Vince Gill and Paul Franklin on Teaming Up for an Album of Ray Price Classics: Authentic Country Music Is ‘Not Dead — It’s Just Not Real Popular’

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Even though he is through with mathematical album titles, Ed Sheeran is still practicing the art of addition. The suddenly prolific recording artist will soon be adding to his catalog the second new album he’s released in 2023… the second in six months, in fact. Sheeran announced Thursday that “Autumn Variations,” a collection he’s been teasing on social media, will be out Sept.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Loretta Lynn estate has a new manager — Sandbox Succession, a division of Sandbox Entertainment, the Jason Owen-led Nashville company that oversees the careers of such living stars as Kacey Musgraves, Dan + Shay and Kelsea Ballerini. “Loretta Lynn is the original queen of country music, and it is a true privilege that her family has entrusted Sandbox Succession to preserve her precious legacy,” Owen, Sandbox Entertainment’s CEO, said in a statement.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic If you look at Billboard’s latest charts, there’s an anomaly: Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” is No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart … but nowhere to be found on the Country Airplay chart, or Mediabase’s radio rankings.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ray Hildebrand, who topped the pop charts in the 1960s as half of the duo Paul & Paula, died Friday in Kansas City at age 82. No cause of death has been given. Paul & Paula reached No.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Hozier’s third album, the just-released “Unreal Unearth,” has serious conceptual underpinnings that include references to literary and even mythic tropes like Dante’s “Inferno.” Even with that time spent in the underworld, though, fans can assume that the Irish singer-songwriter will take them somewhere closer to heaven — and, for sure, “Church” — when he mounts a major U.S. tour this fall, including a sold-out stop at the Hollywood Bowl Nov. 4.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Zach Bryan’s upcoming self-titled album, due out Sept. 25, looks to be shorter than his 2022 blockbuster breakout “American Heartbreak” — it will be a manageable 16 tracks, compared to the previous release’s juggernaut 24.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It’s been a few years since Rhiannon Giddens did anything remotely in the ballpark of a “pop” album, and it’s not hard to come up with reasons for that: Besides her having a full dance card, you could almost argue she’s overqualified for the job. The recipient of both a MacArthur “genius grant” and a Pulitzer, the banjo-wielding balladeer has sustained herself for a while at the intersection of earthy and highbrow, most recently winning acclaim for her opera, “Omar,” and she looks at least at much at home fronting the LA Phil as she used to leading the old-fashioned string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The 50th anniversary celebration for the Roxy in West Hollywood this September is picking up some added components, including an additional appearance by Neil Young and Crazy Horse; a recreation by Stephen Marley of his father Bob Marley’s “Live at the Roxy” album; and a compilation album that will draw on performances from the nightclub’s five-decade history. Young was already announced to appear at the Roxy on Sept. 20, the 50th anniversary of the night he officially opened the club with a multi-night engagement.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Robbie Robertson left a legacy of storytelling behind him when he died at age 80 on Aug. 9 in Los Angeles. It’s not just the tales he concocted for his work with the Band and, later, his solo records, but his prowess as one of music’s great raconteurs, whether he was harking back to an upbringing that had him visiting Native reservations with his mother or telling of the high life among the rich and infamous.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Try to Remember,” the most famous song to have come out of the stage musical “The Fantasticks,” was noted for its autumnal feel, sung by someone reflecting back on youthful days. The happy irony is that Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt wrote that song prior to the show’s original 1960 staging when they were both still relatively young men of about 30, fellows who still had about two-thirds of their lives ahead of them.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Try to Remember,” the most famous song to have come out of the stage musical “The Fantasticks,” was noted for its autumnal feel, sung by someone reflecting back on youthful days. The happy irony is that Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt wrote that song prior to the show’s original 1960 staging when they were both still relatively young men of about 30, fellows who still had about two-thirds of their lives ahead of them.

McKinley Franklin editor Adam Sandler and the rest of his family (yes, his biological family) are front and center in the first official trailer for Netflix’s “You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah,” streaming Aug. 25 on the platform. The film is an adaptation of Fiona Rosenbloom’s coming-of-age novel of the same name.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s pop dominance in 2023 is not going unnoticed in this year’s MTV Video Music Awards nominations. Swift came out as the leader in the nods announced Tuesday morning, with eight nominations altogether for her videos, followed by six for the videos of SZA. The competition thickens when it gets down to the six artists tied for five VMAs nominations each: Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Kim Petras, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Sam Smith.

Randy Travis is one of the biggest country stars of all time, and the country music world is ready to celebrate him and bring awareness to a health issue that dramatically changed his life. Travis, best known for hits like "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart," "Deeper Than the Holler" and "Forever and Ever, Amen," will be honored at a concert called "A Heroes and Friends Tribute to Randy Travis." Ahead of the concert, which is scheduled to take place in October, the singer – with the help of his wife, Mary – spoke to Fox News Digital about his storied career.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic One of the questions raised by Taylor Swift’s recent single “Karma” is whether the titular force is something that can be, like, aggressively courted. And, if so, is writing out $100,000 bonus checks to one’s tour truck drivers a form of metaphysical insurance payment? These are the deep thoughts that may woozily cross your mind on the Eras Tour, as the clock nears midnight while Swift is bringing things to a close by performing “Karma” at the end of a 3-hour-and-25-minute marathon set. It’s a weird, funny finale that leaves an audience with the idea that virtue is even better than revenge, or that maybe these can amount to the same thing.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The U.S. will not have seen the last of the Eras Tour next week after all. Taylor Swift will bring her stadium outing back to the United States and Canada in October and November… not of this year, but in 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: There’s a change at the top of Eureka Productions, the company behind unscripted series such as Fox’s Farmer Wants A Wife and Netflix’s The Mole.

EXCLUSIVE: A second major transatlantic drama series on the Lockerbie bombing terror attack is in the works — this time at the BBC and Netflix.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Deathstars can be temporal things, but a Dogstar, maybe that’s forever. That is the lesson the rock world can learn after the reemergence of the trio of that name after a mere 23-year layoff. There might have been a reasonable assumption in the interim that maybe the group was a hobby that its most famous member, bassist Keanu Reeves, got over as his other gig just grew and grew.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Joni Mitchell FOMO: it’s a real thing. Or it was a year ago, when she made a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, and again this summer, when Mitchell booked an appearance as part of a Brandi Carlile mini-festival in Washington state, which was advertised and had tickets sold in advance but instantly sold out.