Music

Country singer Hardy is asking for prayers after his tour bus was involved in an accident. 

“Following last night’s show, our tour bus was in an accident on our way home from Bristol,” he tweeted on Sunday afternoon. “There were just four of us, including myself, on the bus, however we were all treated for significant injuries.”

“Our friend, and bus driver, needs your prayers as he is still in the hospital,” Hardy continued. “His family is with him while he is being treated and we’re all pulling and praying for him.”

The “wait in the truck” singer added that he’s been released from the hospital but was “ordered by doctors to recover for the next few weeks which may cost us at a couple of shows.”

“My team and I will keep the fans updated on that as I rest in the coming days,” he shared. 

“Please keep our road family in your prayers and I promise to keep you updated in the days to follow,” he concluded. “God bless our medics and local and state officials for their quick response and incredible service.”

Hardy and his team were traveling from Bristol, Tennessee to Nashville early Sunday when the incident occurred. His next scheduled appearance is on October 8 with Morgan Wallen. It’s unclear if that will still happen. 

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Idina Menzel and her sister Cara Mentzel have collaborated on a new children’s picture book called Loud Mouse, about a young mouse named Dee who’s able to be her best self when she sings. Idina has written and recorded an original song to go with the book called “The Loud Mouse Song,” which is streaming now — and she says she could see making an entire Loud Mouse album in the future.

“I wanted to have a song that accompanied the book that kids and their parents could just sing…for days…ad nauseum, you know?” Idina laughs. Referring to her inescapable Frozen hit “Let It Go,” she jokes, “Because that’s what I like to do. I like to be the voice of songs that parents just love me for!”

Cara says the relationship between Dee and her sister Cara Lee in the book mirrors the “supportive” relationship she had with Idina growing up, when “being adjacent to this big talent was a joy and an adrenaline rush.”

Meanwhile, Idina thinks Loud Mouse is “in the tradition of” her Frozen character Elsa — and of her Wicked character, Elphaba — in the sense that it “gives [kids] the permission to be your biggest, bravest, loudest self.”

“I think that that sort of all comes together and is very meaningful for them, and for us,” she notes.

The sisters have already written a sequel to Loud Mouse, and Idina tells ABC Audio, “I’d like to start curating a list of children’s music, and writing children’s music” for the book series.

Idina explains that she discovered that while touring the world singing “Let It Go, “There’s just nothing better for a performer than…to be able to hold the microphone out and have [kids] sing your song, and to do that with them, and with their parents.”

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Pixies have never been a band to stick to a particular sound, and recording a new album for the first time during the pandemic era gave them even more license to experiment.

“When you go to record, you’re, like, ‘Well, I don’t know if anyone’s gonna be able to see this or play this, so why not? F*** it! Just do whatever you want,'” bassist Paz Lenchantin tells ABC Audio. “Your brain kinda opens up to this place that was different than before.”

The result of said brain-opening is Doggerel, the eighth Pixies studio effort. Among the new things the “Where Is My Mind?” outfit brought to the record were songs co-written by guitarist Joey Santiago for the first time. Having played in Pixies for nearly 40 years, Santiago couldn’t help but write a Pixies song.

“To be honest, I did have something in mind that it’s got to fit within the vernacular of Pixies,” Santiago shares. “Unbeknownst to me, these little tricks that we were doing were coming out.”

Doggerel is now the fourth album Pixies have released since the group reunited in 2004, matching the four-record output of their pre-breakup era between 1986 and 1993. Santiago sees the post-reunion albums as a “linear” continuation of Pixies’ earlier work.

“It went in the path where we should be,” Santiago says.

“None of our records really sound alike, none of them,” he adds, while noting, “There’s always a signature in them, and the signature’s still there.”

Doggerel is out now. Pixies are currently playing a run of U.S. headlining shows in support of the record, which continues Monday in Los Angeles.

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The last time Taylor Swift wanted to stage live performances to support an album, the pandemic forced her to postpone her plans, and then cancel them altogether.  But now, there’s word that Taylor might be plotting a return to the road for 2023.

As you may recall, Taylor’s Lover Fest tour, announced in fall 2019 in support of her album Lover, was set to include four U.S. shows, 10 European shows and two concerts in Brazil. But due to COVID-19, in April of 2020, she postponed several of the dates until 2021. Others, including a headlining appearance at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival, were canceled outright. In February of 2021, she called the entire thing off.

But Page Six is now citing “multiple sources” as saying that Taylor is going to come roaring back in 2023 with a “massive” stadium tour.  “Taylor has some really ambitious plans in place,” an insider tells Page Six. “She’s excited to get back on the road after such a long but fruitful break.”

“Fruitful” is right: Since 2019, Taylor’s released two new albums — folklore and evermore — and recorded another one, Midnights, that’s coming out October 21. She also released re-recorded versions of two of her older albums: Fearless and Red. All four of those albums hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart.

Another source tells Page Six that several shows have already been booked for 2023, but Taylor’s rep didn’t respond to requests for comment. Stay tuned.

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Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck guest on a new single from rising Cuban rock artist Hector Tellez Jr.

The track is called “Silver Blue Jellyfish” and is available now via digital outlets.

“‘Silver Blue Jellyfish’ is a song about hope and how powerful your life can be when you listen to the call of your deepest purpose and how you can inspire others to pursue their desire to lead a life of freedom, love and happiness,” Tellez says.

The collaboration came together after Tellez’s demo found its way to producer Barrett Martin, who played drums in Screaming Trees and the grunge supergroup Mad Season. Upon inviting Tellez to Seattle to record an album, Martin also recruited a few friends in Novoselic and Buck to take part, too.

Buck joined Tellez to perform “Silver Blue Jellyfish” during this year’s Hispanic Heritage Awards, which will air Friday on PBS.

Novoselic, meanwhile, performed at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in Los Angeles earlier this week, joining his Nirvana bandmate Dave Grohl, members of Soundgarden and The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen to play two Soundgarden songs.

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Billy Eichner said Mariah Carey was his only choice when it came to soundtracking the club scene for his new gay rom-com, Bros. He told E! News, “It had to be Mariah Carey. It was the only one. Mariah rules. I love her so much.”  

Margot Robbie is part of Taylor Swift’s so-called “squad,” so she loved working with her on the new movie Amsterdam. She told Capital FM, “She’s so lovely, a real girl’s girl!” Margot also got hooked up with some Folkore merch, but her guy friends took it all. “I ended up giving it all to the my guy friends because they were all so excited and they were the way bigger T Swift fans than my girlfriends,” she laughed.

You can now try to win Doja Cat‘s heart — and more — in the popular but raunchy video game House Party.  She is the latest celeb to join the suggestive game. House Party shared a teaser of her crazy storyline, which starts with her trying to sneak into a house party and then putting on an explosive concert.

It’s still hitting Sara Bareilles that she is part of an original Broadway cast recording of Into the Woods. She celebrated on Instagram, “Thrilling is not an adequate word for the feeling of being a part of an original Broadway cast album. I can’t believe it. I’m so happy.” The album is out now.

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A notable omission from Nothing Compares, the new Showtime documentary about Sinéad O’Connor, is the singer’s smash hit recording of the Prince-penned “Nothing Compares 2 U.”  In fact, a message on the screen during the film reads, “The Prince estate denied use of Sinéad‘s recording of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ in this film.”  Director Kathryn Ferguson told ABC Audio she wasn’t sure why they turned down the request — but now we know.

One of Prince’s heirs, half-sister Sharon Nelson, explained the decision in a statement to Billboard.

“I didn’t feel [Sinéad] deserved to use the song my brother wrote in her documentary so we declined,” Nelson said.

But there’s another reason: Nelson said in her statement that “nothing compares” to Prince’s 1992 live version of the song — included on his 1993 album Hits 1 — that he recorded with singer Rosie Gaines. The estate just happens to be rereleasing that album on vinyl on November 4.

It’s not clear why Nelson and her siblings felt that Sinéad “didn’t deserve” to use the recording. In Sinéad’s 2021 memoir, Rememberings, she claims that when she met Prince, he criticized her for using profanity in interviews and then challenged her to a pillow fight. She also claims he put something in the pillow that would hurt her. 

After leaving, Sinéad writes of Prince, “I never wanted to see that devil again.” 

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An already multihyphenate superstar, Keke Palmer is adding yet another notch to her entertainment belt. 

The Nope actress took to social media Friday to announce KeyTV, a new digital TV network for “a new generation of creators.”

Palmer announced the new venture in a fun, short video posted to social media where she reminds viewers of the many entertainment hats she’s worn over the years and emphasizes the need for cultural stories to be told. 

“I want to share everything I learned with you, because this is my greatest dream of all,” says Palmer while sitting in a director’s chair. “All it takes is one of us to unlock a door to unlock a million doors for each other. I’m so excited to introduce you guys to KeyTV.”

Palmer also shared a short video to KeyTV’s YouTube page, emphasizing how behind-the-scenes creators — production designers, sound mixers, photographers — are just as important as those in front of the camera. 

“What if I told you we just need more you,” she says before cutting to a montage of Black creators. 

While not much information has been provided about the network or how to become part of it, Keke promises the new platform will be a place “where our stories matter and where we are represented as the keys to the culture.”

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