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A new tribute album to David Olney puts the late songwriter’s poetic lyrics in the hands of artists like Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Mary Gauthier. Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney will be released Oct. 18 via New West Records.

Ahead of the album’s release, two songs are available now: a rare live recording of Townes Van Zandt, who ranked Olney alongside Mozart, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Bob Dylan, singing “Illegal Cargo,” and the Steeldrivers’ version of “If My Eyes Were Blind.”

Born in Rhode...

Ringo Starr didn’t write many songs for The Beatles, but Paul McCartney and John Lennon often wrote music that catered to his talents. The drummer had many fans, and The Beatles wanted to ensure his admirers could hear his contributions. Lennon and McCartney wrote one song with Starr’s talents in mind that Paul called a “job to order” for the famous drummer.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon gave a Beatles song a ‘country’ influence Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr | Kevin Mazur/WireImage

“I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” is from The Beatles’ 1964 album Beatles for Sale. Lennon primarily wrote it, but it is credited to Lennon-McCartney. The track contains themes of isolation and anxiety as the singer details being at a party and trying not to bring down the mood after their date stands them up.

It has a distinct sound for The Beatles, infused with a country and blues style.

A new Robert Johnson biography and a box set of previously unheard field recordings are among the first releases the Smithsonian and Folkways are planning from the collection of storied folklorist Robert “Mack” McCormick.

The Johnson book — Biography of a Phantom — will be released on April 4, with the new box set titled Playing for the Man at the Door out August 4. The National Museum of American History will also start exhibiting items from McCormick’s collection on June 23, with the display running for two years. More releases and events centered...

Speaking with Rolling Stone earlier this year, Carl “Buffalo” Nichols was happy to talk about his self-titled debut album, most of it steeped in acoustic blues. But he was already thinking about what would come next. “I think it will be pretty drastically different,” he said of his next record.

With his new single, “Friends,” out Tuesday, Nichols begins to deliver on that promise. The first change is in the producer’s chair: TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone is now behind the boards, which suggests fresh sonic ground for both men.

Willie Nelson is lucky to have had good friends to help him face his demons.

In his new book Me and Paul: Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship, the legendary country star opens up about his 65-year friendship with drummer Paul English, who passed away in 2020.

Read More: Willie Nelson Reveals Scary Covid Battle: ‘I Had I Pretty Rough Time With It’

The artist reveals in the memoir that early in his career, English helps steer him through a period of deep and dark depression.

“Looking back over my life, my early days in Nashville were a definite low point,” Nelson writes, in an excerpt published by People. “I’m not one to easily fall prey to depression, but depression had me in its grips.”

He recalls that during a night of heavy drinking, “I thought about an old song I’d heard Lightnin’ Hopkins cut back at Gold Studios in Houston.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Aftershock (Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt)

A work of deep pain and fervent justice, Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt’s Sundance winner Aftershock examines the failings of maternal health support particularly as it relates to Black mothers. Centering on two NYC families forever torn apart after maternal deaths due to childbirth-related complications, the film takes an intimate look at the widowers and family left behind as they pick up the pieces to fight for change in a prejudiced system. Amongst its most interesting passages, the filmmakers also go back decades and beyond, filling in the historical foundation for how we ended up with our current, faltering maternal health system and setting the stage for how it can be changed.

Where...

Ever since her Grammy-winning fifth album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, introduced her to mainstream audiences in 1988, Lucinda Williams has been at the top of the nebulously-defined genre of "alt-country." Her instantly-recognizable voice and unique interpretation of country, blues and folk traditions have made her an indispensable part of the scene: If you didn't recognize her forlorn "Are You Alright?" in one of the key scenes of True Detective's first season, you probably cocked your head and said, "Who is that?" anyway. Williams released her 11th album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, this year, and contributed a...

Film-maker behind intimate, rounded portraits of musicians including Dizzy Gillespie and Lightnin' Hopkins

Les Blank and Werner Herzog: strange dreams and sole food

The film-maker Les Blank, who has died aged 77, explored the margins of America's music, capturing and framing idioms such as Louisiana Cajun and zydeco, the norteño music of the Texas-Mexico border, blues, polka, and Appalachian old-time music. He was also fascinated by traditions of eating and cookery, and when screening his film Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) he sometimes created what he called "smellovision" by cooking garlicky dishes in the auditorium.

Blank made more than 40 films, including Burden of Dreams (1982), about the shooting of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. While few of his documentaries were known to a wide public, many were admired by other directors. In 2007, he received the Edward MacDowell medal, an annual award for achievement in the arts, only twice before given to film directors,...

With its origin in music and a 20-year history of supporting mainstream and independent film, Austin’s SXSW creates a unique atmosphere where both universes sometimes collide to create splendid works of art. This year’s festival managed to once again create a unique melding of music and film via the documentary This Ain't No Mouse Music! It's a heartfelt movie that tells the story of Chris Strachwitz and his unique music label Arhoolie Records.

Directed by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling, This Ain't No Mouse Music! spans a period of over 50 years. Strachwitz's story begins in the summer of 1960 when he travelled to Navasota, Texas to record songwriter and guitarist Mance Lipscomb. During the same trip, Chris also met and recorded legendary bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins. In order to promote these two legendary musicians, Chris founded his own record label, Arhoolie Records. It was all melody from there.

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Norah Jones accepted a Grammy award at the 55th annual Grammys on Sunday evening, but it was not in her name.

Jones attended the pre-Grammy ceremony to accept a Lifetime Achievement Grammy for her late father, Ravi Shankar. Shankar was a famed sitar player who is credited with influencing the Beatles.

"I was very excited to hear about the lifetime achievement award a week before my dad passed away, one day before he went into surgery," Jones said in an email to the AP. "He knew about it and was very happy, and also that he and my sister, Anoushka, were both nominated in the same category for a Grammy (this year) was a special thing as well. We all miss him and are very proud of him. I will forever be discovering and re-discovering his music from all walks of his long and amazing life."

When accepting the award,...

Los Angeles -- Ravi Shankar passed away in December before he could attend The Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards celebration where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award. But the 91-year-old sitar master, Indian music promoter and friend to The Beatles got the call a few days before he passed away, and that meant everything to his family.

"I was very excited to hear about the lifetime achievement award a week before my dad passed away, one day before he went into surgery," Shankar's daughter, Norah Jones, said in an email to the Associated Press a few hours before the ceremony. "He knew about it and was very happy, and also that he and my sister, Anoushka, were both nominated in the same category for a Grammy (this year) was a special thing as well. We all miss him and are very proud of him. I will forever...

R.L. Burnside first recorded at age 40, remained obscure until 65, and was a legend at 75. Born on November 23, 1926 in Oxford, Mississippi, he spent most of his life in his rural native area, where he worked as a sharecropper as late as 1979, though he lived in Chicago and Memphis for short periods. His appearance in the Robert Mugge/Robert Palmer 1992 documentary movie and soundtrack album Deep Blues and his acclaimed 1994 Fat Possum album Too Bad Jim seemed to come out of nowhere to catch the attention of not only blues fans but also the underground rock crowd. But R.L. (pronounced "Rule" by his friends) had been on an Arhoolie compilation LP in 1967, and as his fame rose, several pre-Deep Blues albums reappeared with wider distribution.

Where did Burnside's striking style come from? The decline of the Mississippi sharecropping system and the region's subsequent economic slump led to many railroad lines being discontinued.

True Blood — HBO's hit vampire/werewolf/maenad/fairy/whatever-the-hell-they-come-up-with-next series, based on the "Sookie Stackhouse" series of horror novels by Charlaine Harris — is headed back on June 26. Previously, the producers had teased us with a high-concept trailer, but it didn't contain anything new from the actual show. Now, they've ponied up a (very) little taste of what's to come...finally.

Last season, all kinds of stuff happened. We were introduced to Russell Edgington, the batshit crazy Vampire King of Mississippi. We also met werewolves, werepanthers, shapeshifter Sam's nutty family, Lafayette's nutty mother and new boyfriend, and other stuff I can't remember now but which left me eager to watch the new season. So when the promos cranked up, I wanted to see something new.

First, there was this trailer, called "Screen Test," which takes its inspiration from Andy Warhol's famous series of screen tests. It's pretty cool and I...

HBO released new True Blood season 4 entire cast promo clip. HBO recently dropped this new promo clip (below) for the upcoming "True Blood" season 4,and it features the entire,sexy,cast of the show,and it's titled, "Screen Test." The clip starts playing,showing each of the castmembers doing poses,while a song titled, " The Trouble Blues" by Lightnin' Hopkins plays in the background. Unfortunately, it doesn't reveal any spoilers,but it does shows these actors and actresses in their best light.

HBO Released New True Blood Season 4 Entire Cast Promo Clip is a post from: ontheflix.com...

HBO has debuted a new promo for "True Blood" season 4 to tide fans over the June premiere. Called "Screen Test", the video does not include any footage from the new season but features the actors like Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, Ryan Kwanten, Joe Manganiello and many more staring at the camera while Lightnin' Hopkins' "The Trouble Blues" is playing.

According to several sites, the first episode of the upcoming season will be called "She's Not There" and follow Sookie as she journeys away from Bon Temps. Eric and Bill try to win back the human public, while Jason learns that no good deed goes unpunished.

As for Tara, she finds refuge in close quarters. Sam bonds with his own, while Hoyt and Jessica debate the dinner menu. Jesus urges Lafayette to join a coven, and Terry tries to alleviate Arlene's fears about the baby.

"True Blood" season 4 will premiere Sunday,...

Screen Test

If, like us, you've been madly anticipating the return of HBO's "True Blood," then we have a couple little somethings that will make the waiting suck a little less.

We already know that Bon Temps is going to swell with supernaturals, especially the witchy kind. But, also there will probably be fallout as the vampire hierarchy fell in Season 3 and Vampire Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) becomes a shell of his former self. We hear there will be some havoc with the weres and the shapeshifters, as well.

In the new promo above titled "Screen Test," the actors are sitting pretty as "The Trouble Blues" by Lightnin' Hopkins plays, according to fan site, True Blood's Nest.

The promo features Skarsgard, Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin, Ryan Kwanten, Joe Manganiello, Deborah Ann Woll, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, and Kristin Bauer doing what they do best: Looking hot and worried at the same time.

Anti- Records has posted video of Tom Waits' appearances at this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, as he took up his honor and as he shared the stage with Neil Young. The latter introduced Waits and the video segue to his acceptance speech and cuts of a slow-rollin' performance of "Make It Rain" and "Rain Dogs." Then there was "Get Behind the Mule" which, I'll say, isn't the most optimal video experience ever. During his speech, Waits spoke of a memory seeing a Lightnin' Hopkins and knowing instantly wanted to become an entertainer. "Songs are really just very...

Most of the musicians I’ve been featuring in this series have been from Mississippi, with one trip out East; this time let’s go in the other direction, and check out the great Texan bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins: Sam Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas, in 1912, and seemed destined for a life as a musician. He came from a musical family: His brothers both played, and his older cousin Alger “Texas” Alexander, one of the major figures in early Texas blues, was one of Hopkins’ important partners in the first part of his career. At age 8, Hopkins also formed a significant bond with another great Texas guitarist, Blind Lemon Jefferson, when he met him at a party. Eventually, Hopkins became Jefferson’s guide, and the older man became his mentor. (Here’s a short clip of Hopkins talking about his...