Christopher Sabec is the co-founder and CEO of the copyright monetization company Rightscorp Inc. He has over 20 years in the music industry as an entertainment lawyer and manager. Some of his more notable clients were the Dave Matthews Band, Hanson, and Jerry Garcia. You can visit his music website here
With a CMA nomination for Vocal Duo of the Year and a Top 15 hit in "Stay a Little Longer," John and TJ Osborne, collectively known as Brothers Osborne, are gearing up for the release of their debut album. Titled Pawn Shop, the LP is set for release January 15th on the EMI Nashville label.
Featuring 11 tracks, all of which the Maryland-born siblings had a hand in co-writing (with heavyweight writers including Barry Dean, Craig Wiseman, Shane McAnally, Jessi Alexander and more), Pawn Shop is the Osbornes' bid to deliver music that they believe will have some staying power. The siblings produced the record with Jay Joyce (Eric Church).
"I think people are tired of the bullshit and are ready for the real substance," guitarist John Osborne told Rolling Stone Country earlier this year, after the pair's debut single "Rum" was released.
"We went through an era of big hit songs that no one is going to listen to 10 years from now," says lead vocalist T.J. "And we're about to hit a decade of country that I think is going to be played for a long time. It's about to hit the same stride it hit in the Nineties."
The blue-collar brothers, who previously toured with Darius Rucker, Little Big Town and Kacey Musgraves, among others, will be hitting the road with Jon Pardi as part of the All Time High Tour.
Here's the track list for Pawn Shop, along with songwriting credits:
1. "Dirt Rich" (Brothers Osborne, Barry Dean)
2. "21 Summer" (Brothers Osborne, Craig Wiseman)
3. "Stay a Little Longer" (Brothers Osborne, Shane McAnally)
4. "Pawn Shop" (Brothers Osborne, Sean McConnell)
5. "Rum" (Brothers Osborne, Barry Dean)
6. "Loving Me Back" (Brothers Osborne, Casey Beathard)
7. "American Crazy" (Brothers Osborne, Ross Copperman)
8. "Greener Pastures" (Brothers Osborne, Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris)
9. "Down Home" (Brothers Osborne, Jessi Alexander)
10. "Heart Shaped Locket" (TJ Osborne, Lisa Carver and Andi Zack)
11. "It Ain't My Fault" (Brothers Osborne, Jessi Alexander)
"There was a spirit and reverence they brought to it," Derek Trucks said in a recent interview, marking the one-year anniversary of his final performance with the Allman Brothers Band, at New York's Beacon Theater on October 28th, 2014. "I hoped it would be that way," the guitarist went on, "but I didn't know how it would turn out. People have a tendency — you let your ego get in the way of the big moments," he adds, laughing.
"That night everybody got out of the way," Trucks said, with gratitude and pride evident even over the phone from his home in Jacksonville, Florida. The group's suriving original members — singer-organist Gregg Allman, drummer Jaimoe and Derek's uncle, drummer Butch Trucks — "were all thinking about those first days in Jacksonville when they formed the band. I could see my uncle between sets — you could see the wheels turning. It was all in the right spirit. That night was one of the few times you got off stage and feel, 'That's how it was supposed to go down.'"
Trucks, 36, was speaking for a story, also featuring fellow Allmans guitarist Warren Haynes, in the current issue of Rolling Stone about their respective lives since the end of that band. Like Haynes, Trucks was talking between gigs — after an extensive summer tour with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, the R&B big band he co-leads with his wife, singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi; on the verge of a TTB spectacular at the recent Lockn' Festival in Virginia, honoring the 45th anniversary of Joe Cocker's historic Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour; and a few weeks before TTB's own two-weekend run at the Beacon, now a fall tradition in New York City. The Tedeschi Trucks Band has also signed a new deal with Concord Records and completed their debut for the label, Let Me Get By, out early next year.
"I was watching that movie the other day," Trucks said of the Mad Dogs & Englishmen documentary, fimed on that 1970 tour. "It was kind of the end — maybe the peak, the remnants — of the hippie movement. They did all the drugs, had all the sex, all the fun," Trucks noted, with another laugh. "And it spun Cocker out for a bit. That tour wore his ass out."
So when does Trucks relax now, with so much on his itinerary, even without the Allmans?
"That's a good question," he replied cheerfully. "There'll probably be a few days off after the Beacon." He paused, as if catching his breath. "But then we gear up and head overseas. Mixing the new record, touring, playing — it's all work." But after the Allmans, Trucks concedes, "It's a different level of stress. It's lower most of the time."
Do you have more or less time off since the Allmans ended?
In some ways, it's really close. There is so much going on. But the ability to focus has been really nice — just not having to think about that dynamic, changing hats musically. The Mad Dogs thing — that was a one-off. Outside of that, it's been nice between touring and working on the record, to keep that in your head at all times.
How would you characterize the new album? It's more adventurous sonically and in some of the places it goes musically. It's more of an extension of what we were doing with my solo group but evolved in a different group. I heard the record for the first time last night, with everything mixed, and I feel like I can see everybody — everybody's personality in the band — a lot more [laughs]. It feels like hanging on the tour bus.
Was there a point when you wondered if a band that size was economically feasible? The first few years, it was certainly touch and go. Me and Susan are pretty stubborn — musically, idealistically. "Whatever! It'll be fine." But there was defnitely a time when we really had to think about it. It was like going back a decade or so, the early days with the solo band, where everyone makes a living but you.
Did you and Susan have to take out a second mortgage, for instance, to keep the tour bus rolling? It was right on the edge. But it worked. The momentum for the group caught just in time. Another year or two in the same place — it might have been tough, with hard decisions. We just added a 12th member, and we went out this summer for the first time with our own PA and production. As it builds, you put that energy and cash back into it. You're feeding the beast.
When did you come to the conclusion — for yourself, Susan and your family — that it was time to leave the Allmans? You and Warren announced your departures together in January 2014, but he said it had a long gestation. When I was out playing with Eric Clapton in '06, that was the first time I sat down with the band and said, "This is going to be my last [Allmans] tour. I want to focus on my solo band." I was trying to find a way out that was comfortable with everybody, because it's family and friendships. Not that I felt leaving would slow the train down. But when the momentum is there, you don't want to rock the boat too much. I basically gave my notice a few times. And the family loyalty pulls you back in.
Me and Warren had talked quite a bit. He didn't want to reinvent the band again. So if I was going, he was gonna go too. That factored in to me hanging around. I didn't want to push him.
How much of your decision to go involved work load, like the time and energy that went into the Beacon residencies each year? And how much of it was about the room left to grow in the band?
Honestly, for me, it was a lot more than that, especially since the band wasn't in the mode of writing tunes or interested in making records. I love that [classic] material as much as anyone on earth. But I knew you can only do it so many times and feel like you're making a statement. That's one of the reasons I put my Derek Trucks Band aside [in 2010]. It wasn't out of gas yet, but I could feel it coming. I could feel my interest waning.
Warren said that he felt there was half of a new Allmans studio album in the works, in terms of material he had and songs already in live rotation. The problem was getting it past the concept, to something concrete. A few of the guys just weren't into making records with the Allman Brothers. My uncle would always say, "This is a live band." He hated being in the studio. And I get that. But the Allman Brothers made some great studio records. To me, the one big missed opportunity with that [last] incarnation was not making another record. Hittin' the Note [released in 2003] was good, but there was a better record in there. Having a studio in my backyard where we could have easily recorded the band — between me and Warren, we would have crushed an Allman Brothers record. It only takes time. Get people down here, writing, focused. You have to be mentally into it. And it never came to pass.
"Between me and Warren, we would have crushed an Allman Brothers record."
What did you take away from your Allman Brothers experience that has influenced the way you and Susan run your band now? There were some things the Allmans did conceptually that were forward-thinking and high concept. Any of the music the band performed live — it was communal. It wasn't like because this guy's been here longer, he gets a different share. Those things, without a doubt, they did not have to do. It was very much in the spirit of the way the music was made.
Even when the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award came up [in 2012], they insisted that me, Warren, [percussionist] Marc Quiñones and [bassist] Oteil Burbridge be included, which was an incredibly gracious thing to do. There's a way you think things should be, and there's a way the music industry does it. And they are pretty far apart. I've always been of that mindset — when you're writing tunes with people, there's a traditional way of chopping things up, and then there's the way that feels right. If people contribute, you hit 'em accordingly.
The other part I took away was the things you don't do — just the grudges and the saga with [original guitarist] Dickey Betts, the lack of communication at times. Susan and I have been really forward with our band. When things come up, you deal with them. However uncomfortable that is, let's have this discussion right now.
Why do you think you and Warren connected so profoundly, as soloists and partners, in your time with the Allmans? There was quite a gap in your ages. The first time I met Warren was when they were making Seven Turns, the [1990] reunion album. I was 9 or 10, down in south Florida playing this bar called Tropics International. Gregg, Warren and [then–Allmans bassist] Allen Woody came and sat in. I remember it because there was this great photo taken. The stage was above a bar, so there's all these liquor bottles at your feet. My grandparents hung that picture in their living room, but they put a piece of paper over the liquor bottles because they were super-conservative. I always thought that was funny.
Warren and I dove into the Allman Brothers gig at different times, but we both dove into it pretty hard and headfirst. There was so much love and respect for the Duane parts, the Dickey parts, the whole history. That was a pretty big book that we absorbed, and we lived it for awhile. He was there for several years before I joined; then I was there before he rejoined. But having known him since I was 9 or 10, there was enough respect and trust already. It took a few years for us to work through having both played the same role and having to relearn it. But once that settled in, it got really good. There were a handful of years where you didn't have to think about it at all.
When the Tedeschi Trucks Band does their fall Beacon weekends now, is that your way of keeping the Allmans spring residencies alive in your own way? It certainly is. It feels like home — and a new tradition. But it's firmly rooted in that [Allmans] time. You feel those moments and the way it resonates. And for me, the sixth-floor dressing room was where I was, always, for 15 years. My wife and son came up when he was seven days old. The kids have been in those dressing rooms since they were babies. It's a way to mark time — every time I come up to the Beacon dressing room.
Just days after releasing her fifth studio album, Storyteller, Carrie Underwood has been named the headliner of one of the world's largest celebrations — the New Year's Eve countdown from Times Square in New York City.
Underwood will be the star performer in the live telecast of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2016, taking the stage just before the ball drops to announce the new year. In Times Square alone, Underwood's audience is expected to top one million people, while millions more could tune in worldwide.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be than New York's Times Square, one of the most magical places in the world, to ring in the New Year," Underwood said in a press statement.
The telecast begins at 8:00 p.m. ET on December 31st, live on ABC, and will be hosted for the 10th year by Ryan Seacrest. He'll be joined in New York by Jenny McCarthy, while Fergie will host the pretaped West Coast party from Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Underwood appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as musical guest Tuesday (October 27th), wearing a tasseled white dress and belting out her latest single, the foot-stomping "Smoke Break." (Watch the video below.) Playing acoustic guitar and singing with radio-ready tone in front of her eight-piece band, her performance was the latest in a string of promotional appearances for Storyteller. Yesterday, the entertainer announced dates for her in-the-round Storyteller Tour.
The follow-up to 2013's Fuse, Ripcord got off to a chart-topping start with its first single, "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16." Urban takes the tempo down and the emotion up with its second release, "Break on Me." And he's hinted that he'll crank up the guitars on a few more tracks, as he's been collaborating with lauded musician Nile Rodgers.
"We finally got together a few months ago and started writing in the studio," Urban tells Rolling Stone Country. "I've always just liked his guitar playing and it felt like we would click musically."
The feeling is mutual: "[Urban]'s scary; I didn't know he played guitar like that!" Rodgers recently told Yahoo! Music.
Rodgers, who co-wrote Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams' Grammy-winning "Get Lucky," has worked with artists ranging from Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross to Madonna and David Bowie.
Built around a potent combination of dainty string plucks, booming bass and scattershot trap percussion, "Switch Up" finds R. Kelly in classic form vocally. His lyrics about dropping one flame for another at a whim are silly and bombastic, but his staccato flow is as infectious as ever as he traipses across a remarkably vast melodic range.
Jeremih manages to keep pace with Kellz with his own quick-tongued verse, while Lil Wayne, as is his wont, ends up on another planet entirely, spewing out a laundry list of lines that are equally goofy and grotesque.
"Switch Up" follows previous Buffet track, "Backyard Party," which recently received a cameo-filled video featuring Snoop Dogg and fellow Chicago native, Chance the Rapper.
The Buffet arrives November 20th, and marks R. Kelly's first album since 2013's Black Panties. In an interview with EW about the new record, the singer said he wrote 462 full songs for the album. "I wanted to be sure that I really nailed it to the point that when I started breaking it down to the 14, 15, 16 songs that go on the album that I had more than enough to choose from, and they would all be great choices," he said.
While Kelly's recent albums have been tied to a similar concept — Love Letter and Write Me Back's soul-indebted sound, Black Panties' hip-hop-oriented production — The Buffet, like its title suggests, will sample a wide array of musical genres, including a potential foray into country.
David Gilmour has released another video from his new album, Rattle That Lock, a harrowing black and white clip for "Faces of Stone" that mixes old film footage and shots of the guitarist performing the song in the studio.
The footage used follows a woman as she scavenges for stones on a beach and eventually walks into a nearby town. She finds her way to a dinner party, and though her presence is ostensibly obtrusive — at one point she drags herself across a table — she goes completely unnoticed. As another quintessentially heroic Gilmour guitar solo brings the song to its end, the woman tumbles back towards the beach as if all life beyond it is no longer accessible to her.
In a post on Facebook, Gilmour said "Faces of Stone" was written about a peculiar time in his life when he was surrounded by birth and death. "Towards the end of my mother's life, when she was suffering from dementia, there was a brief crossover period of about nine months, when she was alive and my daughter was newly born," Gilmour wrote. "This song is a musing on that time. Specifically it refers to a walk in the park where my mother was 'seeing' pictures, or 'faces of stone,' hanging in the trees."
"Faces of Stone" arrives in the wake of two other Rattle That Lock clips: The relatively straight-forward "Today," in which the guitarist and his band prep for their upcoming tour, and the beautifully animated "The Girl In The Yellow Dress."
Rattle That Lock, which saw release in September, marked Gilmour's first solo album since 2006's On an Island. It also arrived in the wake of Pink Floyd's final studio LP, 2014's The Endless River. Gilmour will begin his tour in South America this December; a North American leg will kick off March 24th, 2016 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
Taylor Swift celebrated the one-year anniversary of her blockbuster pop album, 1989, with an acoustic performance of "Out of the Woods," recorded last month at the Grammy Museum's Clive Davis Theater.
Swift introduced the song by saying it chronicled a relationship dominated by anxiety: "I think a lot of relationships can be solid, and that's what you hope for — solid and healthy — but that's not always what you get," she said. "And it doesn't mean that it's not special and extraordinary just to have a relationship that's fragile and somehow meaningful in that fragility."
Though "Out of the Woods" — co-written with Bleachers' Jack Antonoff — thrives as an outsized synth-pop anthem, Swift's stripped-down rendition was an apt compliment to her description. With her vocals driving the performance, Swift kept her piano playing simple, staggered and sparse, letting that fragility shine during the bridge when each chord rang out beneath her quickening lyrics.
Since the release of 1989, Swift has spent much of the past year touring behind the record. While a slate of international dates loom this winter, she will finally wrap up her extensive North American leg on Saturday, October 31st, in Tampa, Florida.
