Brad Paisley is on the road again, and he’s got the bourbon to prove it.
Last year, the “City of Music” star dropped his own line of bourbon, called American Highway Reserve. The whiskey was aged in barrels in a semi-trailer that followed his 2019 tour across 25 states and a variety of climates.
Now, he’s back with a new American Highway line called Route 2, which followed Brad across the country in 2021. The 10,000 cases traveled in 90 barrels over thousands of miles along Brad’s tour.
“Bourbon is like a song: the more life it has lived on its journey, the deeper the story, the richer it becomes,” the singer reflects. “This second batch has seen more miles. I think you will be surprised at the unique character a different journey created.”
For more information on Brad’s bourbon — and to learn how to pick up a bottle of your own — visit the American Highway Reserve’s website.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Rolling Stones‘ classic 12th U.S. studio album, the double-disc Exile on Main St.
The 18-track collection found the British rock legends diving deep into their American roots-music influences, including the blues, country, gospel and, of course, early rock ‘n’ roll.
Exile on Main St. was the second in a streak of eight consecutive Stones studio albums that reached #1 on the Billboard 200, spending four weeks atop the chart in June and July of ’72. The record yielded two hit singles, “Tumbling Dice” and the Keith Richards-sung “Happy,” which peaked, respectively, at #7 and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Other standout tracks on the album included “Rocks Off,” “Sweet Virginia,” “Loving Cup,” “All Down the Line” and “Shine a Light.”
Many tracks on Exile on Main St. were recorded in the U.K. between 1969 and 1971, at London’s Olympic Studios and Mick Jagger‘s Stargroves country house, but much of the album came together after The Rolling Stones relocated to France in 1971 as British tax exiles. While the band members were in France, the bulk of the recording was done a makeshift studio set up at a villa called Nellcôte that Richards rented near the city of Nice.
While at Nellcôte, Richards reportedly struggled with heroin addiction, causing the sessions to drag on for months. Overdubs, vocals and other additions were recorded later in Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound at sessions overseen by Jagger.
Exile on Main St. was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012, and was ranked at #14 on Rolling Stone‘s 2020 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
Here’s the album’s full track list:
LP 1
Side A
“Rocks Off”
“Rip This Joint”
“Shake Your Hips”
“Casino Boogie”
“Tumbling Dice”
Side B
“Sweet Virginia”
“Torn and Frayed”
“Sweet Black Angel
“Loving Cup”
LP 2
Side A
“Happy”
“Turd on the Run”
“Ventilator Blues”
“I Just Want to See His Face”
“Let It Loose”
Side B
“All Down the Line”
“Stop Breaking Down”
“Shine a Light”
“Soul Survivor”
This week, Asking Alexandria will launch their first U.S. headlining tour in four years.
“We’ve not done any headline shows or tours in the States since the [2017’s] self-titled album came out,” guitarist Ben Bruce tells ABC Audio. “We did a co-headliner with Black Veil Brides, and that’s the last time…We’ve been supporting since then.”
Asking Alexandria did have a stateside tour planned to support their 2020 album Like a House on Fire, but, like pretty much every other band that year, they had to cancel that trek due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve been sat waiting to do a headline tour for a few years now,” Bruce says. “So we’re excited, we’re really, really excited.”
Now that the tour has finally arrived, Asking Alexandria will be supporting both Like a House on Fire and its 2021 follow-up, See What’s on the Inside, which features the singles “Alone Again” and the whistle-heavy “Never Gonna Learn.”
Asked how the whistling on “Never Gonna Learn” will be replicated onstage, Bruce says the band will be using a track instead of a live, in-person whistler, though it’s not for a lack of trying.
“We learned this the hard way,” Bruce admits. “When you’re playing live and you go to whistle down a mic, all the crowd can hear is the air from your mouth going down through the PA.”
The guitarist continues, “So, [we thought], ‘Ah, it doesn’t really work.’ Unless you got one of those big sponges like Axl Rose had on the end of his microphone, which, unfortunately I don’t think are in fashion anymore. So we’re letting the tracks to the whistling for us.”
Asking Alexandria’s tour, which will be co-headlined by Nothing More, kicks off Friday in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Chainsmokers are breaking tradition with their forthcoming album, So Far So Good. The EDM duo is known for their hot collaborations, but they reveal their latest work features none.
Andrew Taggart told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe that the album’s lack of guests was an organic development. “To be honest, that’s just how it happened,” he said.
The Chainsmokers made a name for themselves due, in part, to the artists they’ve featured on their music. Their best-known songs are collaborations, like “Closer” with Halsey, “Something Just Like This” featuring Coldplay, and “Don’t Let Me Down,” with Daya. The band’s previously said their new album is a reintroduction of sorts, which Andrew says that meant limiting the number of featured artists.
“We have songs with other people right now. They’re not at the place where we wanted and we will do songs with other people going forward,” he explained. “But I think we really wanted to put out an album that’s like, ‘This is the Chainsmokers.'”
Andrew previously revealed his voice is on every track of So Far So Good, which is also a first. When they released the album trailer in April, fans noticed there wasn’t a featured artist on any of the record’s 13 tracks.
As for Alex Pall, he says this album symbolizes a “reset” for The Chainsmokers. “What I think is really great now is we have this foundation that we really believe in, and we have this kind of thesis statement and narrative that it feels like us,” he said, adding the album will show “what we’re trying to say and what we’re trying to sound like.”
So Far So Good arrives Friday, May 13. It’s the follow up to Chainsmokers’ 2019 record, World War Joy.
Along with New Kids on the Block, En Vogue and Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley is one of the stars involved in the just-launched Mixtape Tour, and the “Never Gonna Give You Up” singer says he has no problem being on a bill that’s all about ’80s and ’90s nostalgia.
“I kind of feel all I have to do is show up and do what I’m supposed to,” he tells USA Today, adding, “Nostalgia is not an ugly thing to me. It’s having beautiful emotions about music you grew up listening to.”
Rick’s debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody, is getting the re-release treatment on May 20, and he says seeing the audience’s reaction when he sings the hits from that album — not just “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but also “Together Forever” and “It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man” — means a lot to him.
“If I’m singing in front of an audience, I’m seeing what they remember [about the songs],” he explains. “If I can see someone turn to their husband or wife and give a hug, that’s really special and amazing.”
Rick’s enjoyed a fairly high profile in recent years — not just because of the “Rickrolling” phenomenon, but also because he’s become an unlikely star on TikTok. Plus, “Never Gonna Give You Up” was used to great effect in the touching season-two funeral scene of the Emmy-winning comedy Ted Lasso.
“I was really moved by what they did with the song,” Rick says of that scene.
He adds, “To have a younger audience get into my songs, you have to see that as kind of a bonus…I’m allowed to be involved in the world of music today. I would have loved to be cool, but I’ve never been cool, and that’s O.K.”
A four-CD box set gathering together recordings from various solo concerts that longtime Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman played during the mid-1970s will be released this Friday, May 13.
The Myths and Legends of Rick Wakeman features Wakeman showcasing songs from his first three solo concept albums — 1972’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 1974’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and 1975’s The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Disc one features performances from shows that Rick played in North America in 1974, disc two was recorded at a 1975 concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, disc three captures a 1976 concert at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, and the final disc features a 1976 performance from the Farnham, U.K., venue The Maltings.
“It’s really lovely to see some of the music I’m most proud of, released in a new way and presented so well,” Wakeman says about the box set. “I’m still wondering though if I am more of a myth than a legend!!!”
The collection includes a 16-page booklet offering liner notes and archival photos. You can order the box set and check out its track list at CleoRecs.com.
Meanwhile, in a new update on his official website, Wakeman reports that he’s busy writing new material for his next album, which he’s planning to have finished by mid-June.
The 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also reveals that he’s been “struggling with osteoarthritis and diabetes,” noting that he’s “slowly getting them under control.”
In addition, he reports that he has a new book coming out around Christmas time titled Ramblings of a Grumpy Old Rock Star, and is working on an official biography that he plans to complete “sometime next year.”
Andy Grammer says he knows the secret of connecting with others, and it has something to do with being known as “the positive guy” in music.
Speaking with Billboard‘s Behind the Setlist podcast, the “Saved My Life” singer explained why he’s embraced the moniker, even though it’s “cheesy.” Said Andy, “We all need optimism.”
“We all need a reason to jump out of bed,” he continued. “We all need to go into our soul. It’s just that it comes with so much cynicism that unless you’re doing it at such a high level and so aggressively, it doesn’t get in. But if you do get in, you’ll have fans for life that’ll show up every single time you come through.”
Andy first burst onto the music scene with his 2010 hit “Keep Your Head Up,” which he wrote in the memory of his mother, Kathy Grammer, who died of breast cancer the year prior.
Andy noted that his songs tend to look on the bright side of things, and understood that fans have come to expect that of him.
“I feel so blessed that [with] this art form it’s expected that you play your repertoire,” Andy explained. “It’s just like not the case with other art forms. If you’re an actor, you do your thing and then you gotta go do another thing. And when you show up to your next set, I imagine you’re almost have to let go of all that because people don’t want to see that guy anymore. You got to get into this new role.”
Whereas in music, Andy says, “they’d be p***ed if I don’t play the best stuff that I’ve had over the last 10 years.”
Trevor Strnad, the frontman for the beloved death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder, has died. He was 41.
Strnad’s band mates shared the news in an Instagram post Wednesday, writing, “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Trevor Scott Strnad.”
The post continues, “Beloved son, brother, and Shepard of good times, he was loved by all that met him. A walking encyclopedia of all things music. He was a hugger, a writer, and truly one of the world’s greatest entertainers. His lyrics provided the world with stories and spells and horror and whimsy. It was his life to be your show.”
The message concludes with the number to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline; no cause of death was announced.
The Black Dahlia Murder released nine albums, spanning from 2003’s Unhallowed to 2020’s Verminous, while becoming staples of the melodic death metal genre.
Many figures of the metal community have already expressed their condolences, including Judas Priest‘s Rob Halford, who responded to the post with prayer-hands and broken-heart emojis. Lamb of God‘s Randy Blythe, Testament‘s Alex Skolnick and Slayer‘s Gary Holt also commented.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Chris Janson and Eric Church share some of the details about filming their music video, “You, Me & the River,” in a new behind-the-scenes clip that’s been posted on Janson’s YouTube channel.
Lee Brice is heading up a Memorial Day radio special that will benefit the Folded Flag Foundation, a nonprofit that helps fund educational scholarships and grants for the families of fallen soldiers. Listeners can hear the special on their local radio stations, and can donate here.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has announced a special four-day run of programming during CMA Fest. From a showcase of the CMT Next Women of Country to a songwriter session with Caitlyn Smith and a musician spotlight on Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne, there’s something for everyone at the Hall. Visit the venue’s website for more info.
CHVRCHES has announced a run of U.S. headlining dates in continued support of the band’s latest album, Screen Violence.
The newly added shows begin July 26 in New Orleans, and include stops peppered throughout August and September before wrapping up October 3 in Boise, Idaho.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit CHVRCH.es.
Screen Violence, the fourth CHVRCHES album, was released last August. It includes the single “He Said She Said” and the Robert Smith collaboration “How Not to Drown.”
