Graeme Edge, Moody Blues Drummer, Dies at 80

Sometimes, smaller is better. The Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards returned to the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday (Feb. 4) after several years at the larger Dolby Theater in Hollywood (home of the Oscars) where the show was taped for airing as a PBS special that ran its course. Related Nirvana, The Supremes, Nile Rodgers & More to Receive 2023 Lifetime Achievement Awards from… 02/05/2023 Maybe the Special Merit Awards ceremony was always meant to be a small, intimate affair, where the Academy dispenses its lifetime achievement awards, trustees awards, technical Grammy Awards and the music educator award. As in years...

Coldplay returned to Saturday Night Live as musical guest on Feb. 4 to deliver some recent tunes and revisit a fan-favorite classic. The British band, led by charismatic frontman Chris Martin, opened with their 2022 single “The Astronaut,” a collaboration with BTS member Jin. The song opened with a starry background and colorful shooting lights, and later revealed the musicians (including Ariana and the Rose on keys) donning friendly looking alien masks while performing the upbeat track. For their second performance, Coldplay opted for a medley of their heartfelt songs “Human Heart,” from their 2021 Music of the Spheres album, and their...

Throughout his six-plus decades in country music, Bill Anderson has been lauded for his considerable talents as both an artist and a songwriter, with more than 30 top 10 Billboard Country Songs hits to his credit as an artist, including seven chart-toppers. As a songwriter, he’s seen his songs recorded by artists including George Strait, Brad Paisley, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Dean Martin. But even as a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, the 85-year-old Anderson is still notching career firsts. Leading into Sunday’s (Feb. 5) Grammy Awards, Anderson is celebrating his...

White Reaper notches its No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay with “Pages,” which lifts to the top of the Feb. 11-dated survey. The song becomes the Kentucky band’s second top 10, after its debut entry “Might Be Right” hit No. 4 in 2019. In between the two tracks, the quintet also appeared on the chart with the No. 19-peaking “Real Long Time” in 2020. White Reaper is the second straight act to earn a first No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay, following TALK, whose “Run Away to Mars” led the two preceding weeks. Concurrently, “Pages” rises 10-9 on Alternative Airplay, a new high....

Year after year, Spotify’s Grammy Week party delivers what no other party does: performances from every best new artist nominee on the same stage on the same night.  Related GAYLE, Yung Gravy, Anderson .Paak & More: Music Stars at 2023 Grammy Week Events 02/03/2023 And sure, with 10 nominees, that does lead to a rather long evening as the sets spread out over nearly five hours, but that hardly stopped the closing act from delivering a headline-worthy rock show, prompting the first and only mosh pit of the night. With a guest list full of future best new artist hopefuls such as Orville Peck, jxdn, Joshua...

First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week. Dierks Bentley with Ashley McBryde, “Cowboy Boots” “They ain’t broke in until they’ve broke a few horses and some hearts,” Dierks Bentley sings in this sentimental ode to trusty, dusty old boots. Joining Bentley is is another superb, rootsy-warm vocalist, Ashley McBryde. Together, they bring all out the best nuances in this track, which is included on Bentley’s upcoming album Gravel & Gold, out Feb. 24. Shania Twain, Queen of Me Shania Twain returns with the album Queen of Me, her followup to 2017’s Now. Here...

Shania Twain is back on her horse with “Queen Of Me,” her first album in more than five years. The Canadian country-pop superstar marks her comeback with the 12-track set, led by “Waking Up Dreaming,” her first single since 2017, and her latest, “Giddy Up!”. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Queen of Me marks the first artist release through Republic Nashville. “I’m honored and excited to be the label’s first artist and lead the charge of this new and exciting chapter,” she said last September when the deal was struck. “In this respect, it feels like a new beginning all around, and I’m...