Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks At The Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN

For more photos of Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks, click here.

Nashville Celebrates Record Store Day

Check out our photo set from Record Store Day 2012 in Nashville.

Lyric Of The Week: Paul Simon, “Hearts And Bones”

When you think about Paul Simon albums from the ’80s, it’s only natural that Graceland should come to mind. The large shadow cast by that lauded landmark of an album has somewhat obscured the subtler charms to be found on 1983’s Hearts And Bones, perhaps the most underrated release of Simon’s fantastic career.

Listening to the title track from that album, it’s easy to hear how Simon’s mature and honest ruminations on the “arc of a love affair” might have been overlooked in the flash-and-dash MTV era. Inspired by his relationship with Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher, “Hearts And Bones” is about how two people reconcile their expectations of an ideal love with the imperfections that life inevitably produces.

Continue reading here.

Q&A: Craig Morgan

What do you get when you cross a soldier and a country music singer? You get Craig Morgan. The ten year army veteran is basking in the Top 5 debut of his latest release, This Ole Boy.Once dubbed “country music’s champion of the Everyman,” he is best known for monster hits that espouse the core values of the genre: faith (“That’s What I Love About Sunday”), good times, (“Redneck Yacht Club”) and helping others (“Almost Home”), for which he was awarded the Songwriter Achievement Award. Between his TV show, touring and charity work, it was hard to imagine finding time to make an album. The combination of changing to the Black River label and the inspired confidence in his career propelled his latest effort. The title track has spent 38 weeks on the Billboard country charts and is still in the top 20. Morgan took timeout to discuss his career from his home in Nashville.

You’ve said the new songs reflect a point in your career where you are extremely comfortable and confident.

I’ve been doing this for 12 years and I think I know more about what people expect from me and the kind of music they want to hear from me than I ever have. I think I was able to deliver that in such a way I never have in the past. A lot of that was due to the comfort that I’ve gotten from this label. They’ve shown me a lot of support and confidence that I haven’t had in a long time. And not just myself and my music but in this business; they’re happy and when you go to work and are around people who like their job, it makes your job a lot easier.

Continue reading the interview here.

Review: DigiTech iStomp Stompbox

Have you ever shown up to a gig, set up your amp, tuned your guitar, and upon setting up your pedal board realized that the pedal you need isn’t in your gig bag? Or perhaps your favorite pedal dies on you in the middle of a performance? Or maybe you’re just looking for a way to experiment with different sounds without investing in as many pedals as your girlfriend has shoes? The DigiTech iStomp is ready and willing to fill in for any of these scenarios.

DigiTech seems to be paving the way in the use of iOS technology in effects pedals, and the iStomp, for being the first one of it’s kind out of the gate, will be tough to improve upon. It’s extremely simple to use, sounds fantastic, and like most iOS software, the user interface is incredibly intuitive.

Click here to continue reading the review.

Hello, Cruel World: A Q&A With Gretchen Peters

Gretchen Peters, writer of some of the ‘90s biggest country songs and maker of quietly moving modern folk albums, is not one to send an interviewer away empty-handed. Ask her for self-analysis, and she’ll sift through thoughts and feelings until she arrives at something with some substance to it. One can approach a Gretchen Peters album expecting engrossing, character-driven narratives spun from her inner awareness, and her latest album, Hello Cruel World, is no exception.

You’ve gone through different phases in your career, from you country cut era to your big record label era to finding a warm welcome with the folk audience. Now you’ve added a satellite radio show and Huffington Post blog. Has your idea of what you do as a songwriting and communicator changed?

Well, obviously, yeah, especially with those things that you mentioned. I think that I’ve finally kind of accepted that I’m a writer, period, without a hyphen in front of it. The Huff Post blog, for instance, it was daunting to write that first one just from a writerly standpoint, you know, the essay form. I chose the form of songs for a reason, because that very small box really felt like my niche. And writing an essay, it felt so open-ended. Writing without the overlay of poetry felt very naked and a little bit daunting. But I also found pretty quickly that the same things apply to writing that piece that apply to writing the songs on this record and to anything else, which was I had to find my way to the heart of the matter and get there, and then everything went smoothly. …And the radio show is a secret fantasy I’ve had forever. I think every musician I know would secretly like to do this. At first I thought, ‘Well, am I going to run out of stuff to play?’ Then halfway into the second show I realized, ‘Never.’

Click here to continue reading the interview.

New Beck Song: “Looking For A Sign”

Those looking for a sign of Beck’s ongoing recording career (his last album was 2008′s Modern Guilt) should take a listen to “Looking For A Sign,” a tune he contributes to the Jeff Who Lives At Home soundtrack. Look for the song (which has a nice Sea Change acoustic vibe) to be used to underscore a poignant scene around the end of the second act. Just a guess!

(Source: americansongwriter.com / tpop453)

Jimmy Fallon’s Tim Tebowie Makes A Comeback

Even if you don’t follow football, there’s plenty to enjoy in this latest viral video from Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, in which the show’s host and musical chameleon dons his Tim Tebowie persona for a riff on Peyton Manning set to David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust.” It’s another musical touchdown for Fallon, who will release an album featuring songs from the show this summer.

Check out the video here.

Willie Nelson, Music and Donuts: Jonny Corndawg’s Wild SXSW

Jonny Corndawg’s 2012 SXSW experience included a trip to Willie Nelson’s ranch, and the kind of food you might want to eat after visiting said ranch.

Check out the photo set with Corndawg’s captions here.

President Obama Performs With Mick Jagger, Blues Legends

It’s been just over a month since the nation got its first glimpse of President Obama’s pipes when he broke into song singing Al Green’s classic, “Let’s Stay Together,” at a fundraising event in Harlem. Obama took to the mic once more last night during an intimate taping of PBS’s “In Performance at the White House Series” in The East Room of the White House.

Continue reading about Obama’s performance here.