Classic Rock 93.9

While some of his contemporaries are doing farewell tours, Rod Stewart is still going strong. He says he’s got three new albums in the works, and no plans to stop performing.

Speaking to AARP magazine, Rod, 80, says, “I’ve got so much more music to do. At the moment, I’m doing a covers album of all the songs I’ve ever wanted to cover … I’m supposed to do a country album … and we’re working on a Faces album, so that’s three projects that have got to be done.”  

Plus, Rod says, he’d still like to do a tour with “a big orchestra and play those glorious songs I did from the Great American Songbook.”  He adds, “I enjoy doing concerts more than I did back then. Maybe I’ve come full circle to appreciate how lucky I’ve been.”

As for how he maintains his stamina, Rod says he keeps himself “very fit.” He says Frank Sinatra once told him that the secret to being a great singer is to have powerful lungs. So, he says, “We do a lot of underwater training, where the trainer throws a brick into the pool and I have to dive in, push the brick to the end of the pool, and come up.”

Off the road, Rod enjoys his massive family, which includes eight children, five grandkids and “various boyfriends and husbands.” For his 80th birthday, 15 of them took a cruise on a huge yacht he rented. “One night, they all dressed up as Rod Stewart and didn’t tell me,” he says. 

And though they had a falling out a while back, Rod says he and Elton John are friends again. He tells AARP, “We FaceTime each other. It was his birthday a couple of days ago, so I sent him 48 pink roses.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder will release his fourth solo album, The Vault – Fifty Years of Music, on Friday, featuring a collection of newly recorded versions of songs he’s demoed over the past five decades.

Felder tells ABC Audio that when he decided to dip into his vault for a new album he had “no idea” what was in there.

“I hadn’t heard stuff since the ’70s or ’80s,” he explains. “It was really like a flashback cause I could remember where I was working on those songs.”

And apparently there was a lot of music, with Felder sharing, “I could probably do a box set.”

“It was just interesting to go take some of these ideas, whether they were brand-new ideas or ideas that had just been little sparks along the way, and turn it into a finished song,” he adds.

The album has tracks embracing the sounds of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and current day, including one that was written for the late Glenn Frey, his former Eagles bandmate.

While Felder left the band in 2001 on not the best terms, he says, “The only regret I have is that Glenn and I never really got a chance to have a human conversation.”

“That’s why one of the songs on this album is called ‘Blue Skies,’ and it’s written and produced for Glenn wishing him blue skies forever,” he says. (

Felder will be testing out some of these new songs on the road when he joins Styx and REO Speedwagon‘s Kevin Cronin on their upcoming Brotherhood of Rock tour, which kicks off May 28 in Greenville, South Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at DonFelder.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Tom Petty referred to his 1994 release Wildflowers as his favorite album, and now a book documenting the making of the LP is on its way.

The limited-edition book is a collaboration between the Estate of Tom Petty and Genesis Publications. It will feature rare photography, handwritten lyrics and personal stories from Petty, the Heartbreakers and his musical collaborators.

Preorders for the book will open soon, and you can sign up at Genesis Publications’ website to be notified when it goes live.

Wildflowers was Petty’s second solo studio album and the first of three Petty projects produced by Rick Rubin. While only credited to Petty, the members of the Heartbreakers played on it, except for drummer Stan Lynch, who’d been fired prior to its release.

Wildflowers was critically acclaimed and was eventually RIAA-certified for sales of 3 million albums. It featured the singles “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “You Wreck Me” and the title track.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dead & Company have revealed details about their previously announced performances in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park this August, including openers and ticket information.

Billy Strings will open the Aug. 1 performance, followed by Sturgill Simpson on Aug. 2 and Trey Anastasio Band on Aug. 3. 

You can sign up for a presale now at DeadAndCompany.com; those tickets go on sale May 28 at 10 a.m. PT.

Three-day tickets start at $635 and go on sale May 30 at 10 a.m. PT. Single-day tickets will cost $245 apiece; sale information for single tickets will be announced soon.

A limited quantity of $60 tickets will be available via lottery for California firefighters, starting June 4 at 10 a.m. PT. VIP tickets and travel packages are also available. 

As previously reported, the Dead & Company shows come in celebration of 60 years of Grateful Dead music. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Scott Devours, who is replacing Zak Starkey as the drummer of The Who, has shared his conflicting emotions over landing the job.

In an Instagram post and in the comments section, Devours, who’s part of Roger Daltrey‘s solo band, says, “I understand and accept the reality that there are many lifelong Who fans who are absolutely gutted by the news that Zak is no longer on the throne behind The Who.”

Noting that he’s “processing this loss with a heavy heart too,” Devours says, “It really is a strange contradiction of emotions to have the greatest moment of my professional career also be one framed with some sadness and shadowed by someone else’s loss.”

Starkey announced on Sunday that he’d been fired a second time by The Who just two weeks after he was reinstated. He also claimed they asked him to say that he quit, but he refused.

Devours writes, “I’m sure there are many fans who will not accept me or anyone on that throne except for Zak. I know that this will be the case for some and I acknowledge that. … The weight of this responsibility is enormous and I am feeling every ounce of it.”

He goes on to say that he plans to honor the “legacy” of past drummers, including Zak, Kenney Jones, Simon Phillips and “the great Keith Moon.”

He concludes by writing, “I know I need to earn this honor. Since this is the last time Pete and Roger will be touring the U.S., playing the greatest songs ever written, I will be giving them every second of my time, every beat of my heart, and every drop of my sweat and blood. This is my ultimate goal.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paul McCartney is one of the most famous and successful musicians in history, but he admits he had a case of the nerves when he headed into the studio to record with Barbra Streisand for the diva’s upcoming all-star duets project.

As part of his ongoing “You gave me the answer” series on his website, Paul was asked what it was like working with Streisand. “Nerve-wracking. Nail-biting!” he replies. “I did the session with her in LA and I was pretty terrified.”

McCartney said he also felt pressure because they were recording on a soundstage that was literally named after Streisand. And any comfort he felt in the fact that they were recording one of his own songs quickly went away.

“I thought, ‘Well, this will be easy because it’s my song, it’s ‘My Valentine.’ What can go wrong?’” Paul says. “But what I’d forgotten was that they’d arranged it so that it had to go in Barbra’s key and then in my key. So, to get from Barbra’s key into mine was kind of difficult, and I had to launch in not knowing what key I was in. Mine was lower, hers was higher. It wasn’t easy at all!

But, McCartney says, “She was great. I didn’t realize how rounded she is, creatively. They were filming the session and as soon as we went in, she said, ‘Who put that camera there? That shouldn’t be there, bring it over here. And what about those lights?’ I thought, ‘Wow, you’re directing it!’ But then I suddenly remembered she’s directed three big movies. She’s a smart cookie.”

“My Valentine” is out now, and the album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, arrives June 27. Others featured on the record include Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Sting.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new Judas Priest documentary has been announced.

The film is called The Ballad of Judas Priest and will be co-directed by Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, marking his directorial debut. 

“While some may know Judas Priest for their huge hits that have shaped the heavy metal genre, there is so much more to their story,” Morello says alongside co-director Sam Dunn. 

“Tracing their incredible 50-year journey, this film will capture how Judas Priest both defined the sound and look of metal, but also made it a more inclusive place along the way,” the pair say. “We are grateful to the band for allowing us such intimate, unfiltered access to their lives and look forward to bringing this film to the metal masses around the world.”

Judas Priest adds, “We have lived and breathed metal for over five decades, and finally in this documentary we are summoning our congregation to officially witness our lives uncensored, in a never-before-seen way…the cassock comes off, revealing Priest in all its metal glory!”

A release date for The Ballad of Judas Priest has yet to be announced. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Fittingly for the first rock artist ever to perform at Yankee Stadium, Billy Joel will be immortalized as a bobblehead at an upcoming Yankees game.

On Tuesday, Major League Baseball posted a photo of the bobblehead to social platform X, announcing that the figures will be given away to the first 18,000 fans who attend the Yankees vs. Cubs game on July 11. The figure shows Billy — who was born in the Bronx, where Yankee Stadium is located — sitting at a Yankees-logo’d piano wearing Yankees pinstripes and a Yankees ball cap.

The giveaway will take place a week before Billy once again plays Yankee Stadium, in a co-headlining show with Rod Stewart. That show is July 18.

Billy’s two 1990 shows at Yankee Stadium were actually at the old Yankee Stadium, which closed in 2008 and was demolished two years later. The current Yankee Stadium opened in 2009.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On NBC’s The Voice Tuesday night, the voice of Foreigner announced he was quitting the band.

Kelly Hansen, who’s been singing with Foreigner since 2005, is stepping down. He’ll be replaced by the band’s current guitarist, Luis Maldonado. “After 20 magical years fronting this band, this will be my last year with Foreigner,” Hansen said after singing “Feels Like the First Time.”

“At the end of this summer, a new, great voice will sing these songs for you: my friend Luis Maldonado,” he continued. Maldonado then took the mic to perform “Jukebox Hero.” 

The band’s current tour will feature both Hansen and Maldonado. Foreigner has a string of shows lined up for March 2026 at The Venetian Theater in Las Vegas; presumably it’ll be Maldonado fronting the band for those performances.

“Being the voice of Foreigner has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” Hansen said in a statement. “But it’s time to pass the mic. Luis has the voice, the energy, and the soul to carry these songs into the future. I couldn’t be prouder to hand this off to him.”

Maldonado, who is a former member of Train, added, “This music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I’m ready to honor Foreigner’s legacy and bring my heart to every performance.”

Foreigner founder Mick Jonas said in a statement, “Kelly Hansen is one of the best front men in our business and over the last twenty years he has breathed new life into our songs. His boundless energy and flawless talent has helped us climb the mountain and set up the opportunity for Foreigner vocalist and guitarist, Luis Maldonado, to bring us home.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Tony Iommi has collaborated with U.K. pop star Robbie Williams.

The Black Sabbath guitarist provides the riffs on Williams’ new song, “Rocket.” The track will appear on Williams’ upcoming album, Britpop.

“I set out to create the album that I wanted to write and release after I left [pop group] Take That in 1995,” Williams says. “It was the peak of Britpop and a golden age for British Music. I’ve worked with some of my heroes on this album; it’s raw, there are more guitars and it’s an album that’s even more upbeat and anthemic than usual.”

We’ll see if Liam Gallagher has anything to say about that.

You can listen to “Rocket” now via digital outlets. Britpop is due out in the fall.

Iommi, meanwhile, is prepping for the Black Sabbath reunion/farewell show in July, which will see him performing alongside fellow original members Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for the final time. The stacked bill also includes an Ozzy solo performance, plus Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool and Slayer.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.