Classic Hits

On This Day, April 29, 2008 …

Mudcrutch, the band that helped launch Tom Petty’s career, released its self-titled debut album.

Formed in Gainesville, Florida, in 1970, the band included Petty and future Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, along with Tom Leadon, brother of Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon; Jim Lenahan; and Randall Marsh. Future Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench joined in 1972.

The band, who went through several lineup changes, eventually broke up in 1975. Petty then formed the Heartbreakers with Campbell, Tench, Stan Lynch and Ron Blair.

In 2007, Petty invited Marsh and Leadon to join him, Campbell and Tench in reforming Mudcrutch, and they recorded their debut album, which consisted of 14 tracks, a mixture of old and new songs. They also toured in support of the record.

Mudcrutch debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.

A second album, 2, was released in 2016, featuring the last recorded material from Petty before his 2017 death.

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Janet Jackson’s landmark album Rhythm Nation 1814 is being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this Year, and she will be on hand for the occasion.

Janet will make an appearance at the Grammy Hall of Fame Gala in LA on May 8, where the album will be inducted along with 13 other famous titles, including Heart’s Dreamboat Annie, Radiohead’s OK Computer, 2Pac’s All Eyez on Me and additional recordings by Funkadelic, Eric B. & Rakim, the late Tejano singer Selena and Lucinda Williams.

Rhythm Nation 1814, the follow up to Janet’s breakthrough 1986 album, Control, is the only album in history to have seven singles reach the top five of the Billboard Hot 100: “Miss You Much,” “Escapade,” “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” “Black Cat,” “Alright,” “Come Back to Me” and “Rhythm Nation.” Of those seven singles, four hit #1. The album has sold an estimated 12 million copies worldwide.

Performers at the gala will include Teddy Swims, Josh Groban, Erykah Badu, George Clinton, Norah Jones, Taylor Hanson of Hanson, Take 6, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, and Lucinda Williams.

An online auction benefiting the Grammy Museum will run as part of the Gala celebrations, starting May 5 and ending May 21. It will feature a collection of guitars signed by the likes of Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter, plus tickets to next year’s Grammys. More information is coming on May 5. 

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David Byrne has released a new version of the track “What Is the Reason For It?” from his latest solo album, Who Is the Sky?

The original song featured Paramore’s Hayley Williams, but the new take, retitled “¿Cuál Es La Razón?,” features Grammy Award-winning Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade in her place.

A press release describes the new version as “a vocal and brass-led remix, drawing inspiration from David’s experiences in Mexico City and the enduring mysteries of love.”

“¿Cuál Es La Razón?,” produced by Mexican Institute Of Sound, is now available via digital outlets.

The release coincides with Byrne announcing that he’ll bring his Who Is The Sky? tour to Mexico for a trio of shows: Sept. 4 in Mexico City, Sept. 8 in Guadalajara and Sept. 10 in Monterrey.

In other Byrne news, the rocker’s new book, Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up, will be released Oct. 6. It’s described as “a brilliant and inspiring reckoning with how breakthroughs across the arts and sciences get forgotten, and how they get rediscovered.”

Byrne is currently on the latest North American leg of his Who Is The Sky? tour. He’ll wrap a two-night stand in St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday. The tour hits Europe and the U.K. this summer, with additional stops in Thailand, Japan and South Korea before returning to the U.S. The tour is set to wrap Sept. 19 at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York.

A complete list of dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

David Byrne has released a new version of the track “What Is the Reason For It?” from his latest solo album, Who Is the Sky?

The original song featured Paramore’s Hayley Williams, but the new take, retitled “¿Cuál Es La Razón?,” features Grammy Award-winning Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade in her place.

A press release describes the new version as “a vocal and brass-led remix, drawing inspiration from David’s experiences in Mexico City and the enduring mysteries of love.”

“¿Cuál Es La Razón?,” produced by Mexican Institute Of Sound, is now available via digital outlets.

The release coincides with Byrne announcing that he’ll bring his Who Is The Sky? tour to Mexico for a trio of shows: Sept. 4 in Mexico City, Sept. 8 in Guadalajara and Sept. 10 in Monterrey.

In other Byrne news, the rocker’s new book, Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up, will be released Oct. 6. It’s described as “a brilliant and inspiring reckoning with how breakthroughs across the arts and sciences get forgotten, and how they get rediscovered.”

Byrne is currently on the latest North American leg of his Who Is The Sky? tour. He’ll wrap a two-night stand in St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday. The tour hits Europe and the U.K. this summer, with additional stops in Thailand, Japan and South Korea before returning to the U.S. The tour is set to wrap Sept. 19 at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York.

A complete list of dates can be found at DavidByrne.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Police drummer Stewart Copeland has added more shows to his Have I Said Too Much – The Police, Hollywood, and Other Adventures spoken word tour.

The trek, Copeland’s first North American spoken word tour, was initially supposed to hit 34 cities this summer, but has been extended into the fall and will now visit 53 cities.

The new dates begin Oct. 28 in Thousand Oaks, California, with stops including Tucson, Arizona; Boulder and Denver, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; Detroit; and Homer and Bethel, New York. The tour will wrap Nov. 22 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The show is described as an evening of conversation with Copeland. It will include photos and videos, along with a Q&A.

An artist presale for the new dates begins Thursday at 10 a.m. local time, with tickets going on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

Have I Said Too Much – The Police, Hollywood, and Other Adventures launches June 3 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A complete list of dates can be found at StewartCopeland.net.

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Loverboy’s Mike Reno and Paul Dean are among this year’s inductees into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The pair, known for writing such songs as “Working for the Weekend” and “Turn Me Loose,” will be celebrated at a ceremony taking place at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Sept. 26.

“We set out to write songs that made people feel something right away, that energy, that release, that connection,” Reno and Dean said in a statement. “To have that songwriting recognized all these years later, and to know the songs are still out there doing their job, means everything to us.”

This year’s other Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees include Tragically Hip, Feist and Roch Voisine.

“The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame exists to honour the songwriters whose work has shaped our culture and defined how Canadian music is heard at home and around the world,” said Nick Fedor, executive director of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. “This year’s inductees represent that standard at the highest level. These are writers whose songs have endured, traveled, and become part of the country’s shared experience. They did not follow a template; they defined one.”

He added, “Their induction recognizes a body of work that continues to resonate across generations and audiences.”

Tickets for the induction ceremony go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m ET.

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Bruce Springsteen is set to be celebrated at the 2026 Tribeca Festival in June.

The Boss will be honored with the 2026 Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award, named after the late singer, actor and civil rights activist. The award “recognizes artists who don’t just speak out, but actively use their platform to advance equality, dignity, and human rights.”

“There are few figures who embody the spirit of Tribeca’s Harry Belafonte Award more fully than Bruce Springsteen,” said Jane Rosenthal, Tribeca Festival co-founder and co-chair.

The event, taking place June 13 at the OKX Theatre at BMCC in Manhattan, will include a conversation between the New Jersey rocker and U2 frontman Bono, with Robert De Niro and singer Patti Smith also on hand to celebrate Springsteen.

The 2026 Tribeca Festival runs from June 3 to June 14. Tickets are on sale now.

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Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon are among the artists recognized on The New York Times Magazine’s new list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters.

According to the mag, the list was based on feedback from more than 250 music insiders and six New York Times critics, noting that in making their picks, they decided to focus on “contemporary practitioners working in the ever-evolving tradition of the great American songbook.”

The mag describes Simon as “musically voracious, an almost obscenely gifted crafter of melodies and chord progressions and — surprisingly, perhaps — a beatmaster supreme, forever seeking new ways to syncopate his songs.”

For Dylan, they debate the idea as some have suggested that he’s the “greatest songwriter of them all,” but note that he’s “pushed back the horizons of popular music, expanding the limits of what a song could say and how it could say.”

When it comes to Springsteen, the mag points out how he’s “continued to believe in songwriting as a tool to hold his bruised, beloved country accountable.” It adds, “He takes seriously his self-appointed role as America’s conscience, its cultural ambassador and its chief firefighter, and he knows that these jobs are never done.”

Other songwriters making the list include Carole King, Lionel Richie, Diane Warren, Smokey Robinson, Nile Rodgers, Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple, Mariah Carey, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Taylor Swift.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon are among the artists recognized on The New York Times Magazine’s new list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters.

According to the mag, the list was based on feedback from more than 250 music insiders and six New York Times critics, noting that in making their picks, they decided to focus on “contemporary practitioners working in the ever-evolving tradition of the great American songbook.”

The mag describes Simon as “musically voracious, an almost obscenely gifted crafter of melodies and chord progressions and — surprisingly, perhaps — a beatmaster supreme, forever seeking new ways to syncopate his songs.”

For Dylan, they debate the idea as some have suggested that he’s the “greatest songwriter of them all,” but note that he’s “pushed back the horizons of popular music, expanding the limits of what a song could say and how it could say.”

When it comes to Springsteen, the mag points out how he’s “continued to believe in songwriting as a tool to hold his bruised, beloved country accountable.” It adds, “He takes seriously his self-appointed role as America’s conscience, its cultural ambassador and its chief firefighter, and he knows that these jobs are never done.”

Other songwriters making the list include Carole King, Lionel Richie, Diane Warren, Smokey Robinson, Nile Rodgers, Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple, Mariah Carey, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Taylor Swift.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rush, AC/DC, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams are among the first artists donating one-of-a-kind experiences for fans to raise money to help other artists.

The experiences are part Rock N’ Relief, an initiative launched by Sweet Relief Musicians Fund in partnership with Fandiem to support Sweet Relief’s efforts to provide services and financial assistance to musicians and industry professionals in need.

Packages include trips to see Rush live at New York’s Madison Square Garden; Bryan Adams’ acoustic residency in Las Vegas; Bon Jovi’s Forever tour kickoff at Madison Square Garden; and AC/DC at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

There are also trips to see Foo Fighters at their sold-out stadium show in Paris; Iron Maiden at their 50th anniversary Eddfest in Knebworth, England; and ZZ Top at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

All trips include roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations, plus other goodies.

“We’re excited to partner with our pals at Fandiem to highlight the story and work of Sweet Relief and bring fans the opportunity to see their favorite bands live and in style!” says Aric Steinberg, executive director of Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

“This is what rock is all about, fans showing up for the people behind the music,” Jared Heiman, CEO of Fandiem, adds. “Rock N’ Relief gives fans the chance to win truly one-of-a-kind experiences while helping support the artists, crews, and music community that make it all possible.”

More information can be found at fandiem.com.

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