Allison Russell and Her Childhood Pal, ‘Eras Tour’ Creative Director Ethan Tobman, on Teaming Up for Epic ‘Demons’ Music Video (EXCLUSIVE)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In a time when country music is suddenly flusher with credible newcomers than it has been in a lot of years, Megan Moroney is one of the freshest of the fresh — with a clever debut single, “Tennessee Orange,” that stands as one of the best No. 1 singles the format has wrought recently, from an album, “Lucky,” that bears no skips among its 16 deluxe-edition tracks.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic When a record comes with a warning label, believe it. That’s the case behind André 3000’s solo album debut, 17 years after the close of the recorded catalog of his Atlanta-based hip hop behemoth, Outkast.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Bob Dylan rarely speaks in his concerts beyond a “thank you,” so when he says even something trivial from the stage, people listen — and when he suddenly breaks with form to defend a controversial figure, they lean in even more. At a show Thursday night at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, he defended Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner, who in September was removed from the board of directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation — which he also co-founded — after remarks in a New York Times interview that were perceived as sexist and racist.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tish Melton, the 17-year-old singer who recently made a splash with her official debut single, “Michelle,” can’t wait to graduate high school next year and devote herself fully to her nascent music career. But in the meantime she’s got a hell of an early graduation present: a forthcoming debut EP helmed by one of the music world’s most notable artist-producers, Brandi Carlile.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Southern California comedy aficionados have experienced some FOMO when it comes to on-and-off L.A. resident Alex Edelman having become the toast of the town in New York theater circles with his one-man show, “Just for Us.” One of the most celebrated younger stars of comedy, Edelman performed parts of what would turn into the theater piece while doing stand-up in L.A., premiered it overseas in 2018, and then had “Just for Us” turn into a hot off-Broadway ticket in 2022 before doing a limited Broadway run this past summer.

Hozier is back by popular demand.Following a successful 2023 tour, the Irish singer announced a second 39-concert leg of his ‘Unreal Unearth Tour’ with special guest Allison Russell on select dates from April through September 2024.Along the way, he’ll play not one, not two, not three, not four but five (!) concerts in New York.First up, Hozier will stop into Saratoga Springs’ Saratoga Performing Arts Center on May 19.Soon after that, the “Take Me To Church” crooner hits Syracuse’s Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater on May 21, Forest Hills’ Forest Hills Stadium on June 4-5 and Bethel’s Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center on July 27.The tour is in support of Hozier’s critically acclaimed 2023 album “Unreal Unearth;” the New York Post called the record a “fantastic, sonically diverse offering from a constantly maturing artist.”And if you missed Hozier in 2023, you can grab your 2024 tickets as soon as today.Although inventory isn’t available on Ticketmaster until Friday, Nov. 17, fans who want to ensure they have tickets ahead of time can purchase on sites like Vivid Seats before tickets are officially on sale.Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.Batter up, baseball fans.Right before spring training kicks into high gear, Hozier will headline at Tempe, AZ’s annual Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park on Feb.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic These weren’t your grandfather’s CMA Awards… or even yours, from, say five years ago. A new generation has been firmly installed, between the big look for Lainey Wilson, who is only on her second major-label album but was named entertainer of the year, and other winners from Luke Combs to Hardy, who were also unknown a decade ago. When Chris Stapleton suddenly nearly seems like the “old guard” after only six years of accruing awards, things have changed.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The winners of the 2023 CMA Awards are being announced from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Luke Combs‘ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” won the first two on-air awards, for single of the year and song of the year.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen tied for songwriter of the year of the BMI Country Music Awards, held Tuesday night at BMI’s building in Nashville. To commemorate the tie (which clearly had been communicated to the twin winners in advance), BMI cooked up another surprise: a climactic performance for the evening in which Wallen and Combs sat side by side and borrowed each other’s hits.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift‘s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” has now gone down on the books as giving the singer her best first week tally for an album ever. The release tops the Billboard 200 with 1.653 million equivalent album units. That puts it ahead of her previous personal best, which was 1.578 million for “Midnights,” released just over a year ago.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic As Doja Cat‘s “Scarlet Tour” touched down at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena Thursday night for what was only its second date, fans were still learning about just what shape her first arena headlining shows would take. Title cards appearing on the big screens announced that it would be broken down into five parts — Acts I, II, III, IV and V — but it took a while to figure out whether these chapter stops would involve big costume and production design changes, as might be typical on a big diva tour.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Christmas has come early for Beatles fans… who fortunately have been granted a week between gifts, so they don’t have to choose which to unwrap first. There was Thursday’s release, of course, of the newsmaking “Now and Then” single, a track that features the late John Lennon and George Harrison that was recently completed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with Martin on board as McCartney’s co-producer.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In advance of Thursday’s release of the recently completed “Now and Then,” which is being billed as the final new track that will ever be finished and released under the Beatles‘ name, fans are hearing portions of the song — and more of the story behind it — in a 12-minute mini-documentary, “Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song,” that premiered on Disney+ Wednesday afternoon. The doc includes footage from the 1995 recording session in which Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison first had a quickly aborted go at adding parts to a John Lennon demo that had been supplied to them for Yoko Ono.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The second round of performances announced for the 2023 CMA Awards includes two collaborations scheduled for the genre’s reigning superstar, Morgan Wallen — one a medley of country classics with Post Malone and Hardy, and the other with a guest duet partner being held back as a surprise. Also planned for the Nov.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic There are quite a few things Jessi Colter, of “I’m Not Lisa” fame, is not — besides Lisa. The country music veteran laughs at the idea that she is an “outlaw queen,” even though one of her claims to fame is being one of the four participants included on the trending-setting 1976 album “Wanted! The Outlaws,” along with her husband Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic On the day of the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Taylor Swift set a Spotify record in becoming the artist with the most streams in a single day in the streaming service’s history, according to a statement from Spotify on Saturday on X. The company added that, on top of that, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” had set a 2023 record as Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day so far this year. Spotify did not release overall numbers for the album or Swift’s total as an artist, as is its custom when announcing records being broken.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It was a very good year, 1989 was. And by 1989, of course we mean 2014.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic What has been described as the Beatles‘ “last song,” a recently completed version of “Now and Then” that includes contributions from all four members, is about to enter the realm of the now. The long-teased track will finally reach the public’s ears in one week, on Thursday, Nov. 2.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic U2 found what they were looking for in a duet partner Wednesday night at Sphere in Las Vegas, as Lady Gaga joined the group for duets on one of her songs, “Shallow,” and two of theirs, “All I Want Is You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Bono introduced his fellow leather-jacketed guest as “the most audacious, vivacious woman in any room she’s ever in. Would you welcome to our turntable, the divine — the divinyl! — Lady Gaga.” He wasn’t done praising her divinity.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Devo was, and is, the ultimate future-proof band. When they first entered the public consciousness in the late ‘70s, Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale and company seemed impossibly ahead of their time — in a primitive-futurist kind of way — and they still do. There’s very little that you could consider dated about the 50 cuts on their new career retrospective, “50 Years of De-Evolution 1973-2023,” since their worldview always kind of seemed to be trained on offering up dystopianism with a smile and a jacked-up synth-rock beat.