Sting is one of several musical acts who’ll be ringing in Independence Day this year on CNN.
The cable network’s fifth annual special The Fourth in America will air starting at 7 p.m. ET live on CNN. The special will feature coast-to-coast firework shows from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans, Nashville and Seward, Alaska.
Counting Crows and a reunited 4 Non Blondes are also set to perform, along with ’90s alt-rockers CAKE and Sublime, Noah Kahan, The Fray and more.
CNN’s The Fourth in America is hosted by Dana Bash, Boris Sanchez, Victor Blackwell and Sara Sidner.
Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes is offering up a new take on his recent solo album, Million Voices Whisper.
The rocker is set to release The Whisper Sessions onSept. 12. The nine-track album features seven stripped-down versions of songs from the album, which came out in November. It also includes a new version of the Allman Brothers Band classic “Melissa,” featuring Haynes and his ABB bandmate Derek Trucks.
“We didn’t plan to release stripped-down versions of the songs from Million Voices Whisper, it just kind of happened organically,” Haynes says of the album. “We were combing through these performances and realized that they offer a unique perspective into the songs themselves, so we thought it would be cool to make them available.”
Trucks actually appears on three of the album’s tracks. Another one is “These Changes,” which was co-written by both artists.
“I love this song, which is about looking back and forward at the same time and navigating your way through an ever-changing life,” Haynes shares. “The instrumental section at the end, where we are trading guitar riffs and playing off of each other, was not in the original arrangement as we wrote it – it just came about organically once we started recording the song.”
He adds, “It was a great opportunity for the two of us to rekindle our chemistry that we’ve had for a long time.”
Chicago is set to release an expanded version of their greatest hits collection, Chicago IX, to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The original collection of 11 songs was released in 1975 and featured Chicago hits from 1969 to 1974, including such songs as “25 or 6 to 4,” “Saturday in the Park” and “If You Leave Me Now.” It went to #1, spent 72 weeks on the Billboard 200 and became one of the band’s bestselling albums.
The new expanded edition adds 10 Chicago hits that were released through 1980. They include songs like “Baby What a Big Surprise,” “Street Player” and “Thunder and Lightning.”
Chicago IX: Greatest Hits Expanded, which features a new cover in gold in honor of the album’s 50th anniversary, will be released on CD and two-LP black vinyl. It is available for preorder now.
Chicago is set to launch a new North American tour on Wednesday in Dubuque, Iowa, with dates confirmed through Nov. 16 in Brookings, South Dakota. A complete list of dates can be found at ChicagoBand.com.
Bruce Springsteen is set to release Tracks II: The Lost Albums on June 27, a box set featuring seven previously unheard Springsteen records.
The set includes 83 songs, all of which were originally recorded between 1983 and 2018. Of those songs, 82 have never been released before and 74 have never been heard before. While that may sound like a lot, the rocker has even more to share.
“Tracks III, that is finished,” he tellsThe New York Times. “It’s basically what was left in the vault.” The paper notes that includes music dating back to his 1973 debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
“So there was a lot of good music left,” Springsteen adds. “There are five full albums of music.”
Springsteen released the original Tracks compilation in 1998, which was comprised of single B-sides, demos and alternate versions of already-released material. As for why it took so long to release a follow-up, Springsteen tells the paper it was all about timing.
“I believe I’m engaged in a conversation with my audience that has a certain ebb and flow as to when records are released,” he says.
And in addition to Tracks III, it sounds like Springsteen is already plotting his next album.
“I’m a better man when I’m working,” he says. “I feel like I’ve got plenty of work left in me, and our band does too. Our band’s in great shape, and we carry on.”
Springsteen and the E Street Band are currently touring Europe. They play Frankfurt, Germany, on Wednesday. A complete list of dates can be found at BruceSpringsteen.net.
Grateful Dead fans will once again have the chance to head to the theaters to see their favorite band on the big screen, and this time the event will be part of the continued celebration of the band’s 60th anniversary.
The Dead’s latest Meet-Up at the Movies will take place Aug. 14. It will feature a showing of the band’s concert film The Grateful Dead Movie, which will be shown in theaters, as well as on IMAX screens for the very first time. An advance screening will also be held in 60 IMAX North American locations on Aug. 13.
The Grateful Dead Movie is a recording of their five-night stand at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in October 1974, which at the time was believed to be their final run of shows. It features not only performances, but interviews with the band and animation, along with a focus on the band’s fans and their “Dead Head” lifestyle.
It will also feature a bonus performance of “China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider” at the end, the first time the performance is being shown on the big screen.
The film, one of only two directed by the late Dead founder Jerry Garcia, was originally released in movie theaters in 1978. The new screening marks the first time it’s being shown in theaters in eight years.
Tickets for The Dead’s Meet-Up at the Movies go on sale June 26 at 9 a.m. ET. More info can be found at MeetUpAtTheMovies.com.
Van Morrison and the late Jerry Garcia were celebrated at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction gala in New York City.
Morrison, known for writing such songs as “Gloria,” “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Moondance” and more, was honored with the Johnny Mercer Award for songwriting excellence at the ceremony. He was previously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.
Michael Bublé honored Morrison at the ceremony with a performance of “Moondance.”
Garcia, who passed away in 1995, and his Grateful Dead songwriting partner Robert Hunter were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Country star Zac Brown performed “Casey Jones” in celebration of the pair, while Hunter was on hand to perform “Ripple.”
Cyndi Lauper, Linda Perry, Toby Keith, Willie Dixon and Bobby Braddock were among the other inductees that year.
A new trailer has been released for the livestream of Black Sabbath‘s upcoming Back to the Beginning concert.
The 40-second clip, which you can watch now on YouTube, teases “the biggest metal event of all time,” which features the reunion and farewell of original Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, as well as Ozzy’s final performance ever.
“It’s time to go back to the beginning,” Ozzy says in the trailer.
The bill also includes Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax and Mastodon, among many others. Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello will be the show’s musical director.
Back to the Beginning takes place July 5 in Sabbath’s hometown in Birmingham, England, and the stream begins that day at 10 a.m. ET. For more info, visit BacktotheBeginning.com.
We are finally getting our first look at footage of Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen.
The trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has just been released. The film follows The Boss’ efforts to make his 1982 solo album Nebraska, and the trailer features footage of White recording songs on a four-track recorder in his bedroom, walking around Asbury Park, New Jersey, with a blonde woman, and more, ending with him triumphantly on stage singing “Born to Run.”
It also includes clips of Jeremy Strong as Bruce’s manager Jon Landau and in a voiceover Landau explains to a record executive why Bruce decided to make the record.
“Here’s what I want you to understand. This is not about either one of us. It’s not about the charts,” he says. “This is about Bruce Springsteen. And these are the songs he wants to work on right now.”
He then tells a story about how Bruce grew up with a hole in the floor of his bedroom, cut with flashbacks to Bruce as a child.
“The floor, it’s supposed to be solid. You’re supposed to be able to stand on it. Bruce, he didn’t have that,” Landau says. “Bruce is a repairman, and what he’s doing with this album, is he’s repairing that hole in his floor. He’s repairing that hole in himself. And once he’s done that, he’s gonna repair the entire world.”
The clip is soundtracked to the Springsteen songs “Nebraska” and “Born to Run.” White is doing his own singing in the film.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper, hits theaters Oct. 24.
In the ongoing debate of The Beatles versus The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart has picked sides.
During an appearance on BBC Radio 2, Rod was asked by U.K. pop star Robbie Williams which of the two legendary bands he would choose to front if he could — and Rod didn’t have trouble deciding.
“Yeah, I would have liked to have fronted The Stones, you know, because they were a London band and we all loved them,” Stewart said. He noted members of his own band, Faces, were big fans of The Stones’ 1970 live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out.
“It was a big influence with us when we used to go onstage,” he explained. “So definitely The Stones.”
That influence certainly seemed to help Rod’s Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood, whowent on to become a member of The Stones.
Williams also asked Stewart to choose which other band from musical history he would want to front. He said that he “would have loved to have sung” with artists like Duke Ellington or Count Basie.
“Or maybe been the other half of Sam & Dave,” he added, referring to the famed R&B duo. “You know, Sam & Rod.”
Next up, Stewart is set to headline the Legends slot at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on June 29. His tour returns to the U.S. on July 5 in Pittsburgh. A complete list of dates can be found at RodStewart.com.
REO Speedwagon’s original frontman Terry Luttrell is recuperating in the hospital after wrecking his car on the way home from an REO Speedwagon reunion event Saturday in the band’s hometown of Champaign, Illinois.
Luttrell tells The News-Gazette that he fell asleep at the wheel after getting little sleep following the band’s performance at the State Farm Center.
“It just happened,” Luttrell said. “I nodded off. I rolled the car over, and I woke up and I was in a cocoon (the airbags). Unfortunately it totaled the car.”
“I was able to get up and get out of the car,” he added. “The airbag went off and cracked my sternum a little bit. I have a little back pain and neck pain. It’s nothing that can’t be overcome.”
Luttrell is currently recuperating at Carle Foundation Hospital, and is expected to spend a few days there.
The REO Speedwagon event, Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon – A Concert Event – Back Where it All Began, featured Luttrell, REO Speedwagon members Bruce Hall and Neal Doughty and others. One person who was not there was REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin, who was in Bend, Oregon, performing on his tour with Styx.
