Chris Willman-Senior: Last News

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Margo Price and Charley Crockett emerged as leading nominees when the contenders for the 2023 Americana Honors & Awards were announced Tuesday in Nashville, with three nominations each. Allison Russell was close behind with two nods from the Americana Music Association voters. Picking up a single nomination each — tough enough, when there are only a scant six categories— were such highly regarded names of the genre as Billy Strings, Zach Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Tyler Childers, Angel Olsen, Sierra Ferrell, Nickel Creek, the War and Treaty, and Bonnie Raitt. Some of the more prominent names in Americana who have dominated the nominations in years past, like Jason Isbell, were between projects during the voting period. But the association is also known for wanting to promote fresh blood, which has resulted in artists who don’t necessarily have high mainstream media profiles, like Hermanos Gutiérrez, 49 Winchester, Caamp and Plains, landing slots in competitive categories.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Morgan Wallen took to his Instagram account Tuesday to release a video statement saying that he is having to put off his next six weeks of tour dates — plus a scheduled appearance in just two days on the Academy of Country Music Awards telecast — after doctors ordered him to go on vocal rest. Wallen had already recently canceled some dates, but returned to the road for three shows this past weekend, which he said felt ruinous and precipitated a return to the doctor. The dates will be postponed and rescheduled, the country star told fans in the glum video. “I got some bad news from my doctors at the Vanderbilt Voice Center yesterday, after taking 10 days of vocal rest,” Wallen said. “I performed three shows last weekend in Florida, and by the third one, I felt terrible. So I went in and got scoped yesterday and they told me that I re-injured my vocal chords and that I have vocal fold trauma. Their advice is that I go on vocal rest for six weeks. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Hi, it’s not her — that’s the problem, it’s not her. Some yet-to-be-revealed celebrity is releasing a book in July that the publisher is promising will be a blockbuster. But Variety can report for certain that this mystery author is not, as rumored, Taylor Swift. Whoever the famous person or people are that are behind the book, they have a momentary bestseller on multiple book sales sites, based on the rampant speculation. The mystery book from the Flatiron imprint is available for pre-order at $45, despite not having a known title or author. And, as a result of the Swift rumors, what is officially known only as “4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023” has been hovering in the top 10 of the Amazon book sales chart, rising as high as No. 2 and sitting as of this writing at No. 8. On the Barnes & Noble website, the anonymous book currently ranks No. 1 on that retailer’s pre-orders chart.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Dolly Parton has revealed all the pertinent details about her long-promised “rock album,” titled “Rockstar,” including a 30-song track list, Nov. 17 release date and literally dozens of celebrity guests — including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joining her for a cover of the Beatles’ “Let It Be.” The vast majority of the 30 tracks on the fall release will include at least one feature from a big-name artist, and in some cases two. Brandi Carlile and Pink will be joining Parton on the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” while Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow will be her guests on a song most popularized by Linda Ronstadt, “You’re No Good.” The force of metal will be strong on the song “Bygones,” where Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and Motley Crue members Nikki Sixx and John 5 will join her crew. Lizzo and Sasha Flute will put some wind into her sails on Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” even as Steven Tyler and Warren Haynes put their heads together with the Jackson 5 cover “I Want You Back.” And the aforementioned “Let It Be” won’t just include the two surviving Beatles; it’ll also feature turns from Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Rhiannon Giddens has recorded her first solo album in six years, and her first album of all-original material ever, “You’re the One,” the singer announced Tuesday. The album will arrive August 17 on Nonesuch. The album announcement comes a day after Giddens was announced as being a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for music, for her opera, “Omar,” an honor she shares with co-composer Michael Abels. A tour is being simultaneously announced, as well, with most of the dates taking place this fall, including a September headlining stop at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Some of the highest-profile dates stretch into 2024, including shows next March and April at the Beacon in New York and the Theatre at Ace Hotel in L.A. (See the full itinerary below.)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The desert will again be a hotbed of deceit and larceny in luxurious black-and-white as the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival returns to Palm Springs this Thursday through Sunday, with the quintessential noir classics “The Killing” and “Double Indemnity” bookending a marathon weekend that otherwise tends toward more rarely screened ‘40s and ‘50s titles. Several sons or daughters of the original actors or directors will be on hand, but of special interest to festival attendees will be the presence of one of the actual filmmakers: James B. Harris, 94, Stanley Kubrick’s producing partner for several of his best early films, who’ll be able to speak first-hand about the making of 1955’s “The Killing,” the crime drama that turned out to be Kubrick’s first real masterpiece.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s recent song “Midnight Rain” lived up to its name when it was performed Sunday night at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, except that it was actually after 1 a.m. local time when it finally came up in the set list. The finale of her hometown three-night stand was pushed back hours from its scheduled start time due to lightning strikes near the downtown area; once it did finally get underway after 10 p.m., the second half of the three-and-a-half-hour set was marked by a steady downpour, hitting Swift as hard as it did the audience in the roofless venue, before the show finally wrapped up just after 1:35 a.m. The general crowd mood, at that drenched wee hour: delirious. (Except for the small minority of fans who gave up and went home before the show got started.)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic This past awards season, Joy Oladokun was nominated for the Grammys’ first Song for Social Change award, for a song off her previous album called “I See America.” If all you ever heard — or heard about — was that tune (opening lines: “I saw God out on the block today / He was darker than the preachers say”), or know that Oladokun once called herself “the trap Tracy Chapman” (half-jokingly), you could easily leap to the assumption that she’s more of a protest singer than a pop artist. But can she be at least a little bit of both? She takes it as a compliment that anyone would use that second P-term in describing her third album, “Proof of Life.” Oladokun has been out on the road opening for John Mayer, and the new record is so radio-friendly — and just so friendly, generally — that it wouldn’t feel like a stretch to see her doing tour dates with someone like a Taylor Swift.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift let fans in her hometown of Nashville to be the first to get the official news: “Speak Now” will be the next album in her “Taylor’s Version” series of re-recorded albums. Swift is giving fans plenty of time to pre-order the album: She revealed that it’s coming out July 9. “I think rather than me speaking about it,” she said, to screams, as fans realized from the language that the long-awaited announcement was at hand, “I thought I would show you, so if you would direct your attention” to the big screens…” There, the album cover and release date were shown on the big screen. Upon the announcement at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, the city turned on purple lights on the nearby bridge over the Cumberland River.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic To say that the music industry was glued to reports coming out of the Ed Sheeran copyright infringement trial, and particularly the verdict, would be an understatement, coming as it did after the “Blurred Lines” case had a very different outcome. Ilene Farkas, the lead attorney from Pryor Cashman, which handled Sheeran’s defense, says the two trials weren’t exactly comparable, but knew well that many songwriters who worry they could end up in the same shoes as Sheeran were counting on a victory for the singer-songwriter to establish some fresh precedent for having future copyright claims facing a higher burden of proof. Farkas spoke with Variety the day after the verdict came in favoring Sheeran over the plantiffs, heirs of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” co-writer, Ed Townsend.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Well, that was the weirdest “album setup promo” week ever. Which is a cheeky way of saying that Ed Sheeran has gotten the amount of press that any artist could only dream of in the days leading up to a new release, albeit not for the project itself, but as the defendant in a copyright infringement trial that, after eight years after a lawsuit was first filed, coincidentally ended on the day before the release of his new record. In an instance of weird serendipity, the case did what a record company would hope any album-launch campaign would: it put the artist not just in the headlines but made him seem infinitely more likeable, given how much of the public was rooting for him to prevail, even people that never thought they liked Ed Sheeran.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ed Sheeran was found not liable Thursday in Manhattan federal court on a copyright claim alleging that he lifted key elements from the Marvin Gaye ’70s hit “Let’s Get It On” for his own “Thinking Out Loud.” The verdict that found him not liable for copyright infringement came after just a few hours of deliberation Thursday. Standing outside the courtroom, Sheeran read a statement for reporters that made it clear how frustrated he felt at being accused of plagiarism and having the case reach trial. “It looks like I’m not going to have to give up my day job after all,” Sheeran said, alluding to a statement he’d made on the stand earlier this week suggesting that he would feel compelled to quit music if the verdict went against him.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Testimony wrapped up in the Ed Sheeran copyright infringement trial at the end of the court day Wednesday, as the judge sent the Manhattan jury into deliberations with a pointed admonition: “Independent creation is a complete defense, no matter how similar that song is.” U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton’s instructions may have left a high bar in the jury’s minds for just how much evidence the plaintiffs’ attorneys needed to have established to prove that Sheeran and his co-writer actually copied Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” when they wrote the pop hit “Thinking Out Loud.” According to Insider, Stanton told jurors that the lawyers for the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer, Ed Townsend, needed to “prove by a preponderance of the evidence… that Sheeran actually copied and wrongfully copied ‘Let’s Get It On'” — as opposed to the coincidental, negligible similarities argued by Sheeran’s attorneys.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It makes her happy, in case you were wondering — this Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honor that was announced Thursday for Sheryl Crow, making her part of the class of 2023 that is set for induction this November in New York. The singer-songwriter says she is pleased to be going in alongside her old pal Willie Nelson, with whom she just sang for his 90th birthday party at the Hollywood Bowl, along with fellow female powerhouses of contemporary music like Kate Bush (who she grew up on) and Missy Elliott (whose production skills she particularly admires). Never mind those who rode into the hall before her: A scan of the plaques on the walls in Cleveland may read like a discography of people Crow has already sung with over the last three decades.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Willie Nelson just got an only slightly late 90th birthday present: an impending induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The country music legend was one of seven music figures announced Wednesday morning as having been voted into the hall, along with Kate Bush, Rage Against the Machine, Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow, George Michael and the Spinners. There are six more inductees beyond that list, with the distinction of being selected by a select Hall of Fame committee to join the seven performers who were voted in via general balloting. These are singer Chaka Khan, instrumentalist-producer Al Kooper and lyricist Bernie Taupin, all in the “musical excellence” category; pioneering rock guitarist Link Wray and hip-hop originator DJ Kool Herc in the “musical influence” division; and “Soul Train” TV host Don Cornelius as the recipient of the annual Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Jonas Brothers have announced a 35-date tour of North America for this summer and fall, taking place mostly in arenas but also touching down in a few key stadiums, including Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Wrigley Field in Chicago and (as previously announced) Yankee Stadium in New York. The gambit for the tour is that the sibling trio will play five of their albums each night. Obviously, their releases have not all been hour-plus excursions, but it should still make for a lengthy set. This format plays off of and expands the conceit of the group’s recent run in a Broadway theater, in which each night focused on a different one of those five albums (albeit with copious amounts of extra material filling out those single-album shows as well).

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Thanks to a towering debut by “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” Taylor Swift now has three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, as the vinyl-only Record Store Day exclusive sold through all 75,000 of the available copies to land at No. 3 for the week. The double-LP release joins two other albums Swift already had in the top 10 as of last week: “Midnights,” at No. 4, and “Folklore,” at No. 10. Swift becomes the first artist to pull off that feat since 2016, when three of Prince’s landed in the top 10 following his death, according to Billboard. It’s also a rare feat for a female artist; Whitney Houston became the first woman to score three albums in the top 10 in 2012.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Keith Richards was the surprise unannounced guest for night 2 of Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday tribute at the Hollywood Bowl — a surprise, at least, for anyone who hadn’t spotted his name listed in the fine print on the souvenir posters and T-shirts. The Stone rolled in with his signature line of recent decades: “It’s good to be here. It’s good to be anywhere.” Richards (79) and Nelson (you’d have to be really high not to know his age) then followed with two covers appropriate for gents of a certain maturity: “We Had It All” and “Live Forever.” The latter song probably wasn’t written by Billy Joe Shaver to be understood literally, but Sunday night, it sure felt that way. Nelson’s 90th birthday was such a momentous event in pop culture, it merited the two-night treatment it got at the Bowl, filmed by producer Blackbird Presents for theatrical release as well as home video. The actual birthday had come the night before, on Saturday, but as son Micah Nelson said at the beginning of Sunday’s show: “Welcome to the after-birth party.” The biggest difference from night 1, apart from many different guests and most different songs, was the increased presence of the birthday boy himself on stage, for the last 40 minutes of the three-hour-and-40-minute show. Besides Richards, Nelson also participated in collaborations with Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, his producer Buddy Cannon, Lily Meola and (instrumentally) Booker T.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Aerosmith has announced a 40-date farewell tour for this fall, saying in an announcement Monday morning that the band is calling it quits on road dates after a more than five-decade career. Their “Peace Out” tour begins Sept. 2 in Philadelphia and is scheduled to wrap up Jan. 26, 2024 in Montreal. The hometown show for Boston on the tour is slated for New Year’s Eve. The Black Crowes will open the Live Nation-produced trek. All dates go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time. There was little — actually, no — sentimentality in the group’s announcement. “It’s not goodbye, it’s peace out!” said a statement jointly attributed to the band members. “Get ready and walk this way, you’re going to get the best show of our lives.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Thanks for coming to my dad’s birthday party,” said Micah Nelson, a few songs into an all-star tribute to Willie Nelson at the Hollywood Bowl, attended by a sold-out house happy that Willie had found a way to schedule the 90th anniversary of his birth on a Saturday night. With roughly seven decades of songwriting and recording to commemorate, though, the party is stretching over two nights, bundled together and sold as a single ticket, where by the end of Sunday night everyone will have heard about 50 artists perform a total of about 75 songs. Ironically, one of the first numbers performed Saturday evening was young Texas country artist Charley Crockett doing a cut that Nelson had a hit with as a budding songwriter in the late ’50s: “The Party’s Over.” That title proved as un-prescient for Nelson’s career 65 years ago as it proved unprophetic for the scope of the Bowl celebration this weekend. But a little irony is always welcome in Willie’s world.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In an ultimate show-must-go-on moment in country music history, Wynonna Judd was not about to let the legacy of the Judds slip quietly into the sunset, rather than go out as spectacularly as intended, after her mother, Naomi Judd, died by suicide in April 2022. And so the Judds farewell tour that had been scheduled for last fall did proceed, against all probabilities, with a bevy of top stars trading places as Naomi’s stand-in each night. The emotional end of that road was captured for not just one but two new specials premiering on different Paramount platforms — “Wynonna Judd: Between Hell and Hallelujah,” a feature-length documentary that debuted Wednesday on Paramount+, and “The Judds: Love Is Alive — The Final Concert,” a two-hour performance special bowing tonight on CMT.