Chris Stapleton brought out Sturgill Simpson for his SNL performance over the weekend.
Chris Stapleton Performs on SNL
Tom Hanks to Play Mr. Rogers in New Biopic
Mia Galuppo, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:
Tom Hanks wants to be your neighbor. The Oscar winner will play TV personality Fred Rogers in biopic You Are My Friend, which has been acquired by TriStar Pictures. The feature, which is set to begin production in September, is inspired by a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and award-winning journalist Tom Junod. The cynical journalist begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write a profile piece on the beloved icon and finds his perspective on life transformed.
Justin Vernon Still Not a Fan of the Grammys
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver took to Twitter to offer some thoughts on the Grammys:
I have to say Ken Ehlrich is a dick producer. I’m with Lorde on this, hard. Ken told us Holocene (roty, soty nominee in 2011 (?)) was “too long and slow and that we’d lose 4-6 million viewers cause of that” – and that he’s broken a lot of careers on the show, so I should listen.
Pvris Announce More Tour Dates
Pvris have announced some additional tour dates.
Frank Turner Talks With NME
Frank Turner sat down with NME to talk about his upcoming album:
I always try and have a different mental approach to each record that I make. The last album that we did was sonically and stylistically a bit of a retrenchment, a bit of an attempt to restate first principles, and I liked it, I’m really proud of that record. We cut the record in nine days with a live band and it’s quite stripped back and lean, but now it’s absolutely different. And it’s my seventh album, I feel like I’ve earned the right to expand my sonic boundaries and possibly a duty to as well. There are people in this world who want me to remake ‘Love Ire & Song’ every two and a half years and they are going to be disappointed, but at the same time I’m not taking Love Ire & Song’ away from them.
Pinegrove Share Update on Hiatus
Pinegrove have shared a new statement:
Pinegrove are continuing their hiatus and taking an extended period of time off the road. The band has cancelled the upcoming tour dates. Refunds are available from point of purchase – online ticket buyers will receive notification and a refund in the next 3-5 days. Thank you.
The Gaslight Anthem Announce New Tour Dates
The Gaslight Anthem have announced a series of The ’59 Sound anniversary shows.
Andrew W.K. – “Ever Again” Video
Andrew W.K. has released a new video for “Ever Again.”
Frank Turner Announces New Album; Streams New Song
Frank Turner will release his new album, Be More Kind, on May 4th. Today he’s released the first single, “1933,” and pre-orders are now up.
Read More “Frank Turner Announces New Album; Streams New Song”
Why Didn’t Lorde Perform at the Grammys?
Jem Aswad, writing for Variety:
Sources close to the situation tell Variety that the Grammys approached Lorde about performing with other artists but not solo; one source says it was part of a tribute to the late Tom Petty involving his song “American Girl” (which would have been an odd fit for the New Zealand-born singer). Lorde declined.
That source added that the other Album of the Year contenders — all of whom are male — were offered solo spots performing songs from their respective nominated albums.
The Wonder Years Send Out New Music
Some lucky fans are getting new The Wonder Years music sent to them. Apparently it’s a new song and a spoken word poem. You can find some tweets detailing the package/song below and there’s lots of up to the minute information and gossip about what’s going on in our forums.
Chris Stapleton Announces New Tour Dates
Chris Stapleton has announced some new tour dates.
‘Women Need to Step Up,’ Says Recording Academy President
Michele Amabile Angermiller, writing at Variety:
The only woman presented a solo Grammy during the awards telecast on Sunday night? Alessia Cara, who took home best new artist. Recording Academy president Neil Portnow was asked by Variety about #GrammysSoMale and had this to say:
“It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome. I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it’s upon us — us as an industry — to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.”
Gee, I wonder why no one watches this boring, too long, and completely out of touch show.
Ratings for Grammy Awards Drop 24 Percent
Dominic Patten, writing at Deadline:
James Corden’s second kick at the Grammy host can last night saw 19.81 million tune into watch music’s supposedly biggest night. That’s down 24% from the final viewership of the February 12, 2107 Grammys and the worst the CBS aired ceremony has done since 2009.
2018 Grammy Winners
The 2018 Grammys were last night and Billboard has a list of all of the winners. The top line is Bruno Mars won album, record, and song of the year. Ed Sheeran won best pop song and album of the year and Portugal. The Man won best pop song for a duo/group.