Classic Rock News

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are set to star in the latest edition of CMT Crossroads, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The 90-minute special, CMT Crossroads: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, will debut November 29 at 9 p.m. ET and have the two artists performing tracks from their albums Raising Sand and Raise The Roof, including “High And Lonesome,” “Can’t Let Go” and “Gone Gone Gone.” They will also team for some Led Zeppelin tracks, including “Rock and Roll” and “When The Levee Breaks.”

This isn’t the first time Plant and Krauss have appeared on CMT Crossroads. They first teamed for an episode back in 2008 after releasing Raising Sand.

The announcement comes just days after the pair earned three Grammy nominations: Best Americana Album for Raising Sand, Best American Roots Song for “High and Lonesome” and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Going Where The Lonely Go.”

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Queen’s new The Miracle Super Deluxe Collector’s Edition box set drops Friday. In addition to two new songs, “Face It Alone” and “Too Much Love Will Kill You,” it features something really special for fans. The set includes audio from the band’s 1988 studio sessions for the album, giving listeners some insight into the band’s dynamic during recording. 

“Listening to our dialogues on ‘The Miracle,’ it feels as if I am in the middle of our sessions – finding joy, finding frustration,” Queen guitarist Brian May tells Variety. “That was the intention: to invite people into our studio environment at that point in time.”

“Face it Alone” was stitched together from fragments of recordings; May says he got “emotional” the first time he heard the late Freddie Mercury on the track. “All I could hear was Freddie’s incredible vocal cords, working so splendidly and passionately….,” he shares. “Yeah, I was pretty emotion-ed up. It was, as if, he was there, and you realize, again, what an incredible talent that was. Such an amazing human being with an extraordinary instrument.”

And in news that’s bound to excite Queen fans, May hints that there’s a possibility more songs can be released based on old recordings. “It’s possible. We don’t really know until we go back in there,” he explains. “I wouldn’t have predicted that we would have had as much unreleased material around “The Miracle,” as it turned out. I’m guessing we’ll find many more hidden treasures, yeah.”

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Nils Lofgren is having a hard time juggling his gigs. The guitarist is, of course, a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, but he’s also part of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse, and that has left him with a scheduling problem.

Bruce has already announced a tour for 2023, and Neil just released the new Crazy Horse album World Record, but despite how hard he tried, Nils won’t be able to support both, should Neil decide to tour on his record.

“Every time I call Neil’s manager and Bruce’s manager, I say, ‘Guys, I’m a half a century in. I paid some dues,’” Lofgren tells Rolling Stone. “‘Can you just let me create the schedules for Bruce and Neil for the next couple years, please?’ And they always tell me to get lost.”

He adds that since Bruce started planning his tour before the Neil album happened, he had to commit to The Boss. “I can’t get them to let me make the schedule. And so, sadly, I’m doing that tour,” he says. “I talked to Neil about it. It bums me out, but I can’t be in two places at once.”

Neil has talked about Promise of the Real’s Micah Nelson as a fill in for Lofgren, and while he says that band is “fabulous,” Lofgren admits, “It bums me out talking about being replaced for a tour.”

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Bob Dylan is ready to wrap up his Bootleg Series. The singer is set to drop Bob Dylan Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17 on January 27, and it will be the last chapter of his Bootleg Series.

The set will be released in a variety of formats, including a deluxe five-disc or 10-LP, 12-inch vinyl edition. There will also be a two-disc/four-LP highlights edition. The first track from the release, a version of “Love Sick” recorded January 14, 1997 at Criteria Studios, is out on digital services now.

This latest edition in the bootleg series will include a Time Out of Mind 2022 remix disc and a disc of rare outtakes and alternatives versions of songs, as well as Dylan’s take on the traditional Scottish folksong “The Water is Wide.” There will also be a disc of live performances from 1998 to 2001, most of which have never been available before, and a bonus disc that includes four songs omitted from the original album’s track list, as well as live performances of “Cold Irons Bound”and “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven.”

Dylan released Time Out of Mind, his 30th album, in September 1997. The album went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1998, along with Grammys for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Cold Irons Bounds.” The album features the track “Make You Feel My Love,” which has been covered by a variety of artists including Adele and Garth Brooks.

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November 17th marks the 50th anniversary of The Moody Blues album Seventh Sojourn, which, according to bassist/vocalist John Lodge, was inspired by Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

Lodge says he and keyboardist Mike Pinder liked the idea of the characters making a six-day pilgrimage, while sharing various stories during their trek. “What they used to do after they walked for six days, they would sit down on the day of rest and tell everybody stories,” he shares. “And I thought, ‘That’s what our album is about, it’s about us.’”

He adds, “And sojourn means to rest and seven ’cause the seventh album. And so Mike and I were talking about it and we [decided], ’Yep, Seventh Sojourn, that’s the album title.’”

The album features the band’s big hit “I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band),” which was born out of the realization their fans looked up to them as saviors or prophets, when they were anything but. He says one time after a tour he found people in his front yard who told him, “We’re waiting for the spaceship to come, and you’ll be flying it.” 

“And I said, ‘I don’t think so, so I won’t be flying anything.’ And they said, ‘No, but you will be,'” Lodge explains. “And I suddenly thought, ‘Hang on, I don’t know anything more than you guys. You know, I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band. That’s all I am.'”

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Iron Maiden‘s collaboration with Marvel is continuing with a new collection.

The metal legends have unveiled a new batch of apparel in partnership with the famed comic book brand, featuring Maiden’s album and single artwork combined with characters including Iron Man, Deadpool and the Guardians of the Galaxy gang.

You can check out the collection now via the Iron Maiden web store.

The Maiden/Marvel team up was first announced last November, and launched with designs featuring Deadpool, Wolverine and Venom.

In a statement at the time, Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said, “Juxtaposing some of the most recognizable characters in pop art & comic book culture into planet Maiden has been an ambition of ours for years and working with Marvel and their unparalleled character-based IP is the perfect fit in this day and age.”

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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It was 60 years ago that Graham Nash released his first single with the Hollies, and he’s celebrating his lengthy career with a tour. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is hitting the road next year on a solo trek, dubbed the Sixty Years of Songs and Stories tour.

The tour will include several multinight stands, kicking off April 15 and 16 in Annapolis, Maryland. He’ll also spend multiple nights in Virginia and Chicago, with the tour wrapping with a three-night stand at New York’s City Winery. He’ll then return to the West Coast in June to make up shows that were postponed due to COVID-19.

Tickets for all shows are on sale now.

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It’s been a long wait to see Timothée Chalamet play Bob Dylan on the big screen in the planned biopic Going Electric, but he just gave fans some hope the project may still happen.

In an interview with Variety, Chalamet says he hasn’t stopped preparing to play the legendary musician in the James Mangold-directed film, which was announced two years ago, noting it’s “been one of the greatest gifts for me.”

“It’s been a wonderful experience getting to dive into that world, whether we get to make it or not,” he shares. “But without giving anything away — because I don’t want to beat anyone to the punch, and obviously things have to come together officially — the winds that are blowing are blowing in a very positive direction.”

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Bruce Springsteen recently sat down for his first-ever interview with Howard Stern, and now, fans are going to able to see what went down.

Variety reports the two-hour interview, which originally aired on Halloween, is set to debut on HBO on November 27 at 10 p.m.; it will also stream on HBO Max.

The conversation had The Boss discussing a wide range of subjects, including his latest album, Only The Strong Survive. It also featured several performances on guitar and piano of such tunes as “Thunder Road,” “The Rising” and “Born to Run.”

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(Note Language) Neil Young is one of the many artists who in recent years have sold the publishing rights to their catalog, and for him, doing so was a no brainer. 

“I wanted to sell my songs because I don’t have to worry about a f****** thing now,” he tells Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. I’ve got the end of my life to go out doing exactly what it is I want to do and not doing what I don’t want to do.”

Neil adds, “That’s the way I feel about it. I don’t have to go on a tour if I don’t want to go on a tour.”

But even with the sale, Neil insists he doesn’t want to hear his music “associated with a product or with a movement or with a politician or with a sport or with anything,” adding, “I like the songs to be the songs.”

And fans shouldn’t think the sale means Neil’s about to stop making music. “It’s what I have to do. I want to do this,” he says. “That’s why there’s 51, 52 albums because I want to do this and I can still feel it. I’d be crazy to stop.”

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