Classic Rock News

The late Jimmy Buffett will be remembered at the 57th annual CMA Awards, airing live from Nashville, Wednesday, November 8, on ABC.

The show will pay tribute to the legendary artist with a performance featuring Buffett’s good friends Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Zac Brown Band and Coral Reefer Band member Mac McAnally.

Buffett and Jackson had a hit with the 2003 track “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,” which spent eight weeks at #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while Buffett and Chesney collaborated on the track “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season.” 

Buffett and Zac Brown Band did a CMT Crossroads together in 2010 and went on to collaborate several times, most recently in 2022 with a version of Zac Brown Band’s song “Same Boat.”

Buffett passed away September 1 at the age of 76 after a four-year battle with Merkel cell skin cancer, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer.

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Anyone who watched the Peter Jackson-directed docuseries The Beatles: Get Back will be familiar with Mal Evans, who was The Beatles’ road manager and personal assistant from the early ’60s to their breakup. Well, fans are about to learn even more about him, thanks to the new book Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans, dropping November 14.

The book was written by Beatles scholar Dr. Kenneth Womack, using the memoir Evans wrote before his tragic death in January 1976. It recalls his days working for The Beatles, along with his take on their split and his life after the band broke up. It also contains letters written by The Beatles giving Evans permission to write his story.  

“Sure, you can do your book,” reads Paul McCartney’s letter, “as long as you tell them how lovely I am.” John Lennon also offers up his approval, noting he’s “been dying to read your diary for the last thousand years.” He adds, “Make a buck, but don’t f*** it up.” 

And there’s even more Evans info to come. Womack is working on a second edition of Evans’ memoir, to be published in 2024, which will contain never-before-seen photos of The Beatles, one of which is believed to the last picture ever taken of McCartney and Lennon together.

People shares the first look at the photo, which Evans took in March 1974 during a recording session for Lennon’s album Rock ‘n’ Roll. People also has an excerpt from the book, recounting Lennon’s time in Los Angeles recording the album, as well as Evans’ decision to finally resign from The Beatles and the band’s reaction.

Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans is available for preorder now.

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Metallica frontman James Hetfield has announced another signing for the upcoming book Messengers: The Guitars of James Hetfield.

The event takes place on November 11 at Third Man Records Cass Corridor, the Detroit location for Jack White‘s label. Metallica is playing Detroit’s Ford Field on November 10 and 12.

Hetfield previously announced a signing taking place in St. Louis on November 4 in between ‘Tallica’s shows in the Missouri city on November 3 and 5.

Messengers is set to be officially released on November 21. The 400-page book includes photos of Hetfield’s personal guitar collection alongside passages on what each instrument means to him.

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The Grateful Dead is getting into English football aka soccer for us American folks.

The band is sponsoring the Forest Green Rovers, a little-known club that plays in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, outside of London. The band’s green skull logo now appears on a new merch line of team T-shirts, hoodies, shorts and more, all made by the U.K. sustainable clothing line I Dress Myself.

While it may seem like an unlikely pairing, it seems the band and the team are very like-minded when it comes to saving the environment. The Dead has spent decades promoting environmental causes, and the Green Rovers have similar values. They have adapted several sustainable practices, so much so the United Nations and FIFA named them “the world’s greenest football club.”

“For us, it’s a perfect match,” Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux tells Billboard. “Forest Green Rovers is a team that really follows Grateful Dead values, which is to say that we’re both conscious of the world around us and we want to make sure that we leave it a better place than when we arrived.”

He adds, “We love to partner with cool people, cool companies and cool organizations who are trying to make a positive difference.”

The Grateful Dead/Forest Green Rovers merch is on sale now.

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Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell rocked the national anthem ahead of his hometown Seattle Seahawks victory over the visiting Cleveland Browns on Sunday, October 29.

In an Instagram post reflecting on the experience, Cantrell writes, “What a great weekend, got to play the national anthem before the Seahawks game.”

“Hawks brought home the W at the end of a slugfest with the Browns,” he adds. “Very proud to have been a part of the festivities. Thank you Seattle!”

Perhaps NFL teams should look into bringing rock artists in to sing the national anthem more often. In addition to Cantrell’s Seahawks grabbing a win, the Denver Broncos were victorious over the Kansas City Chiefs after Anthrax‘s Joey Belladonna sang the anthem at that game.

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Foreigner is set to headline Arizona’s first-ever Rock the Block concert, which will open collector car auction house Barrett-Jackson’s 2024 Scottsdale auction.

The concert will take place Friday, January 19, at Auction Arena at WestWorld of Scottsdale, with tickets on sale starting Wednesday, November 1.

“We are thrilled to introduce the inaugural Rock the Block as an exciting way to kick off our world-renowned Scottsdale Auction in January,” said Craig Jackson, chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson. “This unique blend of live classic rock and automotive excellence underscores our commitment to providing an unparalleled experience at Barrett-Jackson. We look forward to welcoming fans and enthusiasts for this unforgettable occasion in the auction arena.” 

Barrett-Jackson’s 2024 Scottsdale Auction is happening January 20-28, featuring about 1,900 collectible cars, trucks and SUVs. More info on the auction and concert can be found at barrett-jackson.com.

In the meantime, Foreigner still has a few more dates left on the 2023 leg of their farewell tour. Their next show is happening Wednesday, November 1, in Johnson City, Tennessee. A complete list of dates can be found at foreigneronline.com.

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The Black Crowes are headed to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend.

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson are booked to play two shows at the Pearl Theater at Palms Casino Resort on February 9 and 10, performing their hits and fan favorites.

A Citi ticket presale begins Tuesday, October 31, at 10 a.m. PT, with the general onsale happening Friday, November 3, at 10 a.m. PT. 

The Black Crowes currently don’t have any dates on the books for the remainder of 2023. They were supposed to be opening for Aerosmith on their Peace Out tour, but that tour was halted after frontman Steven Tyler injured his vocal cords. It is expected to be rescheduled for sometime next year.

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Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett has teamed up with Epiphone for a new signature guitar.

The Kirk Hammett 1979 Flying V recreates the shredder’s own Flying V guitar and comes in ebony and purple metallic finishes. It costs $1299.

“I am extremely honored to be able to put out an Epiphone Flying V today,” Hammett says. “Epiphone represents great sounding guitars at accessible prices, which is fundamentally important for up-and-coming musicians. I’m beyond pleased that I can offer the ’79 Flying V in this capacity. It means so much to me to be able to put good guitars in the hands of young players.”

For more info, visit Epiphone.com.

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“Dreaming,” a new Sting, Pink and Marshmello collaboration that reworks Sting’s 1993 hit “Fields of Gold,” has landed the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer back on the pop and dance charts.

As Billboard notes, the song enters the publication’s Adult Pop Airplay chart at #34, which is the highest Sting has gotten on that ranking since 2006 when he teamed with Sheryl Crow for the #11 single “Always On Your Side.”

The song also enters Billboard‘s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart at #1 and the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart at #12.

Marshmello came up with the idea for “Dreaming.” In an Instagram video documenting the collaboration, Sting says, “I always like it when [a] different mind takes one of my songs and adds something of their own to it. I never feel that possessive. I’m always interested to know where it can go. A song is just a template for something else.”

“Dreaming” is one of the new tracks on the Tour Deluxe Edition of Pink’s album Trustfall, which comes out December 1.

Notably, this isn’t the first time Sting has had a dance hit with a reworking of one of his classic songs. “Redlight,” a new version of his Police song “Roxanne” with Swedish House Mafia, peaked at #20 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in March of 2022.

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Ozzy Osbourne will receive the Icon Award at the inaugural Rolling Stone UK Awards, taking place November 23 in London.

The Prince of Darkness is set to attend the ceremony, during which he’ll be delivering a speech.

“I don’t know what to say!” Ozzy says of the honor. “I wish I felt like a f****** icon.”

“I’ve had a long career and I’ve raised a few f****** eyebrows along the way, and I’ve met some amazing people too,” he adds. “I’ve done some good gigs and I’ve done some f****** bad gigs! Thanks very much for giving me this award, it really means a lot to me.”

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