Whether it’s military members in Iraq cutting a hip-hop album, or odes to the troops, or new music from established and new musicians — you’ll find it here.
Band of rockers
Columbia, Md. — When legendary heavy metal vocalist Geoff Tate hit the high notes and wailed to the crowd in Columbia, Md., on Aug. 1, the Queensryche frontman was singing from the heart about...
Bob Marley’s best-of album hits milestone
Released in 1984, “Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers” didn’t stir it up on the charts. It entered Billboard at No. 168 and peaked at No. 54.
Keeping ‘Taps’ live
Tom Day first performed “Taps” at a veteran’s funeral in 1950 as a button-eyed 10-year-old.
Young guns draw sound, style from classic country roots
When Justin Townes Earle stepped onto the Grand Ole Opry stage last May, he and his band were dressed like they’d been waiting in the wings for the past 50 years. With Brylcreem-ed hair, a...
Rap nominees better reflect music reality
The Grammy Awards have had a sometimes checkered relationship with rap, but this year’s nominations seem more in harmony with the music that rap fans found important.
Country on tour
Country music star Mark Wills enters the U.S. Army Band recital hall at Fort Myer, Va., and greets a crowd of two dozen musicians, sound technicians, USO reps and Army personnel.
Tina Turner rocks again
When you’re keeping up a mansion on the French Riviera and traveling worldwide by private Learjet, perhaps it’s not the best idea to retire at age 60.
Slim Shady is back
When the world last touched base with Eminem’s music career, things were looking rough. In the fall of 2005, the Detroit rap superstar was at a nadir — tumbling into rehab, canceling...
Add four to the Strait lore
George Strait became the Country Music Association’s all-time champ Nov. 12 in Nashville when he picked up four CMA Awards to bring his career total to 22. His wins for album and single of the...
After divorce, what’s next for Madonna?
For more than two decades, many have found it impossible to entirely separate Madonna the controversial, trend-setting woman from Madonna the controversial, trend-setting pop icon.
Tina Turner stalking the stage again
Eight years after a farewell world tour, Tina Turner steps onstage in Kansas City, Mo., tonight to launch an extravagant 36-date North American arena tour.
Fame catches up to The National
Men at work: The name The National calls to mind an obscure federal agency. But to the Brooklyn band’s fans, it’s a voice for disillusioned working professionals. Songs about self-doubt...
New products help you power up your tunes
You can pump up the bass while listening to hip-hop beats and dance rhythms through Radius’ Atomic Bass earphones. Designed with an angled tube chamber that sits in your ear canal, the...
Web delivers new worry for parents: Digital drugs
We all know that music can alter your mood. Sad songs can make you cry. Upbeat songs may give you an energy boost. But can music create the same effects as illegal drugs?
Car-stereo sales hit a low note
IRVING, Texas — The iPod generation is taking some of the thump-thump out of car audio sales.
New for Dr. Dre fans: power headphones
Dr. Dre’s beats are some of the most potent in hip-hop. Now his Beats by Dr. Dre headphones will let fans hear what he hears.
Memorabilia rocks company’s bottom line
George Harrison called his 1970 solo album “All Things Must Pass.” But that doesn’t appear to be true for autographs and other collectibles from The Beatles and other rock music...
Freedom rock
Like a lot of Americans, it was the Sept. 11 attacks that prompted Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik to become an outspoken supporter of the American military. But unlike a lot of...
Bon Jovi announces new world tour
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Rock band Bon Jovi announced plans Thursday for a new world tour that will swing by the new home of the New York Giants and Jets.
Google, MySpace, Facebook make music moves
LOS ANGELES — Internet power players Google, MySpace and Facebook are adopting strategies to better compete in a music industry that is rapidly shifting online.
Interviews
‘Birthday Sex’ is having itself a party
“Birthday Sex” is proving to be a gift that keeps on giving for R&B newcomer Jeremih, whose salacious first single is one of summer’s hottest.
Eminem release possibly leaked online
Two big pieces of Eminem news: A version of the rapper’s new album, “Relapse,” may have leaked to the Web, and Eminem has set three dates with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel...
Depeche Mode has legendary music, but not famous faces
NEW YORK — Several years back, Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher was spinning discs with another band in a Barcelona nightclub when he discovered that a full-blown homage to his group was...
Legendary J.J. Cale continues to ‘Roll On’
The question for rock musicians has always been how they might navigate into middle age, and later. No previous format — from country pickers to down home blues men to doomed jazzmen —...
Baez back in the spotlight with new album, tour
Like many of her fans, folk icon and social activist Joan Baez has a tough time grasping the fact that she has been performing for five decades.
Toby Keith: I’ll never apologize for being patriotic
Toby Keith puts his money where his mouth is. In 2005 the country star was considering dropping out of the music industry over disputes with his then label, Dreamworks Nashville. Keith wrote the...
Grammy for Rush? There’s always hope
Let’s be honest. When you write 20-minute songs that spin futuristic tales of cruel priests ruling from the mythical Temples of Syrinx — cue up Rush’s seminal 1976 album...
John Ondrasik, Five for Fighting
We had 350,000 downloaded, 200,000 hard copies distributed, and hopefully this one will do as well. That’s one reason why I decided to do another one. The response was great. I think people...
Newest Jonas Brothers project: 3-D film
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The Jonas Brothers are mugging for the camera on the balcony of a posh hotel suite. The photographer asks Kevin to shift his arm.
U2 and Bono adapt to changing times
Even while maintaining its status as one of the few musical acts that can still fill stadiums, U2 is struck by how quickly its world is changing — musically and politically.
Vertical Horizon reforms after 5-year break
LOS ANGELES — Vertical Horizon found platinum success in 1999 with the hit single “Everything You Want,” but after an unhappy relationship with their record label, the band split...
Singer Justin Moore to be first-time dad
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Justin Moore is riding high on his first No. 1 song, “Small Town USA.” Early next year, he’s planning to celebrate another first: a baby daughter.
Military musicians
‘Attitude’ adjustment
Barista, bartender, record-store clerk: Virtually every lean and hungry musician in the world balances a day job against his musical ambitions. The members of Jacksonville, Fla.’s American...
Jim Beam, Kid Rock offer homefront support
Entertainer Kid Rock fused music, bourbon and military awareness as he headlined the Nissan Pavilion outside Washington, D.C., on July 31 just before the conclusion of his 2009 summer Rock and Rebel...
Rappin’ doctor drops the rhymes
Maj. Nickolas Karajohn, 42, a practicing physician at Camp Atterbury’s Troop Medical Clinic in Indiana, is a real rhyme doctor.
Freedom rock
Like a lot of Americans, it was the Sept. 11 attacks that prompted Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik to become an outspoken supporter of the American military. But unlike a lot of celebrities,...
New CDs feature troops, veterans
To The Fallen Records, a label featuring only active military personnel and veterans, has released two new compilations — odes to country music and rock.
Military record label prepping next album
To The Fallen Records, a label featuring only current and former military personnel, is gearing up to release its next albums. Their first CD, “To the Fallen — Vol. 1,” a hip-hop...
Military record label drops its first album
When former Army Capt. Sean Gilfillan left the service, he wasn’t sure how to transition back to civilian life. But thanks to his love of music and loyalty to the service members with whom...
Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift vie for CMA’s top prize
Kenny Chesney will vie for a record-setting fifth entertainer of the year trophy at the CMA Awards in November, and his competition will include 19-year-old blockbuster Taylor Swift, Country Music...
New radicals
Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen don’t look like typical veterans’ advocates. A spider-web tattoo stretches across the top of Armstrong’s shaved head above his stretched-out...
Jackson vs. the Eagles: A top-album ‘Thriller’
The Eagles will be landing — in second place. That’s how industry observers are calling the race between the band’s Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and Michael Jackson’s...
With ‘The E.N.D.,’ the Black Eyed Peas reach a full boil
The Black Eyed Peas are back to getting parties started on their new “The E.N.D.”. It stands for “The Energy Never Dies,” and it certainly never flags as good vibes flow like...
Friday television will look different this fall
In recent years, Fridays have become a wasteland for network TV, populated largely with low-cost, low-impact reality series and newsmagazines. Only CBS has regularly programmed original dramas, and...
It’s a new, motivated Green Day for “21st Century”
If the Green Day that recorded 1994’s “Dookie” were cast in the band’s ambitious new concept album, they’d be among the indolent dupes letting society implode.
Fusion group goes back to jazz roots for engaging ‘Returns’
Pianist Chick Corea’s then-shocking turn into jazz populism with Return to Forever in the 1970s was as commercially successful as it was different from intelligent, straight-ahead efforts such...
‘He and She’ travels the spectrum of love
“He and She,” trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ fifth Blue Note recording, is a toe-tapping celebration, a cautionary tale and a loving requiem for the journey that love takes.
Chris Cornell takes new tack with ‘Scream’
When Chris Cornell surfaced with “Scream,” his new unabashed pop album loaded with dance beats and neo-soul touches, many fans and critics cried foul. The grunge trailblazer sees it...
Prince turns a brilliant sonic triple play
Prince likes defying conventions, and this time he’s doing it with a 3-D sonic assault. He strikes out in several creative directions on a trio of new albums — the rock-guitar-fueled...
Emotion boosts Irma Thomas’ ‘Grand’ new vision
Irma Thomas, whose Louisiana legend of a voice has darkened into a more expressive place, is taking a similar career tack. The new “Simply Grand,” in fact, finds Thomas moving deeper into...
Legend’s latest displays his evolution
Despite the Stevie Wonder-ish progressive musical explorations on his new album, much of it done electronically, John Legend’s “Evolver” isn’t necessarily his Stevie Wonder...
Kiss delivers more ‘Boom’ for the buck
“Sonic Boom,” the first Kiss studio album in 11 years, is one of the best hard rock albums of 2009. But what keeps it from being truly great is the massive musical identify theft by...
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