Classic Hits

Def Leppard is getting ready to go country … in Canada.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are set to headline the Saskatchewan edition of the Country Thunder festival, taking place July 10-13. 

Def Leppard is the only rock band on the bill; country stars Bailey Zimmerman and Jason Aldean are the other two headliners, with Nate Smith, Tyler Hubbard and Kip Moore also part of the lineup.

A full lineup and ticket information can be found at countrythunder.com.

Country Thunder is one of only a few shows Def Leppard currently has booked for 2025. They’re also headlining the Harvest Nights Festival in January and playing the Illinois State Fair in August. They also have their own headlining show in Puerto Rico in May. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com. 

Meanwhile, Def Leppard is also helping fans get into the holiday spirit this year. They just launched a new holiday merch collection, which includes a Def Leppard snow globe, a logo tree topper, a duffel bag and more.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

While KISS may have said goodbye to the road in 2023, Paul Stanley says it doesn’t necessarily mean we will never see the band play live again.

In a new interview with the Daily Times, Stanley says he’d be open to playing with his bandmates again for some kind of one-off performance.

“Anything’s possible,” he says. “KISS is so far from over, though KISS as we know it is done. But, having our hands and our ideas and our fingers in what KISS continues as makes all the sense in the world.”

He adds, “So, I look forward to whatever comes next without knowing what comes next. But I’m open to it all.”

In the meantime, Stanley is focusing on his art; he’ll be making appearances at Wentworth Gallery locations in Atlantic City and Short Hills,  New Jersey, on Friday and Saturday, respectively. He’s also getting ready to play again with his soul/oldies side project Soul Station. 

“We’re just lining up shows and tours now nationally and internationally,” he says. “It’s financially daunting to take a band of that size out, but selfishly, it’s so rewarding for me because those songs mean so much to me.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

An animated video for the previously unreleased Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song “Never Be You” has just been released.

The clip, directed and animated by Jeff Scher, features hand-drawn images of Petty and the band, cut with similarly drawn visuals of couples kissing, various women and even an alligator. 

Petty and the Heartbreakers’ version of “Never Be You” appears on the recently released Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) reissue. The song was originally recorded by Rosanne Cash, appearing on her 1985 album, Rhythm & Romance.

Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) was released in October and featured the remastered original album, plus 12 bonus tracks, including “Never Be You” and “Ways to Be Wicked,” as well as tracks taken from sessions for French TV. 

Originally released in 1982, Long After Dark featured the Petty classic “You Got Lucky,” along with “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.” It was the first to feature new Heartbreaker Howie Epstein on bass and was a top-10 record for the band.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley is dropping a new album, Straight from The Heart, next year, marking his first new album in more than a decade.

The 12-track album, dropping Feb. 14, features special guests Michael McDonald, Vince Gill, Keb’ Mo’ and Shawn Colvin, helping Medley cover classic country ballads.

Medley previously teased the record with the release of “These Days,” featuring Gill, and now he’s sharing another track, “(Since You’ve) Gone,” featuring Keb’ Mo’. The tune was originally recorded in the 1950s by Ferlin Husky.

“(Since You’ve) Gone” is available now via digital outlets.

“I’ve always had a deep love and appreciation for country music and at its core, a pure country ballad is the blues,” Medley shares. “Straight From The Heart allowed me to pay tribute to the incredible country singers and writers that I admire, and at the same time, honor who I am in my soul.”

Straight From The Heart is available for preorder now. Here is the track list for the album:
“Crying Time” (ft. Michael McDonald)
“The Dance”
“Please Help I’m Falling”
“Sunday Morning Coming Down”
“(Since You’ve) Gone” (ft. Keb’ Mo’)
“Lay Down Beside Me”
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (ft. Shawn Colvin)
“Whenever You Come Around”
“He Stopped Loving Her Today”
“Sweet Music Man”
“These Days” (ft. Vince Gill)
“Let It Be Me”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A court in Switzerland has ruled that a watch Yoko Ono gave John Lennon shortly before his 1980 death does in fact belong to Ono, and not a watch collector who claimed he legitimately purchased the item.

According to Bloomberg, the Patek Philippe watch in question was stolen by Ono’s chauffeur, and the collector purchased it in Germany in 2014. The collector argued the watch was his because of the purchase, but the Swiss Federal Court just ruled the sale wasn’t legitimate because the chauffeur wasn’t the watch’s actual owner. 

According to the ruling, “[T]here was no evidence to show that Yoko Ono intended to donate to the driver something as special as the watch, engraved with an inscription, that she had given to John Lennon two months before his death.”

Rolling Stone reports the watch included the inscription “(Just Like)/Starting Over/Love Yoko/ 10·9·1980/N.Y.C.,” a reference to the song “(Just Like) Starting Over,” from Lennon’s album Double Fantasy, which he was released just a month before his death.

Ono has been battling the collector over the watch for quite some time. According to lawyers, the watch could be worth $4.5 million, but the fact that it was owned by Lennon means it could be worth even more.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The new 50th anniversary reissue of George Harrison’s solo album Living in the Material World is out now, and to coincide with the release, the legendary rocker’s estate has shared another previously unheard recording.

The latest is an all-star recording of “Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond),” featuring Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, along with Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko from The Band.

“Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)” is available now via digital outlets.

A 7-inch of the song is included in the limited-edition super deluxe edition of the reissue, which also includes two LPs and two CDs, featuring the newly remixed album, plus a separate disc with previously unreleased session outtakes with early editions of each song on the album. There’s also a Blu-ray featuring the album in Dolby Atmos.

In addition to the super deluxe edition, the reissue was released in two-LP and two-CD deluxe editions that include the session outtakes. It was also released as a single CD and LP, with limited-edition color vinyl variants available at various retailers, including a purple color vinyl from the Harrison online store.

Released in May 1973, Living in the Material World, Harrison’s second solo album of original material, was his second solo album to hit #1.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, Nov. 15, 1980 …

Blondie landed their fifth U.K. #1 single with “The Tide Is High,” from their fifth studio album, Autoamerican. It would be another18 years before Blondie topped the U.K. chart again, landing at #1 in 1999 with the track “Maria.”

“The Tide Is High” was a cover of a 1967 song originally performed by the Jamaican group The Paragons, with the tune’s songwriter, John Holt, singing lead on the track.

Blondie’s version of “The Tide Is High” also went on to hit #1 in the U.S., becoming their third #1 single. It also topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand.

And Blondie is still making music. Their last studio album, Pollinator, was released in 2017 and in October, Blondie’s Chris Stein revealed on Instagram that a new album is coming next year.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ringo Starr is sharing another preview of his upcoming country album, Look Up.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just released the new song “Thankful,” featuring Alison Krauss, a tune Starr co-wrote with his producer/engineer Bruce Sugar. It is available now via digital outlets.

“I love this track … I feel we put an LA country sound to it,” Ringo shares. “For the lyrics, I always like to focus on the positive, and for this song in particular, about what we can be thankful for.”

He adds, “I hope it brings you some joy and peace and love.” 

This is the second single Ringo has shared from Look Up, following “Time On My Hands.”

Look Up, produced by T Bone Burnett, will be released Jan. 10 and is available for preorder now. Ringo plans to celebrate the release with two shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, billed as Ringo Starr & Friends. The shows are happening Jan. 14 and Jan. 15.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Beatles have just revealed some new collectibles that fans are going to want to get their hands on.

The first is a new limited-edition solid silver submarine to celebrating the band’s iconic 1968 film Yellow Submarine. Only 4,000 will be available, made of almost 1 ounce of pure silver. More Yellow Submarine collectibles are expected in 2025, including a set celebrating the members of the band.

The silver Yellow Submarine collectible will be available for preorder starting in mid-December.

But that’s not all: As part of the continuing celebration of the 60th anniversary of The Beatles coming to America, a new collection of commemorative concert tickets is being released.

The set is made up of 25 tickets, one for each venue they played during their first tour of the U.S. and Canada in 1964. Each ticket is made from an ounce of pure silver and contains the date, venue and price of each show. The tickets also feature some unique details for each gig.

Only 1,964 copies of each ticket will be made available, with the first dropping on Feb. 7, which happens to be the day The Beatles landed in America. Subsequent tickets will be released throughout 2025.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Shel Talmy, the producer who oversaw seminal early recordings by The Who and The Kinks, has died. According to his rep, Talmy died in his sleep on Nov. 13 due to complications from a stroke. He was 87.

Born in Chicago, Talmy moved to the U.K. in 1962 and landed a job at Decca Records. After setting up his own company, he signed The Kinks in 1964 and produced all their records from that point through 1967, including “You Really Got Me,” “Tired of Waiting for You,” “Sunny Afternoon” and “Waterloo Sunset.”

Talmy signed The Who to his production company after hearing the song “I Can’t Explain” and got the band a record contract. He produced “I Can’t Explain,” “My Generation” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” as well as The Who’s first album, also called My Generation.

After of The Who’s manager Kit Lambert fired Talmy, he sued for breach of contract and won, though never worked with The Who again. The ongoing legal dispute held up a rerelease of My Generation until 2002.

Talmy also signed David Bowie to his first song publishing contract and produced hits for Chad & Jeremy, Manfred Mann and The Easybeats. He also worked with The Small Faces and The Damned and continued to work in production and A&R until his death.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.