Chris Willman Music: Last News

Chris Willman Music WriterRed Hot Chili Peppers lived up to the first half of their name with a No. 1 bow on the Billboard 200 this week, as the group’s “Unlimited Love” stormed in with 97,500 album-equivalent units, giving the foursome its first position atop that chart since “Stadium Arcadium” did it 16 years ago.The veteran group proved particularly strong on the sales front, where so many other acts are faltering in the streaming age. Of that 97,500 unit total, 82,500 came in traditional album sales.

Chris Willman Music WriterCountry stars mostly shied away from being forthright with their political beliefs known in the 2010s, but the pendulum seems to have swung in the other direction in the last couple of years, with stars like Jason Aldean coming out as explicitly anti-Biden.

Chris Willman Music WriterEd Sheeran is doing what could reasonably be considered a series of “underplay” shows this week, mostly for winners of radio contests, including appearances at New York’s Empire State Building and Irving Plaza. Before he headed east, the pop superstar got his very intimate mini-tour underway with a hour-long show for SiriusXM subscribers at the Belasco Theatre, the smallest and most club-like of the downtown L.A.

Chris Willman Music WriterEd Sheeran’s “=” was equal to the task of becoming the pop star’s fourth No. 1 album, as it entered the Billboard 200 on top with 118,000 equivalent album units.On the Billboard Hot 100, Adele said hello to the No.

Chris Willman Music WriterEd Sheeran already had some album promotion under his belt before his plans took a turn this week, as Tuesday morning saw the release of a “Tiny Desk” video concert, filmed for the NPR franchise, including several songs the “=” album (pronounced “equals”) that/s coming out Friday.With the popular video series having shifted to remote “desks” during the pandemic instead of having musicians coming in to gather around Bob Boilen’s desk in Washington, D.C., Sheeran made the most of the extra space, bringing a considerable slew of musicians to fill out a library space.

Chris Willman Music WriterTaylor Swift announced some months back that she would not be submitting any of her re-recorded material from her hit “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” album for Grammy consideration — first off, presumably, because she wouldn’t want to split off votes from the all-new “Evermore”… and secondly, because that would just seem ridiculous, right? And yet the Grammys have a history of liking new versions of older material, even if voters’ tolerance for note-for-note recreations like Swift’s has yet to be tested.Affording honors in major categories to live albums peaked during the heyday of “MTV Unplugged” (see: Tony Bennett and Eric Clapton’s album of the year honors in the ‘90s).

Chris Willman Music WriterAhmir “Questlove” Thompson has announced his second feature film as a director quickly on the heels of winning both the grand jury and audience prizes at Sundance this month for his first documentary, “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).” He’ll return to that same era and musical milieu with a a documentary about Sly Stone, the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, a group that appeared in 1969 footage used in “Summer of Soul.”“It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA,” said the Roots member and music producer turned filmmaker in announcing the new film on Friday.

Chris Willman Music WriterEd Bruce, a singer/songwriter and actor who had his own run of hits on the country charts but was best known for co-writing Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” has died at age 81. He died in Clarksville, Tenn.

Chris Willman Music WriterWhile they both were alive, Steve Earle and his son Justin Townes Earle strived to keep their careers and identities separate, only occasionally meeting up for any musical purposes. Since Justin died in August, however, there’s been no need for his father to stand on any such formality.