Chris Willman-Senior: Last News

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It wasn’t quite a proper Spinal Tap reunion, but there was some implicit history happening Tuesday night at Largo in Los Angeles as Michael McKean and Christopher Guest joined Loudon Wainwright III, the headliner for the latest in a series of Judd Apatow-hosted “Juddapalooza” benefit concerts at Largo. Besides going back together about five and a half decades as friends on the musical-comedy scene, Wainwright, as hardcore fans will know, was seen as a member of Spinal Tap in a cameo in the very first filmed comedy sketch featuring the faux group in the late ’70s. Tuesday’s Largo show featured a healthy intermingling of Wainwright performing songs from his new album, “Lifetime Achievement,” and Guest and McKean bringing back some of the very earliest Spinal Tap “hits,” along with some folk-scene collaborations. Also on tap as unadvertised guests: Beck, who sang a few of his own songs and Neil Young’s “Old Man” along with assisting others in the hootenanny, and top producer Greg Kurstin, who proved game for completely unrehearsed piano contributions and even solos over the course of the two hours-plus.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic If Kid Cudi is indeed retiring his rapper persona, as strongly indicated in recent interviews, Monday night might have served as an early farewell party of sorts.  At a special screening at the Netflix Tudum Theater in Hollywood, the star was all smiles as he answered questions and celebrated the release of “Entergalactic,” the new animated Netflix special that serves as a kind of filmic companion piece to Cudi’s new album of the same name.  “I’m just overwhelmed, you know?” Cudi, who created, starred in, and executive-produced the project, said immediately after the screening, sitting next to the film’s director, Fletcher Moules. “The past week has been really exciting to see the reviews, see the response. We’ve been working on this thing for three years, man.” 

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Grammy winning singer and arranger Anita Kerr, whose vocal ensemble the Anita Kerr Singers became a staple of hit pop and country recordings in the 1950s and ’60s, has died at age 94. Her daughter Kelley Kerr confirmed the death in a social media post, writing, “Such sad news and what a great loss for the music industry. Anita was a legend in her time but first and foremost she was my mother. May you rest in peace. I will forever miss you but I am comforted in knowing that you are now singing with angels. You are forever in my heart.” Kerr’s vocal arrangement sound was considered a key component in the “countrypolitan” or “Nashville sound” era of country music, in which the music saw the addition of strings and background vocals, lending lusher elements to recordings by some of the genre’s top stars, perhaps most notably Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. The smoother take on country lent itself to less rough-hewn crossover hits.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The word “contested” shows up a lot lately in singer-songwriter Elizabeth Chan’s world, as she made headlines this summer for going to court to try to ensure that Mariah Carey is not legally granted sole possession of the “Queen of Christmas” tag, which has also been applied to her. But there’s at least one aspect of what Chan does that will likely continue to go unchallenged. With her 12th album, “12 Months of Christmas,” coming out this week, Chan further breaks her own record for having the most all-original Christmas albums in circulation of any nationally established pop artist. Although “most Christmas albums” is not the sort of record where Santa is keeping an official list and checking it twice — nor the Guinness Book, for that matter — it seems safe to say that no one else is even close when it comes to self-penned, all-new Yuletide collections, thanks to the one-a-year pace established by Chan, the only nationally recognized artist who does nothing but Christmas albums.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The top spots on the respective U.S. album and singles charts remain as they were last week, with Bad Bunny holding the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 for a 13th non-consecutive week and Steve Lacy claiming the top song for a second week in a row. No surprises there, but at least there was some fresh blood in the No. 2 positions. A new album from hard rock veterans Slipknot debuted in second place. And on the Billboard Hot 100, a duet by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, “Unholy,” showed surprising strength in moving up to No. 2 after debuting well one spot behind that last week. Billboard points out that Bad Bunny is within striking distance of a record on the album chart, or at least a recent record. His 13 weeks on top with “Un Verano Sin Ti” have the album tied for the most weeks spent by an album at No. 1 in the last decade; he’s currently on par with Drake’s “Views” and the “Frozen” soundtrack. If he reaches No. 1 next week, he’ll singular own the record for most weeks spent on top over the last 10 years. But if we go back more than a decade, he still has a way to go to surpass Adele’s “21,” which spent 24 nonconsecutive weeks leading the chart in 2011-12.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic California is in the house, and will be for the next three years, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. A major exhibition, “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock,” has just opened and will run through 2025. The must-see walk-through traces a history of roots music in L.A. rock that expands to include the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Michael Nesmith in the 1960s; the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris in the ’70s; and Dwight Yoakam, Lone Justice and Los Lobos in the ’80s, among many other influential and sometimes commercially impactful figures. Variety recently visited the museum and spoke with co-curators Michael Gray, the facility’s executive senior director of editorial and interpretation, and Michael McCall, the museum’s senior editor, about why the ’60s through ’80s were a golden age for country-inflected rock in Los Angeles. The two curators also spoke about a number of the artifacts on display, from numerous Nudie’s-tailored jackets that set the visual tone for the era to key musical instruments to handwritten scores and setlists and even band flyers — see the gallery of photos below.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Right Said Fred has officially stirred not just the Beyhive but the Bey. Beyoncé herself, who rarely comments on such matters publicly, has issued a statement vehemently taking issue with the duo’s reported claim that her camp never sought permission to use “I’m Too Sexy” as a part of her recent “Alien Superstar” track. Right Said Fred’s allegations, as reported in the U.K. newspaper the Sun, are “erroneous and incredibly disparaging,” Beyoncé said in a statement issued to E! Entertainment News. Beyoncé pointed out that her track technically does not actually sample theirs, as the duo was quoted as contending, but is an interpolation in which “I’m Too Sexy” is essentially paraphrased through a re-recording of the elements used. Thus, she says, permission only needed to be sought from the songwriting publisher, not the holders of the original “Sexy” recording — and it was asked for and granted.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Although a news report went out Friday morning — and then was pulled — that Joni Mitchell had died, the story was published in error, and the singer-songwriter remains alive and well. “I can confirm all is well so this was done in error,” says a representative for Rhino, which is involved with Mitchell in an ongoing reissue series of her catalog material. The faux report went out from People magazine, with tell-tale signs of a “pre-write” obituary that was published accidentally — every major news organization’s worst nightmare. “Joni Mitchell Dies at TK AGE,” read the headline that was seen on the magazine’s website as well as in a tweet, the “TK” meaning “to come” in journalistic parlance. The story itself also included editorial notes indicating details that needed to be filled in.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift kept the “Midnights” oil burning later than usual late Thursday night and early Friday morning, revealing not just the name of one song at midnight, as has been her custom in the buildup to the Oct. 21 album release, but all five of the remaining mystery track titles, one per hour, until she finally reached a grand finale at 4 a.m. ET. And that final track reveal had — as she promised — “QUITE the twist of an ending,” with Lana Del Rey being revealed as making the only featured appearance by a guest on the album. Del Rey will make her cameo on a song titled “Snow on the Beach,” which will be track 4 on “Midnights.” The other four tracks whose titles were revealed over the course of the wee hours were “Lavender Haze,” set to be the first track on the album; “You’re on Your Own,” track 5; “Labyrinth,” track 10; and “Sweet Nothing,” track 12.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift kept the “Midnights” oil going once again with the late-night revelation of yet another new song, with an explanation of its subject matter to match. But this time, indications are that she may keep going into the wee hours and not just call it a night at 12:02 a.m. The new song Swift revealed and talked about as the clock struck 12 on the east coast is “Lavender Haze.” About the song, Swift said in a video message on Instagram: “Track 1 on ‘Midnights’ is ‘Lavender Haze,’ and I happened upon the phrase ‘lavender haze’ when I was watching ‘Mad Men.’ And I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the fifties where they would just describe being in love. Like, if you were in the lavender haze, you were in that all-encompassing love glow… and I thought that was really beautiful. And I guess theoretically, when you’re in the lavender haze, you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off of that cloud. And I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just like ‘public figures.’ because we live in the era of social media, and if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody, they’re going to weigh in on it. Like my relationship for six years: we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. So this song is about ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff. I hope you guys like it.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Feeling like you’re having a hard time keeping up with all the new music that’s coming out? You’re not alone — even if you are, say, a computer and not just a mere mortal. Stats now show that an average of more than 100,000 songs are being uploaded to digital service providers every day. So don’t feel bad about not staying on top of things. If each of those 100K tunes lasted just three minutes (a conservative estimate by most standards), it would take over 30 years for one person to listen through all of the music released to and through DSPs in a day. New Music Friday? It’s more like New Music Nanosecond. The 100,000 daily figure was cited by the CEOs for both Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group at industry events in September, according to Music Business Worldwide, which used the staggering number as its Stat of the Week on Thursday.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Shortly after announcing that next summer’s tour would be the last one for Dead and Company, the group has announced the full schedule of dates for that farewell outing, with tickets set to go on sale a week from Friday. The tour will begin with a two-night stand at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum May 19-20 and end — perhaps not surprisingly — in San Francisco, at Oracle Park, where this offshoot of the Grateful Dead will call it a night after final gigs set to take place there July 14-15. Nineteen cities are on the agenda in all, with two-nighters set for Chicago, New York City, Saratoga Springs, NY, and George, Wa. in addition to San Francisco and L.A. Barring any added dates, Boulder is the one city due to get a three-night stand, scheduled for July 1-3. Including those multi-night runs, the total number of shows scheduled for summer 2023 comes to 27. See the full lineup of concerts below.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Loretta Lynn died Tuesday at age 90. Todd Snider is a singer-songwriter who collaborated on writing songs with Lynn, including “Don’t Tempt Me,” which he recorded, and “Everything It Takes,” which appeared on her “Full Circle” album. Lynn penned the forward for a biography of Snider that will be published in 2023, writing in part, “”Todd Snider is a flat-out musical genius. I’ve been around a pretty good while, and there are a very few singer-songwriters who I would say that about, but Todd is one of them.” He wrote down thoughts about his working friendship with Lynn for Variety: I knew Loretta through her daughter Peggy. She is married to one of my oldest and closest friends, Mark Marchetti, and because of them Loretta knew of me.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Country singer Lainey Wilson’s very good year is getting just a little bit better, on top of her having the leading number of nominations for the CMA Awards and coming onto “Yellowstone” as a new cast member this season. CMT announced Wednesday that Wilson will be celebrated as Breakout Artist of the Year on the network’s “CMT Artists of the Year” special airing next week. “This past year has been a wild ride,” Wilson said in a statement. “To be considered for this award reinforces that the years of hard work my team and I have put in was all worth it. The team at CMT feels like family, and the way they genuinely support artists on their platform is so special and important for dreamers like me.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The question is no longer just what Bob Dylan will have to say about Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” or the Clash’s “London Calling” when he writes about them in his new book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song.” Now we can wonder how Helen Mirren or Renée Zellweger will sound giving voice to Dylan’s prose as they read those chapters, respectively, in the audiobook version, which, like the hardback, arrives Nov. 1. Variety previously reported the titles of the historical songs Dylan has written essays about for the tome, followed by the the names of the actors enlisted to read individual chapters for the audiobook, but those two lists hadn’t been paired up till now. A look at the list below, being revealed for the first time today, shows that all of the stars involved have been given multiple assignments, including Jeff Bridges, Oscar Isaac, Rita Moreno, Jeffrey Wright, Sissy Spacek, John Goodman, Alfre Woodard and Steve Buscemi as well as Mirren and Zellweger.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The family of John Prine has signed a partnership deal with RadicalMedia (“Summer of Soul”) to develop two documentaries about the life and work about the life and work of the late singer-songwriter, the company has announced. Filming will be well underway this weekend as RadicalMedia plans to shoot the week-long series of tribute concerts taking place in Nashville under the banner of “You Got Gold,” including shows at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday and at the Ryman Auditorium Sunday and Monday. The all-star lineup for these shows is not being publicly revealed in advance. Footage for the “You Got Gold” concerts is being directed by Michael John Warren, who recently helmed the HBO documentary “Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known” for RadicalMedia.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ohana Festival is California’s coolest music festival, literally, and there’s a case to be made for the figurative usage too. Eddie Vedder’s annual beachside gathering takes place yards away from the Doheny State Park cove where he learned to surf, and steady breezes over the weekend provided waves for dozens of surfers on one side of the chain-link fence and end-of-summer mellowness for about 15,000 concertgoers on the other. The festival doesn’t just have ocean draft to recommend it; there were rock squalls from Jack White, pop lungpower from Pink, whatever additional currents were caused by Stevie Nicks’ flowing garments… and, further down the bill, an honestly eclectic lineup that was like a continual 13-mph breath of fresh air.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Until now completely circumspect about any of the content or even tone of her forthcoming album, “Midnights,” Taylor Swift revealed the theme of one of the collection’s new tunes, “Anti-Hero,” describing it as “a real guided tour throughout all the things that I tend to hate about myself.” Swift also said that she “struggle(s) a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized… I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.” The pop superstar made the statements about “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written” in a video posted on Instagram. It was part of her “Midnights Mayhem With Me” one-by-one rollout of the 13 song titles from the album. Although it’s the sixth song title she’s revealed in this manner, it represents the first time she’s followed the title reveal with any discussion about the track.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ashley McBryde, one of the premium-grade country stars of the 21st century, is at the point in her career where many country stars would be playing it safer than ever. She’s in-between the second and third releases in her album cycle, a time when many would be most fixated on grabbing for the brass ring. Instead, she’s got brass balls, opting instead to put out a beautifully quirky concept album full of guest singers and co-writers called “Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville.” Please pardon the minor vulgarity in the preceding paragraph, but that’s partly the after-effect of listening to “Lindeville,” a character-driven set of songs whose protagonists tend to be on the straight-talking side, to the point of definitely including a few songs you will never hear on country radio. But “going for adds” is the furthest thing from the mind of an album that takes place entirely in a fictional small town where virtue is rarely the thing being modeled, and where even the local dogs are a little embarrassed about the array of sins they’ve witnessed.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Brandi Carlile’s IMAX livecast Wednesday evening couldn’t have been better timed in the calendar year, coming just a few days after the equinox. A nationwide live simulcast on IMAX screens pretty much demands a universal start time of 6 p.m. PT/9 ET,  a time frame that, in the last week of September, means a 90-minute show being shot outdoors on a ridge overlooking L.A. will start sunny and end with a dark sky and the basin at its twinkliest. Cinematographers everywhere couldn’t have asked the movie gods for a more compliant dusk than the one Carlile and her band and filmmaking team got. She’s having her own magic hour, of course … definitely not to be confused with a twilight, in her case. The Carlile album that came out just about a year ago, “In These Silent Days,” carried on its Grammy-winning predecessor’s success in further establishing her as America’s troubadour du jour in the classic singer-songwriter vein. Now she’s celebrating that anniversary with a deluxe edition that includes a separate, all-new rendering of the album, titled “In the Canyon Haze,” featuring re-arrangements meant to invoke the spirit of early ‘70s Laurel Canyon folk-rock just as blatantly as the altered title suggests. There’s something almost ironically contrary about marrying the new record’s intimacy to giant screens — Lookout Mountain meets “Attack of the 50-Foot Woman”? — but with a little bit of help, maybe, from the spirits of the hippie holler, it worked.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Brian Ray, a familiar sight to Paul McCartney fans as a 20-year multi-instrumentalist stalwart in the superstar’s band, has a dream for making Palm Springs a destination on the routing of touring rockers, as well as more of a cultural hub for the arts in general. It’s a dream whose destination is well in sight. He’s helping with the already partially funded campaign to restore and reopen the Plaza Theatre, a 1936 gem that has sat unpolished, if not quite completely dilapidated, through eight years of notable dormancy right in the heart of Palm Springs’ famous shopping district. Since he moved to the desert part-time four years ago, Ray has often thought about what could be, or what could have been, when it comes to the Plaza. It hasn’t been fit for ages to use as a hub for the annual Palm Springs Film Festival, as it was back in then-Mayor Sonny Bono’s day. But, more in keeping with Ray’s day job: “How about the mid-week shows that all the artists do when they come to Coachella? Or with Paul McCartney during Desert Trip, when we chose to go to Pappy and Harriet’s [in nearby Pioneerville] and play for about 140 people” — something he suggests could have gone down in the 800-capacity Plaza instead. “You could imagine that before that festival, Neil Young would’ve stepped into that theater and said, ‘This is where I want to do mine.’ That’s what would’ve happened if it would’ve been ready, you know?”