Stagecoach Day 1: Tanya Tucker Gets a Heroine’s Welcome; Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris Celebrate Headliner Status

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThe Beach Boys got around to making their Stagecoach Festival debut Sunday, teaming up with the country duo LoCash on four songs to cap the latter act’s early-evening main stage fest. LoCash had a distinct advantage on any other Stagecoach artists who might ever have been tempted to ask the touring Beach Boys to charter a Palm Springs flight: They actually named their new single “Beach Boys.” Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and three members of their touring band first came out midway into LoCasg’s performance to add their harmonies to the new single — the recorded version of which they also harmonize on.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticWhen Carrie Underwood’s band broke into the opening strains of “Sweet Child o’ Mine” at the Stagecoach Festival Saturday, it seemed like business as usual. The country superstar’s Guns N’ Roses fangirl-ism is well known, and she’s incorporated GNR numbers into her set on a regular basis before, even showing an aptitude for appropriating Axl Rose’s snaky frontman moves as her own.

Mourning an icon. Celebs from Hollywood to Nashville and beyond are grieving the death of Namoi Judd.

J. Kim Murphy When news broke on Saturday that Naomi Judd had died, figures from across the music industry voiced their mourning of the country music legend, remembering the life of the Judd family matriarch.Judd died at the age of 76.

Loving her man! Ahead of her Stagecoach set this weekend, Maren Morris took the time to remind fans that fellow country singer Ryan Hurd is off the market.

Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd get close on stage during their duet performance during the 2022 Stagecoach Festival held at the Empire Polo Field on Friday (April 29) in Indio, Calif.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThe Stagecoach Festival in the southern California desert is officially asking attendees to secede from any love they might have for the Confederate flag or any other “divisive symbols.”The Desert Sun newspaper noticed an addition to Goldenvoice’s Stagecoach website this year, on the General Resort Rules page that provides guidelines for those in the overnight camping areas. It reads: “No divisive symbols, including, without limitation, Confederate flags and racially disparaging or other inappropriate imagery/public displays.”Confederate imagery among fans has been a point of contention at the festival in the past, with some seeing the flag as a harmless symbol of Southern pride — even this many thousand miles away from the South — while others see it as a dog whistle for racism or an emblem of insurrection against the government.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticStagecoach has revealed the full lineup and schedule for the livestream that will go out this weekend on the country music festival’s YouTube channel, and it includes a number of artists that weren’t previously announced for the stream, offering couch sitters a nearly comprehensive view of what will be going down live in the California desert.The lineup includes the headliners — Thomas Rhett on Friday, Carrie Underwood on Saturday and Luke Combs on Sunday — as well as other marquee names that were named as part of the lineup earlier this week, like Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Margo Price, Cody Johnson, Yola, Lainey Wilson and the Black Crowes.It also now is revealed to have a substantial number of artists that weren’t previously included in the livestream announcement, including Tanya Tucker, Smokey Robinson, Jordan Davis, Lee Brice, Ingrid Andress, the Marcus King Band, Ryan Hurd, Charley Crockett, the Mavericks and Mitchell Tenpenny. Most of the lineup is now included, in fact, save for some of the artists who are appearing in the early part of the afternoon, including Americana artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Molly Tuttle and Waylon Payne.Brandi Carlile is off the bill, having disclosed in a social media video late Wednesday night that she has contracted COVID and won’t be making it.

Saying “it finally happened, I have the Covid,” singer Brandi Carlile announced yesterday that she has canceled her scheduled performance at this weekend’s Stagecoach country music festival in in Indio, California.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. It’s not too late to score tickets to Stagecoach, which returns to the famed Empire Polo Grounds this weekend after being cancelled for the past two years.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticCountry music fans have come to accept that the Stagecoach Festival in the California desert each late April will not be livestreamed in the same way that Coachella is from the same location in the preceding weeks. But that changes with the 2022 edition.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticFace the facts: you are never, ever getting that Taylor Swift exclusive Record Store Day release that is coming out today. Fifty million Swift fans can’t be wrong, and about a tenth of them seem bent on landing the 10,000 copies of a 7-inch single of “The Lakes” that is going on sale at indie retailers today as part of the annual holiday for music geeks.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Criticare a few artists who’ve been flagship artists for Record Store Day in its 15 years of existence — among them, the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band and David Bowie, all of whom have had multiple exclusive LP releases for RSD — but maybe none have seemed quite so synonymous with the day as jazz piano great Bill Evans. And Resonance Records, the archival label that has been behind the wave of live Evans releases, is doubling down on the legend this weekend with twin titles, “Morning Glory” and “Inner Spirit,” both recorded in Buenos Aires in the 1970s but never officially released until now.As with all the previous Resonance Evans titles before them, this pair of double-LPs is not likely to last a full day in stock at most of the indie music shops that have ordered it.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticA Record Store Day 15th anniversary program at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles this week was meant to be a celebration of vinyl and music retail first and foremost. But if it turned into a Metallica lovefest as well, that was understandable.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticActually, she can make us love her, and Bonnie Raitt has been doing it since her self-titled debut album in 1971. A slew of Grammys for “Nick of Time” in 1990 spurred a reboot of her career that’s never waned, particularly when it comes to her live appeal.

John Mayer’s Nashville concert had a big surprise for audiences.