Tim McGraw wears many hats — country superstar and starring actor on the Yellowstone prequel 1883, for two — but none is more important than the title he has at home: Proud dad.
Tim and his fellow country superstar wife, Faith Hill, are parents to three adult daughters — Gracie, Maggie and Audrey — and in an interview with his record label ahead of Father’s Day, the singer says he couldn’t be prouder of the people they’ve grown up to become.
“They’re all completely different creatures,” he reflects. “But they all have big hearts, and they are all very polite and they really respect people, and they all feel like they wanna make a difference in the world. Hopefully we’ve instilled that into them.”
Though all three of his girls are their own unique people, Tim says that he and Faith can see the family resemblance in all three daughters.
“It’s funny because Faith and I have talked about that a little bit, and I think we see each other in all three of ‘em,” he says. “There’s little parts of us in all three of ‘em.”
L-Bryan Cranston; R- Steve Miller; L. Busacca/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall of Fame
Steve Miller is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Thursday night in New York City, he received an honor that he considers even better than that: He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. On the red carpet before the event, Miller told ABC Audio that he never expected that he’d be honored for his songwriting.
“I was absolutely shocked when I was told that I was going to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame,” Miller told ABC Audio. “I went, ‘What?’ And I was in disbelief. But it’s such an honor and I’m so glad to be here.”
“When you look at the people on the list being inducted tonight, it’s just stunning,” he added, referring to fellow inductees like Eurythmics and The Isley Brothers. “And to be part of that…it’s the highest honor in my career.”
While Miller’s compositions include number-one hits like “The Joker,” “Rock’n Me” and “Abacadabra,” he says there’s one song he’s particularly proud of.
“I think ‘Fly Like an Eagle’ is one that stands out,” he says of his 1976 number-two hit. “It’s a really important song to a lot of people all over the world.”
“It’s about justice and equality. And so that means something that’s better than ‘ooh, baby, baby’ — even though I love the ‘ooh, baby, baby’ songs, you know?” he laughs. “But that one…it’s affected the world a little bit, so that makes it more valuable.”
Miller played “Fly Like an Eagle” at the ceremony after being inducted by his friend Bryan Cranston, who he met about three years ago backstage at Cranston’s Broadway show.
“I just dig the guy, y’know?” the actor told reporters. “He’s like a really cool guy who loves music…he loves blues and jazz and, you know, country. He explores, he stretches his musical talents and curiosities…he was destined to be in music and play the guitar.”
Surprise! Drake‘s seventh studio album Honestly, Nevermind is here!
The Canadian rapper released the project at midnight Friday, just hours after he announced it in an Instagram post Thursday evening.
Alongside a shot of the album’s artwork, Drake wrote, “7th studio album, “HONESTLY, NEVERMIND” out at midnight.”
Shortly after, the 35-year-old shared the tracklist. The album, which was co-produced by the “Way 2 Sexy” rapper, his longtime collaborator Noah “40” Shebib, his manager Oliver El-Khatib, Noel Cadastre, and Black Coffee, features a total of 14 songs, with only one feature from 21 Savage on the album’s final track titled “Jimmy Cooks.”
Honestly, Nevermind is the follow up to Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, which dropped less than a year ago in September 2021.
Could there be a Wolf Alice and Hayley Williams collaboration brewing?
During the latest episode of her Everything Is EmoBBC Sounds radio show, the Paramore singer shared her love for the English rockers after playing their Blue Weekend song “How Can I Make It OK?”
“I cannot imagine Ellie [Rowsell‘s] voice live,” Williams said of the Wolf Alice frontwoman. “It is insane on the album. And you just can’t fake that.”
Williams then added, “Ellie, I wanna sing with you, so bad.”
When news of Williams’ comments reached Wolf Alice thanks to a fan on Twitter, Rowsell replied, “I would sing with u any day queen,” alongside a heart emoji.
While you wait for a possible collaboration to materialize, you can catch Wolf Alice playing U.S. shows next week opening for Bleachers and Halsey. They’ll launch their own North American headlining tour in September.
Paramore, meanwhile, will make their return to the live stage for the first time in four years in October at the Austin City Limits and When We Were Young festivals.
Keith Urban’s currently looking ahead to his big return to the road: His The Speed of Now Tour launches this month.
The live show veteran has played all over the place, and his current tour will traverse the U.S. and make a few stops in Canada and his native Australia. But the absolute craziest crowd he’s ever played to? It’s gotta be the UK, he tells ET Online.
“All of the UK. Every single show,” Keith reveals. “It’s like a soccer final. It is insane.”
Keith’s hoping to keep the energy high in every city he goes to, and over the years, he’s learned that it’s important to take breaks in between shows if you want to keep the energy up.
“I’m lucky where I can do a few shows and then come home for a few days. I structured the tour where I can do that,” he continues. “…It also keeps the shows fresh. ‘Cause I’ve been to plenty of shows where you can tell, ‘That person probably needs to take a break.’”
To find a stop on Keith’s The Speed of Now Tour near you, head over to his tour calendar.
Father’s Day is Sunday and one of pop music’s most high-profile dads, Michael Bublé, will soon become a father for the fourth time. He and his wife, Luisana Lopilato, already parents to sons Noah and Elias and daughter Vida, are expecting a baby girl. Michael, whose Instagram bio lists him as “Devoted Papi,” couldn’t be happier.
“Very proud,” Michael told ABC Audio when asked how he feels about the fact that his wife is expecting again. He then joked, “Hard-earned I would say…a minute-and-a-half of some of the greatest work!”
All kidding aside, though, Michael evidently loves being a girl dad. He told ABC Audio, “I love having boys. I’ve got two boys. But when I heard it was a girl, I was so excited. Like, it’s amazing! There’s a kind of love that the girl gives you, and it’s so nice.”
But before he could be accused of playing favorites, Michael was careful to note, “I love having healthy kids, and I love being a dad. And I love that my wife went for one more. So I take as many as possible.”
You can see all three of Michael’s children in the video for his latest hit, “I’ll Never Not Love You.” His son Noah, who’ll be nine in August, co-wrote the title track of Michael’s latest album, Higher.
Paul McCartney, arguably the most famous and influential rock artist on the planet, celebrates his 80th birthday this Saturday, January 18.
McCartney, of course, is known first and foremost for being a member of The Beatles, along with the late John Lennon, the late George Harrison and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon co-led the band, which not only set countless charts records, but whose music and style changed popular culture.
After The Beatles’ 1970 breakup, McCartney mounted a successful solo career that included a long stint fronting the band Wings. He also took part in a variety of memorable collaborations.
The rock legend has remained a vibrant creative force into his golden years, as he continues to tour regularly and record new music.
On Thursday, McCartney wrapped up the first leg of his Got Back Tour, with a show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and he’s scheduled to headline this year’s edition of the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on June 25.
Sir Paul’s most recent studio album, McCartney III, which he recorded almost entirely by himself during the COVID-19 lockdown, was released in December 2020.
The acclaimed Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which premiered in November 2021 and focused on the Fab Four’s historic January 1969 sessions that yielded the Let It Be album, sparked a renewed appreciation for McCartney’s creation contributions to the Fab Four.
Also in the past year, Paul appeared in the Hulu documentary miniseries McCartney 3,2,1, which featuring him in conversation with producer Rick Rubin; he published the illustrated children’s book Grandude’s Green Submarine, a sequel to his 2019 book, Hey Grandude!; and he released the book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, which offers a self-portrait of the music icon while profiling 154 songs he’s written throughout his long career.
Meanwhile, a variety of special events are planned this weekend in McCartney’s hometown of Liverpool, U.K., to mark his milestone birthday. They include tribute concerts, a Macca-themed sightseeing tour and special performances at Paul’s childhood home. Find out more details about the celebrations at TheGuideLiverpool.com.
Maybe Thomas Rhett is just a trendsetter: In 2019, when he wrote his song “Bring the Bar to You,” he was feeling inspired by Latin music, but he had no idea that the Disney film Encanto was two years away from taking the world by storm.
Now, with “Bring the Bar to You” on the track list of his new album — and the namesake of his next tour — TR jokes that his song sounds quite a bit like one of the Encanto soundtrack’s most popular hits.
“And now that this song is coming out when ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ is out at the same time, makes me feel really good about life,” he continues. “Because we have been watching Encanto severely. And this song reminds me of that song.”
Meanwhile, there’s another unintentionally timely element to “Bring the Bar to You”: He wrote it before the COVID-19 pandemic, but in light of the 2020 shutdowns, its themes of making your own fun instead of heading out to a bar are more relatable than ever.
TR and his wife, Lauren Akins, have certainly learned a thing or two about making a party for themselves at home. “Me and Lauren got real good at bringing the bar to each other during 2020. I don’t think we saw a bar for a year and a half,” he remembers.
“So we got really good at getting creative with date night,” Thomas adds, “whether it was cooking together, watching a movie downstairs, opening a bottle of wine, whatever it was.”
But it’s also a “party jam,” he points out, making it the perfect namesake for his tour. TR’s Bring the Bar to You Tour kicks off on Friday.
Bonnaroo has finally returned, and Judah & the Lion is ready to jam again.
The “Take It All Back” outfit is set to perform at the Tennessee festival — which is back this year after being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and weather, respectively — this Saturday. The set will essentially be a hometown show for the Nashville-based band, and they plan to celebrate accordingly.
“We’re going all out on the production,” frontman Judah Akers tells ABC Audio.
This year marks Judah & the Lion’s second performance at Bonnaroo, following their debut in 2016. However, they have a long history of attending the festival as fans.
“When we were in college, we would go and camp for the four days,” Akers shares. “We just love that festival a lot.”
The Bonnaroo set will also give Judah a chance to play songs off their new album, Revival, which dropped last Friday. Perhaps they’ll bring out the single “Scream!”, which, ironically, doesn’t have any screaming on it. Instead, Akers merely whispers the word “scream” on the song.
“We talked about it, ’cause I scream a lot on certain songs,” Akers explains. “When we were talking about, [we thought] it feels like the fans should be the ones to do it.”
Playing “Scream!” live, Akers thinks, will be an opportune time to let the crowd let their emotions fly.
“We wanted to subtly play at that whisper that we did on the track,” Akers says. “But we’re hoping that the fans gravitate [to it] live and will take over that spot.”
Even if you’re not going to Bonnaroo this year, you can still “Scream!” along to Judah & the Lion’s set, which will air via Hulu’s livestream of the festival.
Xernona Clayton‘s entrance onto the blue carpet of the 2022 Trumpet Awards in April was quiet but grand, similar to her humble recollection of the history-rich 91 years of her life. Though welcoming of questions about her mission as the creator of the Black awards show, Clayton was eager to delve into her career and life story beyond the Trumpets. Ahead of the 30th annual Trumpet Awards airing on Juneteenth, ABC Audio spoke with Clayton about her humanitarianism.
“I think I’ve done some things that were momentous but people always pick out the Trumpets,” Clayton said jokingly via Zoom call from her home in Atlanta. “Everything else has kind of been forgotten. But that’s OK.”
Born Xernona Brewster on August 30, 1930, Clayton was raised in the segregated small town of Muskogee, Oklahoma, by her part-Indian mother and Black father. She grew up to become an integral leader of the civil rights movement.
Clayton investigated employment discrimination with the National Urban League; became the first Black person in the South to host a prime-time television talk show; and was good friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
“I’ve fulfilled commitments through the work of Dr. King, and I became an integral part of the organization,” she said of her time working at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta.
Clayton and her late first husband, Ed Clayton, the Jet Magazine editor who stopped the presses to put Emmett Till‘s bludgeoned photo on the cover, relocated to Atlanta at the request of the Kings in 1965. She says they “trusted me implicitly” to do the civil and social work.
In 1968, Clayton drove King to the Atlanta airport ahead of his flight to Memphis, two days before his assassination. She tells people of their close relationship, “Once I met him and went to work for him, I stayed with him to the end, literally.”
She once got a key member of the Ku Klux Klan to renounce the white supremacist organization. She was also the driving force behind the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. For more than 50 years, her profound accomplishments have contributed to the advancement of America’s promise of liberty and justice for all.
While she couldn’t quite articulate what legacy she hopes to leave behind, she did offer a piece of advice: “Don’t occupy space on Earth as your contribution, do something.”
