Nils Lofgren on his new album, ‘Mountains’: “Was kind of a great adventure”

Nils Lofgren on his new album, ‘Mountains’: “Was kind of a great adventure”
Nils Lofgren on his new album, ‘Mountains’: “Was kind of a great adventure”
Cattle Track Road Records/painting by Ed Mell

E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren is ready to share his latest solo project, Mountains, which was recorded during the pandemic.

Lofgren tells ABC Audio that while he loved being home with his wife, Amy, and their dogs, “it was the first time in my life that I didn’t do anything kind of professionally,” and he knew he needed to change that.

“So I just really hunkered down and I was kind of excited to write a record, just write what I was feeling,” he shares. “And it really was kind of a great adventure when I got into it.” 

Lofgren says the title of the album is reflective of the hard times the world was going through with the pandemic and the divisive political climate.

Mountains was obvious to me because I felt all of us climbing new mountains, new challenges. Everybody had surprising stuff going on that was very challenging,” he says.

The album features special guests like Neil YoungRingo Starr, Ron Carter and the late David Crosby, who Lofgren says had wanted to work with him for a while.

“David Crosby, God rest his soul, friend of 55 years, had told me at the end of the last record, Blue with Lou, ‘Let me sing on your record,’” Nils says. Unfortunately, he had already finished that record, which was released in 2019. But then a new opportunity came with the Mountains track “I Remember Her Name.”

Nils says, “I called and said, ‘Look, I got an idea for a song, give me a little bit, I’ll send it to you,’” and Crosby simply replied, “Great. Count me in.”  

Mountains will be released Friday, July 21. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones & more make Barack Obama’s 2023 Summer Playlist

Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones & more make Barack Obama’s 2023 Summer Playlist
Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones & more make Barack Obama’s 2023 Summer Playlist
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Now that we’re a month into summer, former President Barack Obama is letting us know what he’s listening to this year.

Obama just released his 2023 Summer Playlist. It features a diverse group of songs, including Bob Dylan’s “Everything Is Broken,” The Rolling Stones’ “Soul Survivor,” Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe” and Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes.”

“Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer — a mix of old and new,” Obama shares. “Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed.”

Other songs making his playlist this year include: The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You,” boygenius’ “Not Strong Enough,” Aretha Franklin’s “Dr. Feelgood (Love is a Serious Business),” Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End of Love (Live)” and The Bangles’ “Walk Like An Egyptian.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?’ documentary to get global premiere on Veeps

‘What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?’ documentary to get global premiere on Veeps
‘What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?’ documentary to get global premiere on Veeps
ABRAMORAMA Films

The recent documentary What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? is getting a very special online premiere.

Veeps is set to host the first global premiere of the film on August 20. There will actually be two airings of the movie, at 12 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET. Prior to both there will be a special live Q&A with Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer and co-founder Bobby Colomby and the film’s director, John Scheinfeld.

The doc, which was made with the full cooperation of band members, explores their 1970 State Department-sponsored tour of Iron Curtain countries Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland. It features interviews and archival footage from the controversial tour, which resulted in the band suffering backlash from fans.

Tickets for screenings are on sale now, and fans can also purchase a bundle that includes the screening and a copy of the soundtrack.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dead & Company’s Final Tour is the most successful trek in their eight-year history

Dead & Company’s Final Tour is the most successful trek in their eight-year history
Dead & Company’s Final Tour is the most successful trek in their eight-year history
courtesy of Live Nation

It looks like a lot of fans made sure they saw Dead & Company on what was billed as their Final Tour.

The Grateful Dead offshoot has been touring for eight years, and as Billboard reports, this trek, which wrapped July 14-16 at San Francisco’s Oracle Park, saw them bring in their best grosses and attendance numbers. The tour grossed more than $115 million and sold over 840,000 tickets.

Since the band’s inception in 2015, they’ve gone on 10 tours, made up of 235 shows, which were seen by over four million fans. 

The band also set some new records with this tour, including the most shows played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, (10) the most shows played at New York’s Citi Field (11) and an all-time attendance record for a single show at Boston’s Fenway Park, beating out Boston natives Aerosmith.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Roger Waters teases his rerecording of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’

Roger Waters teases his rerecording of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’
Roger Waters teases his rerecording of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’
Sony Music

Roger Waters appears to be teasing his remake of Pink Floyd’s classic album The Dark Side of the Moon.

Waters revealed he was rerecording the 1973 album back in February, and now, he’s shared a snippet of some music on Instagram alongside a video that reads “DSOTM” and “REDUX.” The short song clip appears to be the buildup to the album’s final song, “Eclipse.” 

This isn’t the first time Waters has shared a tease of the rerecording. Back in March, he posted a clip of “Us and Them” on Facebook and explained his reasoning for rerecording the album.

“It’s turned out really great and I’m excited for everyone to hear it,” he wrote. “It’s not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable. But it is a way for the seventy nine year old man to look back across the intervening fifty years into the eyes of the twenty nine year old and say, to quote a poem of mine about my Father, ‘We did our best, we kept his trust, our Dad would have been proud of us’.” 

He added, “[I]t is a way for me to honor a recording that Nick [Mason] and Rick [Wright] and Dave [Gilmour] and I have every right to be very proud of.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bryan Adams joins tech startup that keeps songs safe

Bryan Adams joins tech startup that keeps songs safe
Bryan Adams joins tech startup that keeps songs safe
Bryan Adams (R) with Songbox co-founders Ciaran O’Toole (L) and Michael Coll (middle); Courtesy Songbox

Ever since music went digital, countless songs and albums have leaked before their release dates as keeping files under lock and key while they get sent back and forth is extremely difficult. Now, Bryan Adams is here to help.

Adams has signed on as a cofounder of Songbox, a Scottish tech company that’s invented a safe way to share music. The technology allows musicians — or anyone else who creates audio content — to store their files securely and share it with whoever they want while preventing unwanted leaks.

What’s more, you can monitor who is listening, which tracks they’re listening to and for how long. That’s super-valuable for any new artist who wants to send their demos to a record company or producer, for example.

Bryan was one of the first people to use the technology, and over the past two years, he’s also helped add new features to the product. Songbox founder Michael Coll says the rocker’s “insight” has been “invaluable” when it came to making it even more helpful for musicians.

In a statement, Bryan says thanks to Songbox, “I don’t need to send out MP3 files or physical products, so it keeps my ideas and early versions safe and secure until I’m ready to officially release the songs. It was exactly what I was looking for.”

He adds, “I’m delighted to join Songbox and to help tell other people in the music business how great this tool can be for their work.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Queen honored with the Brit Billion Award

Queen honored with the Brit Billion Award
Queen honored with the Brit Billion Award
John Lamparski/WireImage

Queen has earned quite an honor in the U.K. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have just been awarded the Brit Billion Award, which “celebrates the band’s outstanding achievement as recording artists in surpassing the landmark of one billion career streams in the U.K.”

“Thank you for presenting Queen with a BRIT Billion Award. We’re grateful to all our fans that support us and continue to enjoy our music. Rock on BPI,” Queen’s Brian May shared in accepting the honor. Roger Taylor added, “I’m thrilled to accept the BRIT Billion Award on behalf of Queen,” noting, “I would like to say thanks to everyone who has extracted a morsel of enjoyment from our music. We are still around and we hope to entertain you a little.”

The award was given to the band by BPI, the organization which represents the U.K.’s record labels and music companies and is responsible for the Brit Awards.

“There can be few artists who have done more to popularize and promote British music around the world than Queen,” Dr Jo Twist, BPI chief executive said. “The term iconic barely does justice to their monumental achievements as recording artists.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Wham! Netflix doc gives a big bump to the pop duo’s classic hits

Wham! Netflix doc gives a big bump to the pop duo’s classic hits
Wham! Netflix doc gives a big bump to the pop duo’s classic hits
Courtesy Netflix

The new Netflix documentary about Wham! evidently made a lot of fans wake themselves up and stream-stream.

Billboard reports that the critically acclaimed documentary, which charts the four-year career of the duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, has resulted in a 41% increase in streaming of their catalog and a 537% increase in their digital sales.

That catalog includes the number-one hits “Careless Whisper,” “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Everything She Wants” as well as the top 10 singles “Freedom,” “I’m Your Man” and “The Edge of Heaven.”

If you want all of those in one place, the recently released compilatioWham! The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven includes them all on vinyl and CD.

George Michael’s solo career has also benefited, as he’s seen a 30% increase in his catalog and a 187% increase in his digital sales.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, July 20, 1975: Bruce Springsteen launches Born To Run tour

On This Day, July 20, 1975: Bruce Springsteen launches Born To Run tour
On This Day, July 20, 1975: Bruce Springsteen launches Born To Run tour

On This Day, July 20, 1975…

Ahead of the release of his third studio album, Born To RunBruce Springsteen launched a new tour at the Palace Theater in Providence, Rhode Island. 

The show marked Steve Van Zandt’s first official gig as a member of the E Street Band and also the live debut of the future classic “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” Other songs in the set included “Born To Run,” “Thunder Road,” “Rosalita” and more.

Born To Run was released August 25, 1975, and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It has gone on to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time and has been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rod Stewart gives struggling family $3,000 after seeing daughter’s heartfelt note

Rod Stewart gives struggling family ,000 after seeing daughter’s heartfelt note
Rod Stewart gives struggling family ,000 after seeing daughter’s heartfelt note
Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns

Soft-hearted Rod Stewart gave a struggling family in Scotland a cash gift after one of their kids wrote a heartfelt note about their situation.

As a school project asking students about their hopes for the future, 10-year-old Sophia McKenzie wrote, “I have a dream that one day we will live in a world where the cost of living crisis stops and everything is free and nobody struggles with not being able to eat.” Her note was eventually published in The Daily Record.

Sophia’s mother Heather, a single mom with four kids, told the paper, “Sophia sees how much it upsets me when I can’t get them everything they want and she’s seen me go without food so they have enough to eat.”

Rod read Sophia’s letter and contacted the paper. “It broke my heart,” he said. “I simply had to find a way to help.” He ended up giving the family 2500 pounds, which is about 3200 dollars.

“I told [Sophia] what Mr. Stewart did and it has completely thrown her,” Heather told the paper. “We obviously never expected anything like this to happen…it is going to be amazing to see her not have to worry anymore.”

She added, “This is a life-changing amount of money and it means so much to all of us. Mr. Stewart is just an incredible person. I cannot thank him enough. I am so grateful from the bottom of my heart.”

In the past year, Rod has also helped bring a family of Ukrainian refugees to the U.K. and pledged to pay their rent and bills for a year. In addition, he’s paid for patients’ MRI scans at a hospital near his home to reduce wait times.

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