Classic Rock News

Two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash has sung with a lot of great artists over the years, but there’s one musician he’s dying to collaborate with.

In an interview with Vulture, Nash was asked to reveal his “top bucket-list item.” He said it’s “singing a two-part harmony on ‘Yesterday’ with one guitar with Paul McCartney.”

“If anyone has Paul’s number, give him a call for me,” he added.

And speaking of harmonies, Nash also picked his favorite Crosby, Stills & Nash harmonies to sing, noting it’s their track “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”

He says the Stephen Stills-penned tune, which appeared on the band’s 1969 self-titled debut, “lets people know that we were very serious about the sound that we had created; I think that that song shows that deeper than anything.”

“Me and David (Crosby) would always watch Stephen. It was the first thing we tried to do in the studio while making that first record,” he explains. “We knew it was an important song, and we would just watch Stephen. He would sing the song to us, and we knew instinctively what to do.”

He adds, “And, of course, doing the do-do-do-do-dos is fun.”

Nash kicks off a new leg of his Evening of Songs and Stories tour on July 8 in Red Bank, New Jersey. A complete list of dates can be found at GrahamNash.com.

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Rod Stewart will perform in what’s called the “Legends slot” at the U.K.’s iconic Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, and it will be his first time at that event since 2002. Last time, he had literally 100,000 people singing and swaying to his music — but he claims he has absolutely no memory of that moment.

“I don’t remember a thing,” he tells the BBC. “I do so many concerts, they all blend into one.”

And Rod doesn’t have much of a memory for his records, either, it seems. He tells the BBC that his youngest son, Aiden Stewart, has “gone back and listened to everything I’ve done, bless him.” He adds, “He knows songs that I don’t even remember recording!”

Let’s hope Rod remembers the songs he’ll be performing on Sunday; they’ll likely be all his biggest hits. However, he’ll still have to leave some out, even though he’s persuaded the organizers to give him a 90-minute set, rather than the original 75 he was offered.

“Usually I do well over two hours so there’s still a load of songs we won’t be able to do,” he says. “But we’ve been working at it. I’m not gonna make any announcements between songs. I’ll do one number, shout ‘next,’ and go straight into the next one. I’m going to get in as many songs I can.”

Rod adds, “I’ll be in good voice. I’ll enjoy myself. I don’t care anymore what the critics think. I’m there to entertain my people.”

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Foreigner launched a farewell tour in 2023, but that was because frontman Kelly Hansen wanted to stop touring. Now that Hansen’s announced his departure from the band at the end of the summer and will be replaced by the band’s guitarist, Luis Maldonado, Foreigner isn’t going anywhere.

“There’s just a lot of forward movement, and the band is incredibly excited,” Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson, who joined the band in 2004, tells Billboard. “What started off as being a farewell tour now ended up being Kelly’s last tour and (the band) moving forward.”

Regarding Kelly’s departure, Pilson notes, “We’ve had a great run together, and he deserves to have a wonderful life.” He says that Maldonado coming in as a replacement happened “organically.”

“Luis really had no intention of this,” Pilson says. “He was trying to talk Kelly into staying. And when it became clear Kelly really wants to live a life now … Luis just stepped up and, oh my God, that voice came through.”

And while there are currently no original members in Foreigner, original frontman Lou Gramm recently played some shows with the band and said he’d be open to doing more. Plus Pilson says founder Mick Jones, who no longer tours due to Parkinson’s disease, has been “really supportive” of the group.

“It’s creating a unified front,” Pilson says. “We’re able to integrate everything, not only with Lou but everything about Foreigner, into the present. Making this change, with Luis, with Mick and Lou’s endorsement and having the whole organization working more together, has been such a positive thing.”

Foreigner’s tour hits Arnolds Park, Iowa, on Friday. A complete list of dates can be found at Foreigneronline.com.

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Billy Idol is reissuing three of his classic albums on vinyl. The rocker is set to release new vinyl re-pressings of 1990’s Charmed Life, 1986’s Whiplash Smile and the 1981 EP Don’t Stop on Aug. 15.

Charmed Life, which featured his hit song “Cradle of Love” and a cover of The Doors’ “L.A. Woman,” will be released as a two-LP set for the first time. In addition to the standard black vinyl, it will be released on limited-edition lavender vinyl.

To coincide with the announcement, Idol has shared an HD remastered version of the video for the Charmed Life track “Prodigal Blues.”

Meanwhile, Whiplash Smile, featuring the top-40 hits “To Be a Lover,” “Don’t Need a Gun” and “Sweet Sixteen,” will be released on standard black vinyl and limited-edition opaque tangerine vinyl.

Finally, Don’t Stop, Idol’s debut solo EP following the breakup of his band Generation X, features Idol’s hit cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells tune “Mony Mony” and “Dancing With Myself,” which was originally released by Generation X. The EP will be released in standard black vinyl, as well as a limited-edition lemon-yellow LP.

The announcement comes just weeks after Idol released the new studio album Dream Into It, which debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart. He’s also the subject of a new documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York.

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The Rolling Stones’ contribution to an upcoming tribute album celebrating the late King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, has just been released.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have covered the track “Zydeco Sont Pas Salés,” which features accordion player Steve Riley and includes Chenier’s original 1965 recording of the song.

“The Stones are truly honored to be on this tribute album amongst a stellar cast of artists and musicians,” the band shares. “Clifton Chenier was one of the most influential musicians to come out of Louisiana. He turned so many people onto the wonderful free spirited dance music of zydeco, including ourselves back in the day.”

They add, “Although the development of any music style can seldom be attributed to one artist, there is not a zydeco band who has not followed the template Chenier created.”

The track is now available via digital outlets, with a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl dropping on Friday.

The complete album, A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, will also be released on Friday. In addition to The Stones, the 14-track album features covers from Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Taj Mahal, John Hiatt and Jimmie Vaughan.

Chenier, who would have turned 100 on Wednesday, helped pioneer zydeco, a music genre created in Louisiana that blends blues, R&B and Afro-Cuban rhythms with music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles. He won a Grammy Award in 1983 for his album I’m Here. In 2014 he was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Chenier passed away in 1987 at the age of 62.

Proceeds from the album benefit the all-new Clifton Chenier Memorial Scholarship at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. The album is available for preorder now.

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Rod Stewart is set to perform at the U.K.’s prestigious Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, and ahead of that milestone performance, the location where he was standing when his music career officially began has been recognized with a special plaque.

The Evening Standard reports that the plaque has been unveiled at Twickenham train station, located in the suburbs of London. It reads “Music legend and train enthusiast Sir Rod Stewart started his career at Twickenham Station in 1964.”

So how was a train station the start of Rod’s career? In 1964 he went to see blues singer Long John Baldry in concert, and while waiting at the station for his train home, he started singing a Muddy Waters song on the platform. Baldry, it turns out, was also waiting for his train, heard Rod singing and offered him a job in his band right then and there.

Rod became the lead singer for Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men, later known as Steampacket. He left in 1966 and joined a number of other bands, eventually landing in future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers band Faces in 1969. Rod simultaneously launched a successful solo career that ran parallel, until Faces split in 1975 and he became a full-time solo artist.

By the way, Long John Baldry is also partly responsible for the career of another British rock legend. After Steampacket broke up, he formed a band called Bluesology, which featured a guy named Reg Dwight on keyboards. When Reg went solo, he adopted the name Elton John, taking the “John” from Baldry and “Elton” from another member of the band, Elton Dean.

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Joni Mitchell is exploring her jazzy side in a new box set coming in September.

Joni’s Jazz will feature recordings chosen by Mitchell that highlight how jazz has influenced her music. It includes 61 tracks, made up of studio recordings, live performances and alternative takes, including two previously unreleased demos from 1980.

The set features Joni collaborations with jazz greats like Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock and Charles Mingusy, with tracks coming from albums like Songs to a Seagull, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira, Mingus, Turbulent Indigo and Both Sides Now. There are even tunes featuring Joni, which appeared on Hancock’s album River: The Joni Letters.

As a preview of what fans can expect, Joni has released one of those previously unreleased demos, for the song “Be Cool,” to digital services. The original version appeared on her 1982 album Wild Things Run Fast.

Joni’s Jazz will be released Sept. 5 in a variety of formats, including as an eight-LP or four-CD set, with the physical releases coming with original artwork by Mitchell, as well as rare and previously unseen photos.

Joni’s Jazz is available for preorder now.

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ZZ Top has expanded their North American Elevation Tour.

Now that drummer Frank Beard is back with the band after taking time off to recover from foot and ankle issues, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have decided to add more than a dozen new shows to their schedule.

“This has been a great tour so we figured it would be a good idea to add some additional dates to keep the good times rolling,” Billy F. Gibbons says. “Come on out and see us at a concert venue near you.”

The new shows include dates in Oklahoma, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana and their home state of Texas. Night Ranger, The Wallflowers, Black Stone Cherry, Molly Hatchet and Payton Smith are booked as openers.

ZZ Top’s Elevation Tour hits Laval, Quebec, Canada, on Wednesday. The tour is set to run through Nov. 21 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A complete list of dates can be found at ZZTop.com.

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On This Day, June 25, 2023…

Elton John headlined the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival, which was the final U.K. show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

This was Elton’s first ever time headlining Glastonbury, and he treated the crowd to a set filled with hits, including “Bennie and the Jets,” “Daniel,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Your Song,” “Candle in the Wind,” and more, wrapping the night with “Rocket Man.”

Elton was also joined by several guests including The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Stephen Sanchez, Jacob Lusk and Rina Sawayama.

While the concert was billed as Elton’s final U.K show, that didn’t turn out to be true. In March, he headlined a special concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall with Brandi Carlile.

The 2025 Glastonbury Festival kicks off Wednesday, with Neil Young and Rod Stewart among the performers.

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The 30th anniversary of Van Halen’s tenth studio album Balance is being celebrated with an expanded reissue, which will offer a boatload of extras for fans.

Balance (Expanded Edition), dropping Aug. 15, will be released as a two-LP/two-CD/Blu-Ray set featuring a remastered edition of the original album, along with audio and video rarities, like the B-side “Crossing Over,” and non-album tracks like “Humans Being” and “Respect the Wind,” which were originally featured on the Twister soundtrack.

The set will also include eight live performances from the band’s 1995 show at London’s Wembley Stadium, including a performance of “The Seventh Seal,” which is out now via digital outlets.

The expanded edition’s Blu-ray will include restored promo videos for songs like “Can’t Stand Lovin’ You,” “Not Enough,” and others, along with a previously unreleased live clip of “The Seventh Seal,” shot in Minneapolis in 1995.

In addition to the full expanded set, Balance will be released as a standalone two-CD set featuring the remastered album and the rarities, as well as on vinyl, marking the album’s first time on vinyl in three decades.

Balance (Expanded Edition) is available for preorder now.

Released in January 1995, Balance was the band’s last studio album with frontman Sammy Hagar and the last to feature bassist Michael Anthony. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and was certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.

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