Darius Rucker of Hootie & The Blowfish performs on stage at Bridgestone Arena on July 27, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jason Davis/Getty Images)
Hootie & the Blowfish haven’t released a new album since 2019’s Imperfect Circle, but they’re playing Stagecoach on Sunday, followed by several major festivals this summer. And last week in Nashville, singer Darius Rucker told reporters they don’t have much motivation to put out new music if they can sell out shows without it. Besides, he said, nobody’s interested in hearing it.
“I’m mean, we’re lucky,” he told reporters. “We’re at that point in our careers where we don’t have to put out a record. And we can decide to tour next summer, and we’re gonna sell out arenas and the sheds. Every artist in the world, when they’re 16, 17, 19, 20, playing in clubs, that’s where they wanna be at the end.”
“They don’t know it, they think, ‘We wanna have hits our whole career,’ and nobody does that,” Darius continued. “You know, you wanna be at a point where you don’t have to have hits, you can still go and play to 15,000 people. And we’re lucky enough to be there.”
“So it’s like, if we make music, great, but ain’t nobody listening to that s*** anyway,” he laughed. “You know, people want to hear ‘Hold My Hand.’ They want to hear ‘Only Wanna Be With You.’ So that’s what we’re gonna play.”
Despite the lack of new music, the band recently hit #1 — on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. The song that did it for them was “Bottle Rockets,” by country star and former American Idol champ Scotty McCreery. It contains an interpolation of “Hold My Hand,” so Hootie & the Blowfish joined him on the track.
Hootie & the Blowfish will play the Bourbon & Beyond, Oceans Calling and Windy City Smokeout festivals. Meanwhile, Darius has a solo tour, Songs of Summer, starting June 4.
Bonjour, Wednesday Addams. Netflix has released the first image from season 3 of its hit series Wednesday, and it features the titular teen, as portrayed by Jenna Ortega, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. She wears a black trench coat and has her trusty companion Thing, the sentient disembodied hand, perched next to her on the seat of a motorcycle. “From Paris, with dread,” Netflix captioned the photo …
The star-studded cast of the upcoming film Ibelin has just gained a new star. Deadline reports that Bill Nighy has joined the cast of the film, replacing the role that was first announced to be played by Anthony Hopkins. Ibelin, which tells the true story of late disabled Norwegian gamer Mats Steen, also stars Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham, Toni Collette, Isabela Merced and Maisy Stella …
The Pitt season 2 went out with a bang. Variety reports the season 2 finale was the series’ most-watched episode ever. It reached 9.7 million viewers during its opening weekend, according to numbers from Warner Bros. Discovery. Additionally, the second season is averaging 15.4 million viewers across all of its episodes …
Kevin Warsh, former governor of the US Federal Reserve, during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings on Friday, April 25, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s selection to chair the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, will testify in a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday as his nomination faces bipartisan opposition centered on a federal criminal investigation into the central bank’s current leader.
The probe into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which focuses on alleged false testimony to Congress about an office renovation, threatens to derail or delay Warsh’s nomination.
Powell, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, has rebuked the probe as a politically motivated effort to influence interest-rate policy.
Warsh, a former Fed official, will likely face scrutiny from some lawmakers eager for assurance that he will set interest rates based on economic conditions, even if it puts him out of step with Trump’s preference for low interest rates.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a potentially decisive vote on the committee, says he will not move to advance the nomination until the Department of Justice resolves its unprecedented investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell’s term as Fed chair ends on May 15, but he said last month he would stay in the position until Warsh is confirmed. For his part, Trump told Fox Business last week he would fire Powell if the current Fed chair attempts to remain in office past the end of his term.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the committee, voiced concern in a statement last week about what she considers Warsh’s perceived lack of independence, saying he may end up being “Donald Trump’s sock puppet.”
By contrast, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has dismissed such worries in a post on X last week.
Under Warsh, Scott said, the Fed will “be focused solely on strengthening the American economy.”
Warsh, who previously worked on Wall Street and in the George W. Bush administration, brings experience in finance and policymaking.
He is currently a fellow at a conservative think tank called the Hoover Institution, which is based at Stanford University. He also works as a partner at the Duquesne Family Office, an investment firm founded by billionaire and former hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller.
In 2006, Bush appointed Warsh to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors, a top policymaking body that helps set the level of interest rates, where he served until 2011. His tenure overlapped with the 2008 financial crisis, during which he helped manage the central bank’s response under then-Chair Ben Bernanke.
The nomination of Warsh arrives at a delicate moment for the Fed, as it grapples with a challenging combination of elevated inflation and sluggish hiring. An interest-rate hike could help ease inflation but risks a further cooldown of the labor market, while a rate cut may boost hiring but threatens higher inflation.
During his term as a Fed governor in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Warsh gained a reputation as an interest-rate “hawk,” meaning he generally preferred higher interest rates as a means of ensuring low and stable inflation.
In recent months, however, Warsh has voiced support for lower interest rates, rebuking the Fed’s concern about inflation risk posed by a flurry of new tariffs issued last year.
Those remarks came before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, however, which sent inflation soaring last month.
The rapid acceleration of price increases could complicate interest rate policy at the Fed, which may be reluctant to lower borrowing costs as inflation climbs.
Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (left) and former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (right) campaign in Leesburg, VA on Monday, April 20, 2026. (ABC News)
(RICHMOND, Va.) — Voters in Virginia head to the polls Tuesday to vote on a redistricting ballot measure referendum that could have major implications for the midterm elections.
The referendum will decide if the Democratic-controlled legislature should be allowed to redraw the state’s congressional map. That would allow the legislature to implement a map that would reconfigure four congressional seats to favor Democrats, which could have major implications for control of the U.S. House after November’s midterm election.
Democrats have said they need the measure in Virginia to pass in order to continue to counter previous mid-decade redistricting that benefited Republicans in Texas and other states. But Republicans have called it a power grab in a state that is relatively split even politically, and say it sidelines a redistricting commission voters previously approved.
Surrogates for both sides of the measure have been campaigning in full force ahead of election day, and President Donald Trump weighed in on Monday night in a rally held by telephone.
“This referendum is a blatant partisan power grab… if it passes, Virginia Democrats will eliminate four out of five congressional seats [held by Republicans in Virginia], so you’re going to get just wiped out in terms of representation in Washington,” Trump said on Monday.
But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., a strong proponent of the measure, said earlier Monday that the redistricting was because of Trump, who encouraged Texas and other states to redistrict in 2025.
“We believe that it’s the voters of Virginia and the people of this country who should decide which party is in the majority… not Donald Trump and his extreme MAGA sycophants in state legislative bodies across the country who were ordered by Donald Trump to gerrymander the national congressional map as part of the effort to rig the midterm elections,” he told reporters on Monday.
During mid-decade redistricting in 2025, nine seats were redrawn to benefit Republicans, while six seats were redrawn to benefit Democrats. If Democrats add four seats to their count, then Democrats might only net one new seat if all seats flip as expected in November. But Florida is also set to consider mid-decade redistricting, which is expected to help Republicans bolster their count.
In the Virginia election, the Democratic-supported side of the measure far outfundraised and outspent the main group supporting a “no” vote, according to campaign finance filings, although both sides raised and spent millions. As of April 10, Virginians for Fair Elections, the flagship organization campaigning in favor of redistricting, has raised over $64 million, while Virginians for Fair Maps Referendum Committee, the largest organization campaigning against redistricting, has raised under $20 million.
While Democrats framed many of their arguments in favor of the redraw as meant to counter Trump, the president himself did not campaign for the “no” side in person and did not engage much with the election until the day before Election Day.
Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, asked by ABC News outside of an anti-redistricting campaign event in Leesburg, Virginia, on Monday if he thinks Trump or national Republicans should have gotten more involved with the race, downplayed the need for that, saying that the opposition to redistricting could go across party lines.
“I think what we’ve seen is that, first of all, it’s been a grassroots effort across the Commonwealth,” Youngkin told ABC News. “There are so many [vote] ‘no’ signs around the Commonwealth… and at the heart of it, that’s Virginians standing up, not just Republicans.”
Darius Rucker hasn’t put out a new album since 2023’s Carolyn’s Boy, but there’s new music on the way, he revealed at the recent #1 party for Scotty McCreery and Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Bottle Rockets.”
“I[‘ve] got a single coming out soon, as soon as we figure out what it is,” he told reporters. “We have a couple of songs we love. So we’re trying to figure out which one [will be first], how we’re gonna go one and two.”
Scotty and Darius share a producer, which led to the American Idol winner accidentally revealing the Hootie frontman — who’s been living in London of late — has been in the legendary studio associated with The Beatles.
“Frank [Rogers] and I recorded some stuff at Abbey Road, and it was great,” Darius confirmed, before going on to answer a question about his October 2025 engagement to Emily Deahl.
“I’ll be married probably by the end of the year,” he said. “We’re just gonna do it. We’re not gonna have a big thing. We’re just gonna go do it. So I’m sure by the end of the year, I’ll be married.”
Artwork for Prince’s ‘With This Tear’ (NPG Records)
A previously unreleased song from Prince has arrived ahead of the 10th anniversary of his death.
“With This Tear” is now available on streaming services, along with a video on YouTube.
The track, originally recorded at Paisley Park in November 1991, showcases Prince’s artistry, as he produced, arranged, composed and performed all the instruments. The song was offered to Céline Dion, who made her own cover in 1992. The new version was mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer/producer and frequent collaborator Chris James.
It’s the first of many recordings expected to drop throughout 2026 as part of a new Prince project.
Prince died on April 21, 2016. In honor of the anniversary, A Day 2 Reflect | A Night 2 Remember will be held at Paisley Park in Shakopee, Minnesota, featuring public tours, a candle-lighting ceremony and more.
The milestone is also being celebrated with the 10th Anniversary Celebration of Life, taking place June 3-6 across Paisley Park and downtown Minneapolis. Attendees will get access to unreleased music, screenings, panels and more. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday.
Paul Simon performs onstage during The Nearness Of You Benefit Concert at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 20, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)
Two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Paul Simon is set to receive an honorary doctorate from Juilliard.
According to a press release, the honorary doctorates are handed out to “distinguished artists whose work has shaped and expanded the fields of opera, music, dance, film and theater.”
This year’s other honorary doctorate recipients include ballerina Misty Copeland, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and actor Oscar Isaac.
“Each of this year’s remarkable honorary doctorate recipients has left an indelible mark on their field,” said Juilliard President Damian Woetzel. “As we celebrate Juilliard’s class of 2026, we acknowledge these artists who stand as shining examples of extraordinary achievement and impact on the world.”
The honorary doctorates will be handed out at the school’s 121st commencement on May 22. This year’s recipients will be celebrated with performances from Juilliard students.
Simon is currently on the European leg of his A Quiet Celebration tour and will begin a three-night stand in Amsterdam on Wednesday. He brings the tour back to North America June 4 in Palo Alto, California.
A complete list of dates can be found at PaulSimon.com.
Josh Hutcherson attends HBO’s ‘I Love LA’ FYC Panel at Pacific Design Center on April 19, 2026, in West Hollywood, California. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images for HBO)
Josh Hutcherson is opening up about the Taylor Swift fans who went after him on social media.
Back in December 2025, Hutcherson appeared in an I-D interview with his I Love LA costar Jordan Firstman, in which he said, “I’m not a Swiftie. Very much not. No shade, all respect, but definitely not.”
Firstman then said, “A little tiny shade. She can handle a little bit of shade.”
Fans of Swift took to Hutcherson’s social media after the interview was released, with many of them pointing out that the actor attended The Eras Tour. In an interview with British GQ published on Monday, Hutcherson spoke about the response from Swift’s fans.
“I got some heat because I did a photo shoot with Jordan, and Jordan asked me something about being a [Taylor Swift fan], and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m definitely not a Swiftie,'” Hutcherson said. “All of a sudden it garnered this, ‘F*** him! He’s a monster! Destroy him! He’s short! He hates her because he’s short!’”
Hutcherson, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, said the whole ordeal made him want a more private lifestyle.
“I think [Taylor] is great. Her music is not my kind of music,” Hutcherson said. “That is why I don’t want to be online … I don’t need that energy.”
The actor admitted his current overexposure has made him anxious.
“Being thrust out again in the world and online in such a big way, doing a bunch of press and being on TikTok, all those things made me feel very exposed. I started to get a lot of anxiety about it,” Hutcherson said, noting he has still has insecurities. “[They] haven’t gone away. I think I’ve learned how to cope and accept that these are my genetics. This is what I have.”
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (ABC/Randy Holmes)
Any time a musician suffers an injury that makes them unable to stand onstage, the go-to joke has been to suggest that they contact Dave Grohl to borrow his throne, which the Foo Fighters frontman famously had built so he could continue touring after breaking his leg in 2015. For bluegrass artist Billy Strings, though, that suggestion was very real.
Strings says that Grohl offered to send him the throne after he broke his leg attempting a skateboard trick during a recent show in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I had every intention of carrying on with the tour and Dave Grohling it,” Strings writes in a Facebook post. “He even texted me and offered me the throne!”
Even still, Strings has decided to stay off the road for a bit and “let this thing heal.” He’s postponed the remainder of his April dates to August.
Grohl has previously lent his throne to Axl Rose and Matthew Ramsey of the country band Old Dominion.
Meanwhile, someone in Grohl’s own band could’ve used the throne recently: Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear, who injured his foot in January in what the band called a “bizarre gardening accident.” Instead, Smear simply opted to drop off a run of shows and was temporarily replaced by guitarist Jason Falkner.
