Donald Fagen: Last News

In the early noughties, Levon Helm began hosting live shows he called Midnight Rambles in a studio at his home in Woodstock, NY. It was a rare bright moment in the story of what happened to the members of the Band who weren’t Robbie Robertson in the years following the quintet’s split, a grim saga involving bitter enmity, addiction, suicide, bankruptcy and jail.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Libby Titus, a singer who recorded two albums in the late 1960s and ’70s before retiring from the music scene, later becoming the wife of Steely Dan‘s Donald Fagen, died Sunday at age 77. No cause of death was given. Fagen announced her death on Steely Dan’s website.

Steely Dan have hit back at the Republican National Convention’s cover band for choosing to perform their track ‘Reelin’ In The Years’.The Nashville band Sixwire – comprised of Andy Childs (lead vocals, guitar), Steve Hornbeak (keyboards, vocals), John Howard (bass guitar), Steve Mandile (guitar, vocals) and Chuck Tilley (drums, percussion) – provided a massive setlist filled with covers of classic tracks at the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) that took place last week (July 15-18).The set list included classic covers of such as Cheap Trick‘s ‘I Want You to Want Me’, Foo Fighters‘ ‘Learn To Fly’, U2‘s ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ and Steely Dan’s ‘Reelin’ In The Years’.Now, Steely Dan have taken to their official Facebook page to respond to the band’s cover of their 1972 song, suggesting that they perform Donald Fagen’s anti-Trump song ‘Tin Foil Hat’ instead.“Hey Sixwire: If you want to play our music, how about playing the man in the Tin Foil Hat?” read the post shared on Steely Dan’s official Facebook page.Released in 2017 on Todd Rundgren‘s album ‘White Knight’, ‘Tin Foil Hat’ features Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen and condemns Trump’s presidency from 2017-2021. “Cause the man in the tin foil hat, Is tweeting like a teenage girl / He puts the Pluto in plutocrat, It’s gonna be a yuge yuge yuge new world,” they sing in the chorus, referencing the former president’s tweeting habits.The song also mentions other Trump moments such as “coming down the escalator,”, alternative facts, tiny hands and Fagen comparing his presidential term to a “coup d’état.”This is not the first time the ‘Dirty Work’ band has hit out at the Republican party.

R.E.M., Steely Dan, Timbaland and more have been announced as inductees into the 2024 class of Songwriters Hall Of Fame.Yesterday morning (January 17), the Songwriters Hall Of Fame announced five new inductees through CBS‘ Mornings programme. Leading the charge are Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry, who formed R.E.M.

Steely Dan‘s Donald Fagen has denied that Aimee Mann was dropped from the band’s forthcoming summer tour due to her gender.Earlier this week, Mann shared a comic strip on her Instagram account which depicted the singer-songwriter performing onstage. “I was supposed to open for Steely Dan this summer,” she wrote in the comic.“I just found out that they took me off the bill,” she continued.

Chris Willman Music WriterThere comes a day when any major dude will tell you that… you’re off the tour. Aimee Mann revealed Wednesday that she’s been dropped from a Steely Dan tour that she had been announced to join this summer.

Rock legend David Crosby made a return visit to SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” this week to promote his upcoming solo album For Free, featuring collaborations with former Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald, Steely Dan founder Donald Fagen and bluegrass prodigy Sarah Jarosz.