Valerie June: Memphis' Messenger of Love-Born Blues

Her Sound: On the back of her rustic acoustic guitar playing and her immediately recognizable, sometimes-childlike-sometimes-antiquated vocals, Valerie June mixes rural blues, Southern soul, back porch country, old-time gospel and Appalachian folk into a sonic stew she cheekily calls "organic moonshine roots music." "Being from Memphis, I truly love all of the different genres of music that were born and married there," she tells Rolling Stone. "Blues, gospel, rockabilly, country, I love all of it."

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But when June first started dishing out her bluesy concoction, audiences didn't know what to do with the finished product, much less how to label it. "At first, they didn't know what to call my music. So I knew I had to help people out," she relates. "I wanted to call it something magical, and at the core of blues, gospel, folk, and rock & roll is roots music – so that's what I ended up calling it."

Big Break: In 2009, June appeared in the MTV series $5 Cover, an episodic show chronicling the modern Memphis music scene from the mind of director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan). June came by the gig pretty easily — "I used to serve Craig coffee every morning," she reveals — and it certainly paid off for the struggling artist. "I acted on the show and I got to perform 'No Draws Blues,' my only blues song at the time, for a huge audience. It was the first national attention that I received."

It was both her appearance on $5 Cover and the following year's release of her collaborative EP with Old Crow Medicine Show, titled Valerie June and the Tennessee Express, that lead to June gaining quite a fan base in Nashville. "Those things opened the door for me to work with Dan [Auerbach, of the Black Keys] and the guys at Easy Eye Studio in Nashville. Having their stamp of approval on the music that I was making really helped to crack open some doors for me to kick the rest of the way in."

The Auerbach-produced Pushin' Against a Stone was released in 2013 and featured Memphis legend Booker T. Jones on "Somebody to Love" and "On My Way." Prior to the album's release, June also made a name for herself in the U.K. after performing stunning versions of "Workin' Woman's Blues" and "Twined and Twisted" on the show Later… With Jools Holland and by supporting Jake Bugg on his European tour.

Why We're Listening: June's homespun brand of blues is rich with emotion and a well-earned authenticity that she has come by honestly and naturally. "Memphis is not a machine, and it's not going to make you a star," she asserts. "What it's going to give you is a soul and a heart that you can take anywhere in the world and people are going to get it."

June's approach to the blues is also something that is more a product of her internal character than her external circumstances. "I'm really picky about my blues. When I was playing Memphis, I only had like one blues song in my set. It was kind of an accident that I started playing blues music because I never really planned it. My songs just end up coming out bluesy and folksy."

Listen closely to the moan 'n wail wallop of songs like "You Can't Be Told" and "Workin' Woman's Blues" from Pushin' Against a Stone and you won't just feel the primal stomp-and-sway of June's songs, you'll believe every word she's singing. June believes that this is because love is at the heart of all of her songs. "Sid Selvidge did an incredible version of the song 'How I Got to Memphis' that talks about people finding themselves in Memphis because of love," she says. "It's funny because when I heard that song, I was like, 'Yep, that's how I got to Memphis too!'"

Favorite Memphis Music Venues: If you ask June what some of her favorite Memphis music venues are, be prepared for an eclectic and enticing list of haunts. "When I first started playing music in Memphis, I told my band that I wanted to play Java Cabana because they've got the oldest running open mic night in Memphis. That's where we started building our first following," she reminisces.

Some of the musician's favorite spots in Memphis are just as much for listening as they are for playing. "Wild Bill's is a venue to just go and see music. It's a down-home juke joint, not like Beale Street blues, but like serious, fun blues. It's so tight and sweaty in there and everyone's eating fried chicken and drinking forties. It's a late-night spot. They don't really get going until after one in the morning. Also, there's the Buccaneer, where your feet stick to the floor and you can crank up the amps and get crazy. It's just a really fun vibe, like being in somebody's garage with a bunch of booze and loud music."

Memphis Scoop: "Memphis is a very nurturing town to an artist who's just starting out," says June. "You can perform in front of a crowd of people while still having your training wheels on and you won't get discouraged. If you're attempting to do something, Memphis will be cool with it and still give you a pat on the back."

It's not just the encouraging music-listening audiences in Memphis that stick out to June, but the individual people, as well. "In Memphis, you'll meet people that fill your soul. You'll never meet anybody that can replace the people that you meet in Memphis."

For June, two of those memorable individuals are Jason Freeman and Robert Belfour, who passed away earlier this year. "Jason is a friend and a musician in Memphis that shared his amazing record collection with me. He showed me an old E.C. and Orna Ball blues song ("Trials, Troubles, and Tribulations") that I ended up covering on Pushin' Against a Stone. Mr. Belfour was an amazing hill country blues musician that I stalked all over west Tennessee and Arkansas. If I heard that he was playing a show somewhere, anywhere, I was there."

While June admits that any road trip to Memphis should definitely include such legendary landmarks as Sun Studio, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Center for Southern Folklore, there's one not-quite-so-famous stop that she's convinced should be added to the itinerary: an odds-and-ends gift shop called Maggie's Farm. "I can still remember the first time I walked into Maggie's Farm. I was 18 and I had just moved to Memphis," she remembers. "It's a beautiful gift shop and a really sweet place where you can get all kinds of teas, oils, incense, and beautiful candles. I ended up working there for almost 10 years.

"I loved working on Maggie's Farm," she laughs. "I don't know what Bob Dylan was talking about."

Watch for Yourself: Earlier this year, June was invited to participate in the "Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster" concert at the Kennedy Center celebrating the revered bluesman's legacy. During the show, she boldly belted an acapella version of "Ain't Goin' Down to the Well No More" to an enraptured audience response. The day before, June recorded a live solo acoustic take on "Goodnight Irene," one of Lead Belly's most celebrated signature songs.

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Shawn Colvin on New Covers Album and Being Freaked Out By David Crosby

For many aspiring musicians plying their trade in bars and coffeehouses, learning cover songs is a necessity. But for singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin, who's been playing her own songs on stages around the world for the better part of three decades, paying tribute to those who have influenced her own writing is a genuine passion.

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For the second time in her career, Colvin puts her stamp on a dozen tunes from writers like Bruce Springsteen, Neil Finn and Creedence Clearwater Revival on the acoustic Uncovered. The new LP, out now on Fantasy Records, arrives 21 years after the similarly-themed Cover Girl, which spotlighted her unique takes on songs by Bob Dylan, Steve Earle and the Police. Colvin, who will spend much of the next two months touring with the Eagles' Don Henley, talks with Rolling Stone Country about the first songs that took her breath away, her ongoing battle with stage fright and the reason most of her covers come from male songwriters.

Why was now the right time for you to do another album of covers?
It was, in part, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Cover Girl. Actually, more like 21st — but who's counting? I've amassed a bunch of covers since then and I love to do them. I get a lot of joy out of covering other people's songs and, at my best, I think I bring something a little new to a lot of them. Also, right now I'm writing songs with Steve Earle for a record we're recording in December. I just can't write that much. I can't write two records worth of material at the same time. Steve can. He can write 10 songs in one day but I can't. 

Have you always had a pretty good number of cover songs in your arsenal?
I was a cover artist for years. I didn't start writing songs until I was in my mid-twenties. I wrote them with John Leventhal and they were pretty bad. I was in my late twenties when I wrote the first song with him that made any sense to me about what I was rooted in and what spoke for me as an artist. That was "Diamond in the Rough" [from her 1989 debut album, Steady On]. From then on, I had a template and began to write the stuff that ended up on my records. I've always got my ear out and I'm also just a fan of great songwriters. I always wanted to be a songwriter and it took a while.

What are some of your first memories of songs that impressed or influenced you?
I was about 14 or 15 and I was babysitting next-door to my house. One of my best friends, Jane, came over and she had the 45 of [James Taylor's] "Fire and Rain." I had not heard James ever. We just kind of sat there dumbfounded. You can say that about a lot of songs, but as far as being younger and going, "Who the hell is this?" "Fire and Rain" was a big deal. And I should also mention the first time I heard "We Belong Together" by Rickie Lee Jones, my mouth fell open. I was like, "You've got to be kidding." 

In terms of your own songwriting, are there any you look at now and think maybe they're too personal?
Not really. I can think of a couple as I was trying on my persona as a songwriter, where I intentionally went too far, which is a great technique to find something or to get things out. I have a friend who's a novelist and some days when he can’t figure out what to do, he just types out a string of curse words. There may be a couple of songs that I've recorded that I've thought maybe I was a little too explicit about the relationship. But not many.

The last song you cover on the new record is "When I Get It Right," written by Larry Henley and Red Lane, both of whom both passed away fairly recently. Even though the song is closely associated with Tammy Wynette, it seems so deeply personal to you.
That's why it's last! [Laughs] It just sums up. . .there are so many love lost, lovesick songs that I write. I thought this was actually a positive spin on it, almost an attitude of pride and hope. I just love it.

You've done a lot of Neil Finn/Crowded House songs through the years, including "Private Universe" on this album. What is it about his songs that speak to you?
Yeah, there was a period where I just covered the hell out of Crowded House. They have a Beatlesque quality; Neil does, [too], in his songwriting. That kind of deep — yet pop — tunefulness. I just think Neil has a great voice and even though he's not English, nonetheless, he's a Kiwi and there's something about that that leaks in and makes it different and makes his voice different. They're just great pop musicians and he's a great songwriter. I got to play with him once. I was in Auckland. . .I actually wrote a song with him once over email. It ended up as a bonus track on one of my records ["What I Get Paid For," included on the European version of A Few Small Repairs].

One of the oldest songs on the album is "I Used to Be a King." It's interesting that Graham Nash's original version had Jerry Garcia playing piano and pedal steel.
Did it? Well, I've wanted to cover that song for years. That's one in the category of ones I was afraid to try, just because I loved the original version so much. I was asked to do a tribute to Crosby, Stills and Nash in Seattle a few years ago. They were there, and the powers-that-be said I could do a couple of songs. I said, "I can't do a couple, because there's three of them and I'll leave one of them out!" So I did three songs, one by each of them, and I finally had the courage to do "I Used to Be a King."

David Crosby is also represented, singing with you on a version of "Baker Street," which certainly sounds a lot different from the original.
I can't believe I know him. I can't believe he's a fan of mine. All three of those guys have been huge champions of mine. He was in Denton, Texas, doing something with Snarky Puppy. He came down to Austin with his son, Django, especially to hang out with me and maybe write some songs. I was in the middle of making the record in Austin and I just thought if I don't ask him, I'm stupid. Of course, he agreed. I'm proud and, yes, very thrilled.  

How much of an influence does Austin's music scene have on you?
I lived in Austin in the mid-Seventies, when I moved there from Carbondale, Illinois. I would say that really had more of an influence on me than coming back in the mid-Nineties. I was in a country swing band [the Dixie Diesels] and it was a smaller town then. I was in my early twenties and I got out a lot and heard tons of great bands that are kind of legendary now in Austin lore: Omar and the Howlers, Marcia Ball, Willis Alan Ramsey, Butch Hancock, Uncle Walt's Band [and] Asleep at the Wheel, of course. Armadillo World Headquarters was there and you could see absolutely everyone there, famous and local as well. Then, when I came back in the mid-Nineties, in pretty short order I had a baby. I like to say I've been a soccer mom since then. I travel and do my concerts but when I'm at home, it's all about [my daughter] Callie. But I will say there's a radio station, KGSR, that has since become a lot more mainstream, Triple-A, but when I was there in the mid-Nineties, it was a stunning radio station. I always felt like a big deal in Austin because they were so supportive of me.

Between this record's "Hold On," which was written by Tom Waits and his wife, Kathleen, and "There's a Rugged Road," by Judee Sill from Cover Girl, that's the extent of female songwriters on both albums. Why is that?
Whether it's the easy way out or not, to cover a song that a guy sings, it's pretty easy to make it a little bit different. [It's] a different point of view; you sound different. "Baker Street" is an example. It wouldn't have mattered who did it. I really reworked the song in terms of the mood. The way it came out, it wouldn't have sounded like anybody, male or female, who had done the original version. But it is almost an easier go of things to cover guys. And it's ballsy to cover Judee Sill, but not that many people know her. So I felt obligated, because she's very important to me. 

You'll be on the road with Don Henley next month, and Steuart Smith, who co-produced Uncovered (with Stewart Lerman), will join you on tour. Why do you think you two work so well together?  
Oh gosh, several reasons. Not the least of which is that he's just a great musician, a great guitar player and a great producer. I just think he understands me and he kind of understands what the essence of me is — and that means not overproduction. We're just great friends. We have that shorthand and similar sensibilities, that sick sense of humor. 

Steuart is in the Eagles and in Don's band and so is [pedal steel player] Milo Deering. They're going to do double-duty. They're playing with me in my opening set. It's not going to be me by myself for a change [and] I'm very excited! 

In the past you've said that songwriting terrifies you. Is that still the case?
Yeah. Some people find it easy. I can perform easily; I don't mind getting up in front of people at all. I've always sung and felt confident about that and guitar playing isn't a stretch, but songwriting is. We all have our challenges in what we do, and that's mine.

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Sammy Hagar's Next Chapter: Writing a 'Lifestyle Cookbook'

Nobody was more shocked than Sammy Hagar when his 2011 memoir Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock shot to Number One on the New York Times Best Sellers list. "It was just a grand slam," he tells Rolling Stone. "And I give credit where it's due. It happened because you guys [Rolling Stone] ran an excerpt that Howard Stern saw and brought me on the air. After that, it was like, 'Bang! Number One!'"

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His publisher asked for a follow-up immediately after. "They were pushing me and pushing me and I didn't have anything in mind," he says. "I realized that fans want to learn something about me they don't know. They got that in the last book with my childhood and everything that really went on with Van Halen. I thought to myself, 'I want to bring the fans another step. I'm going to tell them what I'm doing when I'm not rocking.'"

It turns out that meant writing what he describes as a "lifestyle cookbook" called Are We Having Fun Yet? The Cooking and Partying Handbook. "I want to tell people how I live," he says. "And then it's a manual for them. I explain that you don't need to be a billionaire to have a good life. You might not have the jet and multiple houses, but all the things I do with my wife and kids - like cooking, eating, drinking, barbecuing - you can do too. Fuck, if you don't have a swimming pool or a beach in front of your house, turn in the damn sprinkler and fire up the grill. A billionaire doesn't have a better time doing that than a guy broke off his ass."

Cooking has been a huge part of Hagar's life since he was four years old. "I would stand on a stool and help my mom and grandpa," he says. "It developed my nose. My mom was a great cook, and when you walked into my grandfather's trailer you'd think you were walking into the best deli in the world. Smelling great things at an early age was the beginning of everything." 

The book isn't just recipes. It's packed full of great stories, like drinking ludicrously expensive wine with Lars Ulrich at Masa's in San Francisco to cooking meals for the on-and-off-again vegan Bob Weir to the endless hassles that came up when he opened up the Cabo Wabo Cantina with Van Halen. When the band went into meltdown mode in the mid-1990s, Hagar agreed to gave up his share of the Van Halen trademark in exchange for their share of Cabo Wabo. It proved to be a wise deal.

Many of the recipes in the book are fairly simple, and Hagar hopes it inspires novices to start cooking. "Cooking for the first time is like walking onstage for the first time," he says. "Your fucking dick goes soft if you're afraid. It's the same thing as driving a car 200 miles per hour. At first you don't want to do that shit either, but eventually you get used to it." 

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Hear Chris Isaak's Moody 'Please Don't Call' From His New Nashville LP

"Jake Owen? Who is Jake Owen?" asks Chris Isaak, seated in a corner of Nashville's Hermitage Hotel, sipping a bottle of water underneath an ornate cathedral ceiling that's painted like a clouded sky. It's early afternoon, and he's just handed his trusty sidekick — a fluffy white Maltese terrier named Rodney — over to his manager, and has a few hours to go before he's due to arrive at the evening's festivities: the ACM Honors, hosted by Owen.

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"Is he a good country singer?" Isaak asks Rolling Stone Country. "He must be, because he's hosting the show." Later, the 59-year-old artist will change out of his dark slacks and polyester-looking Oxford into a dark suit to honor songwriting squad Felice and Boudleaux Bryant — a legendary team to some, a veritable "who?" to others. Isaak, of course, falls into the former category. He might not be able to identify contemporary country stars, but he can faithfully croon through a cover of "Bye Bye Love," written by the duo and recorded by the Everly Brothers, with a timeless and moody reverence, as Rodney waits patiently in the wings.

"I couldn't tell you who is in country music today," he says, his famous crystal-blue eyes a little bloodshot from his recent travels — a tour and trips Down Under to serve as a judge for The X Factor's Australian version, have left him a little ragged. His hair however, shaped into a mature pompadour, shows no sign of fatigue. "I guess it's a good thing, though, because when I go to these awards things, people always have to tell me: 'He's somebody important.' Well, I don't know. What do I know? My kind of country stuff is Hank Williams and Ernest Tubbs and Hank Snow. Hardcore, old-fashioned."

Isaak is hardcore and old-fashioned too, with a dose of quirky modernity. It's what's made songs like "Wicked Game" (and its smoldering, love-on-the-beach video) so iconic that it's hard to see him and not expect him to be covered in grains of sand — or Helena Christensen, for that matter. His ties to country have always been strong, pulled even tighter on his forthcoming LP, First Comes the Night, his first collection of original material since the release of Mr. Lucky in 2009. Not only was it recorded in Nashville, but the project was produced by two of the town's most revered song wizards from opposite sides of the spectrum: Paul Worley (Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum) and Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell). He also connected with several local songwriters, including Natalie Hemby, who helped to craft "Please Don't Call," premiering exclusively on Rolling Stone Country.

"I didn't know that Natalie Hemby is this big Nashville songwriter, but I can see why — because she is absolutely fantastic," he says. "Writing with writers in Nashville ran the gamut. I sat with writers who just throw out any word that rhymes and I’d say, 'I think I left something in my car' and never come back. But then, you meet great writers like Natalie, and true collaboration just clicks. I write lyrics really fast and so does Natalie, but I won’t settle for something just because it rhymes, and she has that same dedication to getting every song and every word right.”

It's satisfying to listen to "Please Don't Call" and realize that Isaak's point of view is still very well intact — it's an ominous end-of-love song that recalls his best rockabilly, Roy Orbison-vibed work and carries just a touch of devilish twang.

"Country music has morphed into some kind of pop-rock with a country accent," he says. "If the Everly Brothers came out now, they'd be too country for country, and they were rock & roll. Jerry Lee Lewis would be too country for country. Even Elvis [Presley] would have been too country for country."

Isaak's long held an affection for the glory days of Sun Records, where Presley and Lewis went to make some of their most famous albums — he even released an LP in 2011, Beyond the Sun, that served as a tribute to the studio's legendary cuts. But he didn't come to Nashville for First Comes the Night in order to infuse some country into his sound. His reasons were far more practical than that.

"I've been in Nashville a lot of times playing, and I like Nashville," he says. "But I never thought about recording here because I thought it would be expensive. I don't really care where I record. I'm not Mick Jagger. I don't need to go to the Bahamas to record; I'm just a regular guy. But turns out, the prices were competitive here."

He also settled on Music City after Stevie Nicks recommended Nashville, based on her own positive experience in town. After a quick call with Worley, and a crunch of the numbers, Isaak was sold, pairing up with songwriters like Hemby, Gordie Sampson and Michelle Branch.

"I talked to Paul, and after three minutes, I was like, 'I'm ready to go.' I just loved him," says Isaak. "At the same time, I got to meet Dave Cobb. He reminds me of, and I say this in the most positive way, Sam Phillips. He believes in the music, and damn everything else. We didn't spend as much time working with David, but the time we spent with him was really productive, and some of my favorite stuff I've ever done."

It has been a remarkable 30 years since Isaak released his debut LP, Silvertone — and, as much he's compared to the likes of Orbison and Presley, he's much more focused on longevity than anything else. It's a tactic that's kept him away from the dangerous indulgences that have plagued some of his precursors. He doesn't drink, do drugs or spend money on frivolous things like yachts or flashy cars.

"I really, really like making music, and so I try to hold myself together so I can sing and write," he says. "And the drinks and partying seemed like the opposite of that. It always bothered me, those people who got very famous fast, but they usually don't have a big body of work."

"Country music has morphed into some kind of pop-rock with a country accent."

Still, that doesn't keep Isaak from letting his imagination run, like on First Comes the Night's "Down in Flames," a Dick Dale meets "Jailhouse Rock" boogie that charts the burn out vs. fade away demises of legends like Hank Williams ("in his Cadillac"), James Dean ("bought it on the highway") and Elvis ("Died…or did he?"). Isaak, however, would rather cleverly toy with fire than go down in a blaze of glory. He knows he's made decisions some of his idols might have balked at — starring on The X Factor, in particular — but at least he's still around to make records.

"I'm not Elvis or John Lennon," he says. "I do a lot of things they wouldn't do. It's a different story, and I'm happy with that story. John Lennon got shot. Elvis died in a not real great situation. I wouldn't trade positions. . . I have a great life. I can go surf. Now, when I eat out, I don't even look at the price first. I look at what I want to eat first."

Isaak talked to Rolling Stone back in 1991 about how he was so poor when he first started as a musician that he'd routinely have a can of sardines for dinner. He still eats them — except now, he's more worried about his band not liking their odor than his finances. Isaak busted his sense of smell as an amateur boxer, so their marine-like scent doesn't bother him.

"When we are on the road, I get a bunch," he says. "But I can't eat them with the guys on the bus. I love sardines. Me, and people in their eighties." Hardcore, and old-fashioned.

First Comes the Night is out November 13 on Vagrant Records.

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Alice Cooper, Joe Perry Remember 'Rock & Roll Chef' Kerry Simon

Alice Cooper keeps a black Alexander McQueen cane with a solid silver skull in "a very special place" in his house. Of the many canes that have been signature parts of Cooper's show for decades, it's this one that's become the singer's most sentimental.

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"It wasn't just a cane, but it was a cane that he was actually using before he got into the wheelchair," Cooper says. "So now, every time I look at that, I can't help thinking about Kerry."

"Kerry" is Kerry Simon, the celebrity chef adored by some of the biggest names in rock & roll who died earlier this month at age 60 to the rare neurodegenerative disease multiple system atrophy. The former Iron Chef winner was a wildly successful restaurateur with an empire stretching from South Beach to Los Angeles. In the early Nineties, Rolling Stone dubbed him "The Rock & Roll Chef," a name that would stick for the rest of his career.

What exactly does Cooper remember about Simon when he looks at that silver cane; and what was it about the young, upstart chef who "looked like he probably played lead guitar in a band somewhere, not like a chef" that not only pulled so many rockers into his orbit, but left many of them mourning his passing?

"He was just comfortable to be with and I think that's something that rockers look for," says Cooper. "He just had this natural vibe to him. He seemed more like a guy that would have somehow been involved in music a lot heavier than he was, but I think that's what appealed to everybody."

Simon's allure to musicians even extended to those unfamiliar with his cooking abilities.

"I actually never got to one of his restaurants," admits Aerosmith's Joe Perry, a close friend of Simon's. "[But] so much of it has to do with who you are outside of your actual talent. You can write a hit song, or your paintings can get recognized, and all the sudden you're on that next level – but a lot of people change with that. And he did not seem to have that at all, He just seemed to be the same guy. And that's what made him special.

"There's a reason they called him the 'Rock & Roll Chef'," adds the guitarist. "Somebody like that, you feel like you've known him for a while, or you've met him before, and that's the common thing with that rock & roll spirit – and he definitely had that through and through. I felt like I'd known him before."

Simon forged his first friendships in rock at the end of the 1980s. After having trained as a chef under the illustrious Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Ivana Trump took an interest in him and helped to secure his place as chef of The Edwardian Room inside the glitzy Plaza Hotel. It was here that Simon set up a private chef's table in the kitchen of the hotel, and invited the rock and roll world to dine with him.

"I put a table in the kitchen, and musicians started eating there. David Crosby, Debbie Harry, some of the Rolling Stones – they all came," Simon told Esquire last year. 

"Kerry's place was the hangout for rockers," says Cooper.

For years, Kerry was unstoppable. "His lifestyle was a lot like being in a rock band – always on the move, always doing his thing," says Perry. "That's what makes this such a tragedy. Five years ago, he was fine. He was opening restaurants and was at a great time in his career for all the work that he put in to get to that level in your profession – and this thing happened so suddenly. It was almost like a car accident."

Last year, Simon held a benefit to raise funds and awareness to fight MSA, with rocker friends Slash, Sammy Hagar, Vince Neil and Cooper among those who performed. "The great thing about it was there he was, in the wheelchair, and he's laughing and having fun, and you can see that he knew he didn't have much longer, and yet he was still the host of the party – even though he could barely talk," says Cooper. It would be the last time the two would see each other.

Simon's death drew sad remembrances and kind words from the many musicians he befriended during his two-and-a-half decade tenure as rock and roll's chef, including Cheap Trick's Tom Petersson and Rick Nielsen, former Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum, Motley Crue's Vince Neil and INXS' Jon Farriss. 

"Kerry had such an amazing personality," Farriss tells Rolling Stone. "His warm and gentle soul seemed to only enhance his insanely delicious and stunning recipes. His cool, calm demeanor, genuine kindness, and authentic humor made Kerry easy for stars to hang out with - he was an artist himself. You felt at home and at ease with Kerry. The world will never be the same without him."

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My Morning Jacket's Jim James Talks Roger Waters, David Lynch, Meditation

Jim James has a busy fall planned with My Morning Jacket, as the band supports latest album The Waterfall with a string of dates leading up to four late-November shows at New York's Beacon Theatre. But on November 4th, James will make a quick detour to take the stage solo at Carnegie Hall alongside stars such as Katy Perry, Jerry Seinfeld and Sting for the Change Begins Within benefit concert for the David Lynch Foundation.

Roger Waters Performs With My Morning Jacket at Newport Folk

The David Lynch Foundation's Meditate New York initiative has brought Transcendental Meditation into the lives of at-risk people, working with PTSD-afflicted veterans, domestic-violence survivors and inmates by teaching them the practice. James has found TM to be particularly beneficial in his own life, making the cause even closer to his heart. The musician recently spoke with Rolling Stone about the practice and the upcoming benefit show's stacked lineup.

Is this the first time you've split a bill with Katy Perry and Jerry Seinfeld?
[Laughs] It is! I think? At least to my knowledge.

Are you a big fan of the two?
I'm a fan of life. I'm a big fan of everything.

Was Transcendental Meditation a part of your life before meeting David Lynch? Or did it come after?
I was invited to be a part of another benefit that took place about five or six years ago at Radio City Music Hall that the [David Lynch Foundation] put on with Paul McCartney and Donovan and a lot of other people. I performed at that, and just through being there that night and talking with everybody, I learned more about it. I always wanted to learn Transcendental Meditation, so after I did that benefit is kind of how I got turned on to that style of meditation in particular. Everything about it just seemed interesting to me. I had always been interested in different religions of the world, different spiritual practices. I'm into investigating as much as I can. 

What's your relationship with it today? How does it affect your life?
I meditate every day. I think meditation is one of the most wonderful things a person can do because it gives you a chance to just quiet things down, quiet the world, turn off your phone, turn off your computer, turn off your conversations and just sit with yourself and try to feel what it's like to be alive. One of the most beautiful things that they kind of explain when you learn how to meditate is the idea of when you transcend, you're giving back the same level of consciousness that all living beings share when you're living at the same level of consciousness that a deer in the woods has or a tree has or a drop of water. Everything at the center is the same and has the same consciousness and same life-force. When you meditate and get to that level of consciousness, it really does make you feel like it's all connected. Like everything really is the same. 

Has it affected your songwriting?
I think so! I think no matter what you do, [meditation] definitely makes life different. It creates more space for the things in your life. You take the time to sit with yourself and life seems to open up a little bit more. I feel like it's a lifelong practice, and a lot of people who teach meditation or talk about meditation refer to it as a practice. It's like learning to play the piano or something. It is a thing you have to do every day. It's a thing that is sometimes frustrating, and you don't want to do it or you're in a hurry. It's one of those things that's like a practice or an exercise, but when you take the time to do it, I feel like it really does open up your life and open up your mind to more potential and more possibility because you've taken that time to sit with yourself.

Were you a fan of David Lynch's work before getting involved with his foundation?
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I've always been a giant fan of David's ever since I first saw Twin Peaks when I was in eighth grade. I'm a huge fan. 

"I've always been a giant fan of David's ever since I first saw Twin Peaks when I was in eighth grade."

Can we expect any big surprises at Carnegie Hall? Any Jim James–Katy Perry duets?
That would be awesome! I'd be down. Those kind of things always end up happening on the day of the rehearsal or whatever, once you finally get there and everybody meets and talks about what's going to happen. I'm not sure; I haven't talked to anyone in particular.

Speaking of special guests, My Morning Jacket becoming Roger Waters' backing band at Newport Folk was pretty legendary. Any plans to perform with him in the future?
That would be amazing. Yeah, we're definitely open to that, but I'm not sure. There's nothing planned, but Roger has been a big hero of ours forever. We really loved working with him. We've stayed in touch, and hopefully something like that will happen.

How did that Newport Folk invitation get extended?
There was a benefit-slash–tribute concert for Levon Helm when he passed away that Roger was also playing as well as us. I can't remember why, but I think he was looking for a collaboration and had to fly in without his band and somebody suggested that we be his band for that show. So we met Roger and did a couple songs together at the Levon Helm tribute. We hit it off and had a good time, so when Newport approached him and he saw we were playing as well, we all decided that it would be fun to do it again. 

Once you guys hit the end of your current tour, do you have any plans to release another solo album? 
We're still on tour for another couple months, but I'm kind of always working on solo stuff. All the time. I don't know when I'll finish anything, but I'm always working on it. 

Any plans to do something similar to your Terminal 5 residency from a few years ago with My Morning Jacket where the band played a different album each night?
We're kind of doing something close to that at the Beacon in November. We're doing four shows at the Beacon, so we'll probably get through a lot of our catalog. 

What advice do you have for those interested in bringing Transcendental Meditation into their own life? 
I would just say to check out the David Lynch Foundation website. They've got all sorts of information where you can learn and read about it and get informed. I think for people to explore Transcendental Meditation is one of the best things they can do. It's one of the best things anybody can do, because anybody can do it. And you can do it anywhere and at any time. It's a really beautiful gift that you can carry with yourself for the rest of your life. 

Related

• Hear My Morning Jacket Cover 'This Land Is Your Land'
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• My Morning Jacket Talk New Albums

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Watch Black Simon & Garfunkel Sing Weeknd With Art Garfunkel

Years before Stephen Colbert brought out faux-Paul Simon cover band Troubled Waters on Late Show, Jimmy Fallon was parodying the "Bridge Over Troubled Water" duo with Black Simon & Garfunkel. The Roots' "Captain" Kirk Douglas and Questlove reprised their roles as the folk-singing duo of contemporary hits Wednesday night, but this time they were joined by a special guest: Art Garfunkel himself. The singer assisted Black Simon & Garfunkel for the Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face."

Art Garfunkel Lashes Out at Paul Simon in New Interview

Black Simon & Garfunkel date back to Fallon's Late Night, with the Roots duo first performing LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem." In June, they reunited on Tonight Show to sing Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." As is custom, Black Simon & Garfunkel & Garfunkel closed out their Weeknd rendition by harmonizing the outro to the real Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer." The performance was The Tonight Show's strangest reunion since Crosby, Stills, Nash and "Young" sang Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" in June 2014.

In September, Colbert closed out his first week as Late Show host by welcoming Paul Simon cover band Troubled Waters, which after some slight subterfuge turned out to be Simon himself. Simon played "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" alongside an eagerly whistling Colbert.

Unfortunately, Black Simon & Garfunkel & Garfunkel might be the closest thing resembling an actual Simon & Garfunkel reunion in the foreseeable future after Garfunkel lashed out at his Rock Hall duo mate this May. "Will I do another tour with Paul? Well, that's quite doable. As far as this half is concerned, why not? But I've been in that same place for decades. This is where I was in 1971," Garfunkel said before pretending to address Simon. "How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul? What's going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk?"

Related

• Watch Stephen Colbert, Paul Simon Perform as Troubled Waters
• Watch Lionel Richie, Jimmy Fallon Reimagine 'Hello' Video
• Fallon, Gordon-Levitt Cover Rihanna as Barbershop Quintet

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