Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford has premiered a new song called “Better Off High,” a track off his upcoming debut solo album, self-titled.
“Better Off High” is the third track to be released from self-titled, following the cuts “Cannibal” and “Grace.” The album, which includes guest spots from Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Monica Martin and Julia Michaels, will arrive in full on September 16.
You can listen to “Better Off High” now via digital outlets.
Mumford will launch a U.S. headlining tour in support of self-titled September 19 in Boulder, Colorado.
Jon Pardi is planning to release a collaboration with Luke Bryan — eventually.
During a Country Countdown USA appearance, while discussing his upcoming Mr. Saturday Night album, Jon decided to drop some hints about his long game for the record, which features an eventual deluxe album that will include a mega-watt duet.
“I’m gonna drop a little hint that the Mr. Saturday Night deluxe version coming out next year will have Luke Bryan on it,” he detailed. “I’m pretty excited about it. It’s a very country song.”
That should be no surprise to Jon’s fans, who know him as a bit of a neo-traditionalist, but Luke sometimes catches flak from classic country fans who think his music strays from the genre’s roots. This collab will prove them all wrong, Jon hints.
“When we recorded it, he said to me, ‘You might make the traditional people like me now, because it’s country,’” he continues. “It’s one of my favorites, and it was meant for me and Luke to sing. It’s not about a girl, but it’s about hard work. I think it’s gonna be a big song.”
In the meantime, fans can look forward to the first release of Mr. Saturday Night, which features the Midland duet “Longneck Way to Go.”
Here’s wishing a very happy and very rocking birthday to longtime Def Leppard guitarist and former Dio member Vivian Campbell, who turned 60 Thursday.
In honor of the milestone, Def Leppard is encouraging fans to donate to the Little Kids Rock music-education charity. Those who contribute to the cause will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a signed guitar that Campbell has been playing during the band’s current Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.
The Northern Ireland-born Campbell got his start in a band called Sweet Savage before joining the Ronnie James Dio-fronted Dio in 1983. Campbell appeared on Dio’s first three albums and co-wrote many of the band’s songs, including “Rainbow in the Dark.”
Campbell left Dio in 1986 and briefly joined Whitesnake. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he worked on a number of projects with Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm.
In 1992, he joined Def Leppard after the 1991 death of that band’s founding guitarist, Steve Clark. Campbell has played on all of Def Leppard’s albums since 1993’s Retro Active and has written or co-written many songs for the group.
Since 2012, Campbell has also been a member of Last in Line, a band featuring several Dio alums.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Joni Mitchell was presented with an honorary doctorate by the prestigious Boston-based institution the Berklee College of Music during an event held Tuesday at a private residence in Santa Monica, California.
The legendary singer/songwriter was bestowed with the honor by Berklee’s Office of the President and Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.
“Well, luckily I’m too old to get a swelled head,” the 78-year-old Mitchell said at the gathering after being introduced. “It’s a beautiful event. Words can’t describe it. I’ve got my good friends here with me.”
She added, “I wish my parents were alive. My mother in particular would be really proud of this because she wanted me to go to college. I went to art school and I quit after a year. She thinks of me as a quitter. So to see this achievement would be really impressive to her. I wish I could share it with her.”
Jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter were among the guests at the event, which included tribute performances by Grammy-winning artists Dianne Reeves and Esperanza Spalding.
In an introductory speech, Berklee President Erica Muhl commented, “Since her debut in the late 1960s, Joni has been a force for change in the industry, blazing the trail for women in music with an unwavering commitment to achieving the status rightfully due her as one of the world’s great musical artists.”
Terri Lyne Carrington, founder and artistic director of the Berklee’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, added about Mitchell, “Her career and social principles stand for the values our institute pursues — imagination, freedom, equity, and identity. I can think of no one more deserving.”
As reported back in July, ABC is throwing Norman Lear a party for reaching the 100-year milestone, and as we predicted then, some big names have stepped up to celebrate.
Jimmy Kimmel and Jennifer Aniston will take part in Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter, which will air on Thursday, September 22, at 9 p.m. ET and stream the next day on Hulu.
Oscar winner Octavia Spencer has also been put on the guest list for the celebration of the legendary producer of TV classics like All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times. Emmy winner Amy Poehler will also make an appearance.
Kimmel produced star-packed live stagings of Lear shows All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons and The Facts of Life, the latter of which saw his pal Aniston playing the show’s blond beauty queen Blair.
Other famous faces are likely to appear for what the network is calling a “one-night-only celebration” that “features intimate conversations, special performances and surprise reunions that pay homage to the man behind some of television’s greatest stories …”
For his part, Lear said, “I’ve always believed music and laughter have added time to my life. I’ve seen a lot throughout my 100 years, but I would’ve never imagined America having a front-row seat to my birthday celebration.”
(NEW YORK) — Apple users eagerly awaiting a new iPhone model will likely get their wish next month.
The company announced on Wednesday that it will hold a public event on Sept. 7 where Apple is expected to launch the latest line of iPhones and likely other products.
Apple is expected to release a set of four iPhone models that could be called the iPhone 14, Bloomberg reported. The new line is widely expected to feature an improved camera, among other updates.
Besides the iPhone, the company reportedly could announce a new line of the Apple Watch. The company is developing new health-related features that could alert a person to an increase in blood pressure as well as a change in body temperature related to fertility, The Wall Street Journal reported last September.
The event will take place at 1 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on Apple’s website.
Apple sent invites on Wednesday for some viewers to see the event in person at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Earnings released by Apple last month outpaced analyst expectations for profit and revenue, as the company brought in $83 billion over the third quarter. Growth, however, slowed for the company. Sales jumped 2% year-over-year in the third quarter, a marked decline from 9% year-over-year growth in the prior quarter.
Apple has promoted the public event next month with the teaser tagline “Far out.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Carole King has contributed a guest essay in Thursday’s The New York Times, advocating for the protection of America’s forests.
Titled “It Costs Nothing to Leave Our Trees as They Are,” the essay calls on the U.S. government to take action against commercial logging.
“The effects of the climate crisis are undeniable,” the singer-songwriter writes. “People are suffering, and the scale of the problem sometimes makes us feel helpless. But the public can do something right now by asking President Biden — in numbers too big to ignore — to use all of his powers to stop the logging of the nation’s mature and old-growth forests.”
She implores the president to issue an executive order “immediately” to take steps to stop commercial logging on public land.
Carole concludes, “In 1970, my collaborator Toni Stern wrote the lyrics to my most popular song, ‘It’s Too Late.’ That title should not refer to the climate. That’s why, at age 80, I’m using my voice to call on President Biden to stop commercial logging in our national forests. Please add your voice to mine.”
One of the hottest tickets in Hollywood right now is to a movie most people will likely never get to see: Batgirl.
According toThe Hollywood Reporter, the suddenly shelved movie is becoming the subject of what some dubbed “funeral screenings” for the movie’s cast and “select industry insiders.”
The intimate events this week at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, will allow those who worked on the project to say goodbye before the shelved film is either locked away in a vault or destroyed.
As reported, Warner Bros. Discovery made the nearly unprecedented decision to scrap the movie, in what will be posed as a $90 million or so “write-down” to the company, following WB’s acquisition by Discovery. The move took the film’s cast — including Batgirl herself Leslie Grace; Michael Keaton, who reprised as Batman/Bruce Wayne; and Brendan Fraser, who played the heavy — as well as its directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, by surprise.
Interestingly, the trade notes that WB could choose to keep the movie on ice permanently, which would entitle the studio to a portion of the write-down from the IRS now, with the rest coming in installments.
More unlikely, THR reports, the studio could outright destroy the film to prove it won’t ever be able to profit from it, in an effort to collect its full tax liability from it.
If Warner Bros. Discovery decided to somehow salvage the movie and release it, the trade notes, it would owe the IRS whatever monies it recouped from the write-down.
THR also notes that another shelved project, Scoob! Holiday Haunt, had its “funeral screenings” on the WB lot last week.
Mastodon has shared a new documentary detailing the making of the band’s latest album, Hushed and Grim.
The full-length film, which is over 90 minutes long, dives deep into the heavy emotions of the recording process for the album, which is dedicated to Mastodon’s late manger, Nick John.
In between those darker moments, the doc “intertwines comedic skits that showcase the band’s lighter, more humorous dynamic.” You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
Mastodon will hit the road in continued support of Hushed and Grim on a tour with Ghost, kicking off Friday in San Diego. Spiritbox will also be on the bill.
Shania Twain was one of the artists being celebrated at the ACM Honors ceremony on Wednesday night, and Kelsea Ballerini paid homage to the country legend in a very special way: by giving second life to one of Shania’s most memorable looks.
Kelsea turned out for the show wearing the very same long-sleeved white gown that Shania wore at the Grammy Awards in 1999. That was the awards show where Shania picked up Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for her enduring hit ballad “You’re Still the One.”
Glittering and floor-length with a turtleneck cut, Shania’s Marc Bouwer dress typically resides in the Grammy Museum these days, but it came out of retirement for the ACM Honors carpet. Kelsea even posed with it next to the living legend herself.
“She looks stunning. She looks like an absolute angel,” Shania told ET Online of the experience of seeing Kelsea wear her dress. “It’s very flattering to see her in the dress, and that she even wanted to wear it. I said, ‘I hope it’s not too dusty after being in the [Grammy Museum].’”
Kelsea and Shania teamed up in 2020 for a duet version of Kelsea’s single “Hole in the Bottle.”
