Looks like Ringo Starr may be getting ready to finally release his long-talked-about country album.
The Beatles drummer just shared a new picture on Instagram that shows him wearing a cowboy hat, with many fans in the comments speculating that it’s a tease for the country album.
Ringo initially revealed that he was working on a country record back in May. He later shared that he was working with T. Bone Burnett on the project, telling USA Today in an interview that it wouldn’t be released “until October, at least.”
The country album will be a follow-up to Ringo’s latest EP, Crooked Boy, which was released in April. That album was produced by Linda Perry, who previously worked with Ringo on two of his earlier EPs, writing “Coming Undone” for Change the World and “Everyone and Everything” for EP3.
The eighth annual Allman Betts Family Revival is set to kick off in November, and some new artists have been added to the trek, including Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.
The 20-date tour begins Nov. 30 in St. Charles, Illinois, and features performances by The Allman Betts Band, made up of Gregg Allman’s son Devon Allman and Dickey Betts‘ son Duane Betts, playing the music of The Allman Brothers.
Slash is set to appear at the Dec. 16 show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
Other new additions to the tour include Greg Koch, Donavan Frankenreiter, Maggie Rose and John Moreland in select cities.
The tour also features Robert Randolph, Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson, Jimmy Hall, Anders Osborne and Sierra Green, as well as G. Love, Jake Shimabukuro, Grace Bowers and more.
The shows are set to feature two sets, one focused on the 1970s Duane Allman era of the band, and the other devoted to the 1990s Allman Brothers comeback era.
The tour will once again feature visuals from The Brotherhood of Light, known for their previous work with the Allman Brothers.
The Allman Betts Family Revival wraps up Dec. 21 in San Francisco. A complete list of dates and lineups for each show can be found at allmanbettsfamilyrevival.com.
Sting‘s on the road with his latest musical project, Sting 3.0: a “power trio” with himself on bass, Dominic Miller on guitar and Chris Maas on drums. If that lineup sounds familiar, it should: Sting’s former band The Police was also a bass/guitar/drums combo. Sting says touring with a trio now is all part of his ongoing effort to keep things interesting.
“I’m playing songs that I may have written 40 years ago … so I have to keep my curiosity about them intact. And I do that by putting myself out of my comfort zone,” he explains. “I think it’s a very creative place to be. It’s a little scary.”
He notes wryly, “I’ve had some experience with a three-piece band before, quite successfully, so it’s not entirely unknown territory. What’s very heartening is that the songs are sturdy enough to withstand a lot of stripping away … you just have the bare bones of the structure of the song, and it still gets over.”
Sting also stays on his toes by letting his guitarist choose a song in the middle of the performance.
“Dominic, who has a fantastic memory, will challenge me with with a song that I only half know,” he chuckles. “And I have my heart in my mouth, I’m wondering, ‘Is he going to ask for something that I don’t really know?’ But so far, it’s proved okay.”
In between the trio’s theater shows, they’re also co-headlining stadiums with Billy Joel, which will continue into 2025, along with a European tour. And Sting says he has no intention of slowing down.
“No, I don’t really want to stop. I mean, I walk out in front of 15, 20,000 people most nights and they’re pleased to see me,” he says. “You don’t want to give that up!”
Diana Ross will perform at amfAR’s first-ever Las Vegas gala on Nov. 22. amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, was founded in 1985 with Elizabeth Taylor as its founding national chairman. Today it’s one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research.
The event will honor Sylvester Stallone and his wife, Jennifer, with the Award of Inspiration. Past recipients include Cher and Miley Cyrus.
Diana has been touring all over the world in 2024 as part of her Beautiful Love Performances – Legacy 2024 tour. Her next show is Oct. 18 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Alex Van Halen‘s given his first interview since the death of his brother Eddie Van Halen, talking to Rolling Stone ahead of the Oct. 22 release of his memoir, Brothers.
In the interview, Alex talks about his reaction to his brother’s 2020 death, telling the mag it led to a diagnosis of PTSD.
“I shut down,” he says. “I was yelling and screaming. I was beside myself.”
Alex also dishes a little dirt, blaming David Lee Roth for the collapse of a planned Van Halen tour following Eddie’s death.
“The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now,” Alex says, “was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig.’ … And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f*****’ popped a fuse. … The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
Roth did not comment on the accusation, although the mag notes Alex and David are still in touch.
Alex says looking at it now he can’t imagine touring without Eddie. As for former frontman Sammy Hagar playing Van Halen songs on tour with guitarist Joe Satriani, the mag says Alex wouldn’t even say Sammy’s name.
“The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike (Anthony), and me,” he says. Rolling Stone notes the only mention of the Van Hagar years in the book was Alex writing, “We had a lot of other singers over the years.”
Also in the article, Alex tells Rolling Stone that in 2001 they almost got Ozzy Osbourne to front the band, but it didn’t happen because he was in negotiations for the MTV reality show The Osbournes.
Finally, talking about Eddie, Alex says, “I just miss him. I miss the arguments. I live with it every day. And I can’t bring him back. I can’t make things right.”
But he says he feels his brother’s presence.
“He was there this morning,” he says. “He’s fine. Wherever he is — he’s fine.”
New York’s famed punk rock club CBGB closed following a dispute over money between owner Hilly Kristal and the venue’s landlord, Bowery Residents Committee.
Opened on Dec. 10, 1973, CBGB — which stood for country, bluegrass and blues — helped launch the careers of such artists as the Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie and Patti Smith, among others.
Smith performed at the closing night concert, with guest appearances by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Television‘s Richard Lloyd.
The club’s second awning, which was out front when CBGB closed in 2006, is now featured in the lobby of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Bruce Springsteen will sit down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos ahead of the premiere of his new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street, and we’re now getting our first look at their chat.
A trailer for the primetime special, Bruce Springsteen: Backstage and Backstreets, debuted on Good Morning America, opening with shots of Bruce onstage and George asking, “Do you remember what it was like not to be famous?” to which he replies, “Yeah, I do.”
The clip includes concert footage, has Bruce talking about creating set lists and more, with the rocker sharing, “Music brings with it a certain sort of inner peace. That’s why people come.”
The trailer also has Springsteen and Stephanopoulos at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where Bruce talks about first meeting his future wife, Patti Scialfa. In Road Diary, Patti reveals that she’s been battling blood cancer since 2018 and Bruce gives fans an update on how she’s doing.
“She’s doing good. We caught it early, which was important,” he shares. “It’s a tough disease, it’s very fatiguing.”
He also reveals why she decided to disclose her illness now.
“She hadn’t played in the band for a long time and people I don’t think knew why,” he said, noting fans kept asking, “Where’s Patti?”
The clip ends with Bruce walking off stage and Stephanopoulos saying to him, “You have the best job in the world,” to which Bruce agrees, responding, “Hell yes I do.”
Bruce Springsteen: Backstage and Backstreets airs Oct. 20 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street debuts Oct. 25 on Hulu and Disney+.
Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro has teamed with Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood for the new album Blues Experience,and he tells ABC Audio he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to embrace the blues with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
“You know, he’s one of my favorite drummers,” Jake says. “He kind of just pioneered that style,” noting that early Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green was a blues band. He adds, “I mean, who better to kind of explore this genre of music than with him?”
Jake shares that recording the album with Mick “was just a blast,” describing it as “so inspiring to play” with him.
“He’s just got this incredible, like, intensity and you know, he’s so present when he plays,” Jake says. “He’s just always listening and he’s watching you and elevates everyone around him.”
“He just looks at you and somehow, telepathically, you just kind of know what to do,” he adds.
The album features covers of tunes like Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale,” Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World,” and more. The last song on the album is a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird,” which was recorded as a tribute to its songwriter, the late Christine McVie.
Jake calls their version of the tune “a beautiful tribute” to McVie and says when they were recording it, Mick got lost in the song.
“At the end, I remember, like, we all kind of faded out and Mick just kept the drums going,” he said. “And then he opened his eyes and he told us that he felt Christine’s presence with us in the studio.”
Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
A classic Buster Keaton movie is getting an update thanks to R.E.M.
The 1924 silent film Sherlock Jr. is being re-released in theaters on Feb. 4, soundtracked by two R.E.M. albums: 1994’s Monster and 1996’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi.
The screening is part of the Silents Synched series, which pairs classic films with contemporary albums. A previous screening paired Nosferatu with two Radiohead albums.
“Buster Keaton is one of my favorite actor/director/writers in movie history,” R.E.M.’s Peter Buck said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “I’m honored that in some small way R.E.M. is collaborating with him from beyond the grave!”
A trailer for the new version of the film has just been released, featuring clips from the movie soundtracked to the Monster tune “Star 69.”
Fun facts that pop up during the trailer reveal that New Adventures in Hi-Fi is R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe’s favorite R.E.M. album.It also notes that Sherlock Jr., released 100 years ago, is “considered one of the greatest silent comedies” and in 1991 was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows
On Madonna‘s acclaimed album Ray of Light, she included the song “Little Star,” inspired by her then-toddler daughter, Lourdes. On Monday she took to Instagram to celebrate her star as she turned 28.
Madonna posted a montage of Lourdes in a variety of videos, posing sexily and singing, as well as in a series of photos of her as a young girl. “Lourdes, Maria Ciccone Leon!!! Happy Birthday to my first born! My one and only Little Star!” Madonna captioned the post.
“But there is nothing Little about you. Big energy. Big heart. Big light. You were and always will be my first true love,” she continued. “Shine on Lolita Shine on.”
Lourdes, whose father is trainer Carlos Leon, is Madonna’s oldest child. The Queen of Pop is also mother to Rocco Ritchie, who she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, and four children adopted from Malawi: son David and daughters Mercy, Estere and Stella.
