country earlier this summer. "The main thing is 'Kick the Dust Up' gets it goin', gets it rockin'. It's a big, fun, summer, outdoorsy anthem."

In that case, Irving Plaza will offer an appropriate setting for the album release show, in a spirited but slightly more intimate way than, say, the seven arenas lined up on the rest of the tour. "I am so excited to be getting this new music out to my fans and cannot wait to be on stage and enjoy the album release night with them!" Bryan writes in a statement.



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Cee Lo Green Speaks on 'Highly Irresponsible' Rape Tweets

Cee Lo Green has apologized for controversial tweets regarding rape that the singer made in August 2014 after he pleaded no contest to drug charges. "I do realize in retrospect that it was highly sensitive, what I tweeted – highly irresponsible," Green said. "It did stem from emotion causing some involuntary action, and I do believe that, maybe just possibly, we could all give each other a margin for human error."

Speaking to The Sunday Times (via NME), Green said of his tweets, "In those instances I do realize I'm an artist, that I'm flawed; and sometimes, you know, you don't think. I was most certainly not thinking, not considering whom I might offend. And to those many people, however many or however few, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize again."

Green pleaded no contest in August 2014 to one felony count of furnishing a controlled substance stemming from the July 2012 incident where a woman accused him of slipping ecstasy into her drink. As part of his plea deal, Green admitted that he "shared" the drug with woman but did not "slip" it. Green was ordered to complete 360 hours of community service alongside 52 Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Green was not charged with rape after prosecutors found the sex to be consensual, and soon after pleading no contest, the singer defended himself on Twitter, where he implied that it's not rape if the person is "passed out." "If someone is passed out they're not even WITH you consciously, so WITH implies consent," Green tweeted. "People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!"

Green soon removed the tweets, apologized ("I'd never condone the harm of any women") and briefly deleted his Twitter account entirely.

Green was so regretful about what he tweeted and how people now perceived him that he wanted to name his new album Girl Power before he ultimately settled on the title Heart Blanche. "At one point it was called Girl Power, because it is all about the adornment, the upliftment, the exaltment and the appreciation of all things woman," Green said, describing women as "our most miraculous muse - an enchantment that encourages all art."

Heart Blanche is due out November 13th. The singer has already shared his interactive Google search-fueled lyric video for "Robin Williams."



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Monday, August 3, 2015

Drake Roasts Meek Mill, Brings Out Kanye, Pharrell at OVO Festival Set

Drake escalated his ongoing beef with Meek Mill Monday night, closing out Toronto's OVO Fest with a performance highlighted by guests – including Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Future and Travi$ Scott – and memes making fun of his rap rival.

The Toronto native opened his set by performing his two Meek Mill diss tracks, "Back to Back" and "Charged Up," as Meek-bashing memes flashed behind him on massive screens. (One noteworthy, unwanted accolade: A "Participation Award" certificate for Meek Mill's response track "Wanna Know.") 

The battle began, though, even before the show, as Drake showed up to his OVO rehearsal wearing a "Free Meek Mill" T-shirt. Drake previously wore the shirt during a 2014 tour, though with a completely different intent – in support for Meek, who was incarcerated at the time because of a revoked parole connected to a 2008 conviction of drug dealing and gun possession.

For Monday's OVO set, Drake brought out a parade of high-profile guests during his viral-friendly performance. After a surprise spot from Future, Kanye West performed his own 12-song mini-set, including new tracks "Wolves" and "All Day" and two collaborations with Travi$ Scott. West also united with Drake on "Blessings," their recent collaboration with Big Sean.

After a brief solo performance, highlighted by the live debut of his track "Hotline Bling," Drake was joined by Pharrell to perform Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." Drake ended the set with a variety of solo tracks, concluding with his Meek Mill collaboration, "R.I.C.O." During his set, the rapper teased his rumored third Meek Mill diss track "3 Peat," but the song has yet to materialize.

The Drake/Meek Mill drama started in late July, when Meek accused the rapper of using a ghostwriter, Quentin Miller (who was openly credited on Drake's 2015 LP, If You're Reading This It's Too Late). "Stop comparing Drake to me too," Meek tweeted. "He don't write his own raps! That's why he ain't tweet my album because we found out!"

Both Miller and Drake's longtime producer Noah "40" Shebib denied that Drake used the services of a "ghostwriter." ("I am not and never will be a 'ghostwriter' for Drake," Miller wrote on his Tumblr.)

Drake first responded with the mellow diss track "Charged Up," – which Meek called "baby lotion soft" – then delivered a grittier K.O. punch three days later with "Back to Back." Meek fired back with his own diss, "Wanna Know," but the court of public opinion has ruled thus far on Drake's side: The track was roundly criticized, with corporations, politicians and NBA stars like Kevin Durant and Isaiah Thomas showing support for the Toronto native.



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Reba McEntire, Narvel Blackstock Allude to Divorce After 26 Years

Country icon Reba McEntire and her manager-husband Narvel Blackstock are calling it quits. While the couple does not use the word "divorce" in a joint statement released today, they do declare "the end of their marriage" after 26 years of matrimony.

"Narvel Blackstock and Reba McEntire have announced that they have been separated for the past few months," reads the statement posted on McEntire's website. "Despite this being the end of their marriage, they continue to support each other. They have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so. They have asked that you respect their privacy during this time."

Blackstock was a steel guitar player in McEntire's band before becoming her manager. They wed on a boat in Lake Tahoe in 1989, with the singer discovering upon arriving home from their honeymoon that she was pregnant. Their only child together, son Shelby, is a successful Indy race car driver. Blackstock also has three children from a previous marriage, including fellow artist manager Brandon, who is married to pop powerhouse Kelly Clarkson. Narvel and Brandon work together at McEntire's Starstruck Entertainment, also managing the careers of Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Caroline Kole and Shelby Blackstock.

As partners in Starstruck and beyond, McEntire and Blackstock have not only taken her music career to record-breaking heights but have also dabbled in TV together. Most recently, the two were co-producers on the short-lived Malibu Country TV sitcom, and back in the Nineties, Blackstock produced three made-for-television movies starring his wife.

Back in April, McEntire made a big musical comeback with Love Somebody, her 27th studio album and first collection of new music in five years. Even with bragging rights to 56 million albums sold and 35 Number One hits throughout her 40-year career, she admits that fear of competition almost caused her to hold back on releasing new music.

"I'm a regular person; I've got doubts and insecurities," she told Rolling Stone Country just before the LP's release. "Radio [is] so competitive, and they are looking at the younger generations for music, so I'm thrilled to death radio is playing [the album's first single] 'Going Out Like That.'"

The legendary singer is just off a run of shows with longtime friends Brooks and Dunn in Las Vegas. Their joint residency at Caesar's Palace will resume in December.

This is the third music power couple to split in the past two weeks. Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert announced their divorce on July 20th, while news of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale's divorce filing came within hours of McEntire and Blackstock's statement.



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Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale Are Divorcing

Longtime No Doubt singer and The Voice star Gwen Stefani has filed from divorce from husband Gavin Rossdale, according to TMZ.

The couple, married in 2002, reportedly filed divorce documents at the same time, with Stefani citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split. The couple has three kids — Kingston, age 9,  Zuma, age 6 and 1-year-old Apollo — with both parties asking for joint support.

According to TMZ, the couple reportedly did not have a prenuptial agreement. Under California law, the couple must split their jointly-held properties 50/50.

Stefani hasn't released a solo album since 2006's The Great Escape, but had originally plotted her newest, as-yet-untitled album for release earlier this year. "I wasn't gonna bring back the Harajuku Girls," Stefani told Rolling Stone last year, referring to her former Japanese backup dancers. "You kind of run out of ideas. After a while, you're just competing with yourself."

An admittedly rough pregnancy and the birth of Apollo caused Stefani to have a career — and life — turning point and new desire to record. The singer enlisted fellow Voice star Pharrell Williams and recorded two songs. "Shine," a breezy ballad Williams and Stefani wrote for the computer-animated film comedy Paddington, also came out late last year, but the singer has yet to announce a release date for the new album. In February, Stefani unveiled the ballad "Start a War" at her first solo show in eight years. 

Bush released their sixth album, Man on the Run, last year. In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Rossdale discussed his relationship with Stefani. "She's taught me how to be a better person," he said. Rossdale also discussed how Stefani kept him humble with her own superstar success. "You might come in with two of something, and she's got 12 of something," he said.



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New Jimi Hendrix Documentary Focuses on Historic Atlanta Pop Concert

The Jimi Hendrix Experience's July 4th, 1970 performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival will be the subject of a new documentary and live album. Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church, a film about the guitar god's Atlanta Pop set and the circumstances surrounding it, will premiere on Showtime on September 4th. The DVD/Blu-Ray release of the documentary will follow on October 30th with bonus content not shown in the televised version.

The documentary will feature interviews with band members Billy Cox and the late Mitch Mitchell as well as Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Kirk Hammett, organizer Alex Cooley and more. The Atlanta International Pop Festival also marked the largest American audience Hendrix ever performed in front of, as an estimated 300,000 people witnessed the rock great play in Byron, Georgia, 100 miles south of Atlanta.

The recording spans much of Hendrix's catalog, from Are You Experienced's "Foxy Lady" and "Red House " to posthumously released tracks like "Straight Ahead" and "Room Full of Mirrors." Since the concert took place on July 4th, Hendrix naturally delivered another stunning rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church will be preceded August 28th by Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival, featuring Hendrix's July 4th, 1970 16-song set. That live album will be released via Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings as a 2-CD or 2-LP vinyl set. The first 5,000 vinyl copies will be numbered individually.

Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival Track List

Disc 1

1. "Fire"
2. "Lover Man"
3. "Spanish Castle Magic"
4. "Red House"
5. "Room Full Of Mirrors"
6. "Hear My Train A Comin’"
7. "Message To Love"

Disc 2

1. "All Along The Watchtower"
2. "Freedom"
3. "Foxy Lady"
4. "Purple Haze"
5. "Hey Joe"
6. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return) "
7. "Stone Free"
8. "Star Spangled Banner"
9. "Straight Ahead"



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Kip Moore Brings 'Wild Ones' on Fall Tour

On the verge of his long-awaited second album's release, Kip Moore has announced a 20-date North American headlining tour this fall. The Wild Ones Tour will begin in October, making stops in major markets including New York City, Toronto, Chicago and Boston until the December finale in Richmond, Virginia. "Kiss You in the Morning" singer Michael Ray will serve as the opening act, and Nashville upstarts Joey Hyde and Chris Cavanaugh, as well as prominent country remixer/producer Dee Jay Silver, will also be joining Moore as supporting acts on select dates.

"My favorite part of this crazy life we have is playing live," says Moore. "We've been playing so many of these new songs in the live show because we road-tested them night after night before recording what became the final album. They were a huge part in helping me formulate what Wild Ones became."

Concertgoers can expect to hear plenty of material from Moore's forthcoming album, Wild Ones, due for release on August 21st, along with radio hits from its critically-acclaimed predecessor, Up All Night. And judging by recent concert set lists, don't be surprised if Moore continues to perform a wide-ranging selection of covers, as well. In recent months, the "I'm to Blame" singer has covered everything from Tom Petty and Ben E. King to Oasis and Jimmy Eat World.

A large portion of the dates on Moore's upcoming fall tour are located in the Northeast, a region that's embraced the singer-songwriter from the beginning.

"The people are so kind to me here, and they really latched on to our band," Moore told Rolling Stone Country while playing in New York earlier this summer. "We've been grinding in the club scene for years up here. We developed a true underground following. I don't know if it's the style of music we play. I don't know if it's because of the blue-collar lifestyle up here that they relate to me and the band. I want to feel like it's the intensity and passion we play with each and every night — that's my hope."

Kip Moore, Wild Ones Tour Dates:

October 8th — Bethlehem, Pennsylvania*

October 9th — Pittsburgh*

October 16th — London, Ontario, Canada*

October 17th — Toronto*

October 22nd & 23rd — Chicago**

Ocober 30th — Boston**

October 31st — Baltimore**

November 5th — Knoxville, Tennessee***

November 7th — Cleveland, Ohio***

November 13th — Orlando, Florida***

November 14th — Ft Myers, Florida***

November 19th — Nacogdoches, Texas*

November 27th — Myrtle Beach, SC*

November 28th — Charlotte, North Carolina*

December 3rd — New York City*

December 4th — Sayreville, New Jersey*

December 5th — Richmond, Virginia*

*Denotes date with Chris Cavanaugh

**Denotes date with Joey Hyde

***Denotes date with DeeJay Silver



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