News

An archival recording of the original Blues Brothers — John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd — performing live, The Lost Recordings, will arrive this October.

The release coincides with a new graphic novel, The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake, written by Aykroyd’s daughter Stella, Luke Pisano (son of Belushi’s widow, Judy Belushi Pisano), and filmmaker and writer James Werner. The album, pressed on “royal blue” vinyl, is only available as part of a package with the graphic novel. The release, available to preorder now, coincides with the 45th anniversary...

Joe Louis Walker, the virtuoso guitarist and electric blues musician whose work captured the breadth of the genre, died late last month. He was 75. Walker’s family confirmed the musician’s death, adding that the cause was cardiac-related illness. He was surrounded by his wife of 16 years, Robin, and two daughters, Leena and Bernice.

Revered by his peers as a “musician’s musician,” Walker enjoyed a lengthy career, during which he worked with artists like Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Mark Knopfler, and Steve Cropper, while earning praise from the likes...

Terry Manning, a music producer and engineer who collaborated with Led Zeppelin, Big Star, and Zz Top, died at his home in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday. He was 77.

Just two weeks earlier, a jovial Manning recalled working with Jimmy Page and other giants of the music biz in an interview spanning his career from El Paso to Memphis, the Bahamas, and back. At the time of his death, he was still actively recording artists at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, 30 miles east of his hometown.

“I was so lucky...

In the history of Saturday Night Live, was anything as secretive and anticipated as the moment this season right before Timothée Chalamet appeared onstage to sing the first of three Bob Dylan numbers? Which songs would they be? How would he sound? For me, it was all strangely familiar — a throwback to the moment when a lucky bunch of us in the SNL audience witnessed a complete-unknown music moment of its time, and from an equally unexpected source.

I can’t remember how we knew about it, but in the...

Sam Moore, one half of beloved soul duo Sam and Dave, died Friday morning at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. at the age of 89. Moore’s wife and manager, Joyce Moore, confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone. Moore had had unspecified surgery earlier in the week, Joyce tells Rolling Stone. Moore’s rep, Jeremy Westby, said the cause of death was complications recovering from that surgery.

As one half of Stax Records’ preeminent vocal duo, Moore and Dave Prater helped propel Stax Records to its status as...

Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer with a flair for both standards and contemporary sounds whose many successes included Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” Rod Stewart’s “The Great American Songbook” series and a Ringo Starr album featuring all four Beatles, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner said.

“He maximized his time here,” said Kastner, who called him a “father friend” and said he was godfather to her son. “He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it’s a little bit sweeter in heaven.”

Perry was a onetime drummer, oboist and doo-wop singer who proved at home with a wide variety of musical styles, the rare producer to have No. 1 hits on the pop,...

Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., Jamila Wignot’s four-part HBO documentary about the legendary Memphis record label that produced Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and others, offers incredible first-person stories. At one point, Booker T. Jones sits at a piano and shows exactly how he stumbled on the chords that became the 1962 chart-topper “Green Onions.”

But not long after she began working on the project, Wignot realized the story of Stax went much deeper. The label, which began (as Satellite Records) in 1957 and closed in 1975, spanned an intensely tumultuous period in American history,...

In a small record store on McLemore Avenue, the soulful sound of Stax Records was born. This former movie theater in the South Memphis neighborhood might not have seemed the likeliest spot to launch a musical revolution. But in the 1960s, under the leadership of siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, this unassuming storefront became the epicenter of a new genre—Southern soul.

With artists like Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, and The Bar-Kays laying down tracks in the studio upstairs, Stax developed a raw, funky sound unlike anything coming out of Motown up north. Male-female duos like Sam & Dave brought the noise with rousing call-and-response songs, while the house band Booker T. & the MGs laid down some of the tightest grooves in popular music. It was soul music perfected for the church and the dance hall.

This documentary series, directed by Jamila Wignot, shines a light on the glory days...

You don’t have to be an expert on classic soul and R&b to recognize the American music monuments that emerged from Stax Records in the Sixties and Seventies. Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” Otis Redding’s “Respect” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft,” and the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” — just a few of Stax’s greatest hits — made the case that the Memphis-based record company was the Southern version of Motown.

Whether anyone fully realizes that is another matter.

A new docuseries, Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., will look at the radical history of the groundbreaking Memphis label, which has been home to Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, and the Staple Singers, among others. A trailer for the four-part series, which debuts with two episodes on HBO and the whole thing on Max on May 20, explains how label founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, who were white, fell in love with Black music and made the label a haven for artists...

Starting with “Rebel-‘Rouser” in 1958, Duane Eddy’s instrumental hits from the early rock & roll era made the guitar the star of the show. On that song and those to follow, like “Peter Gunn,” “Cannonball,” and “Forty Miles of Bad Road,” Eddy used vibrato and lent his guitar a deep sound by emphasizing bass strings. In doing so, he influenced an entire incoming generation of guitar players — including Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, and John Fogerty. After the news of Eddy’s death was announced on Wednesday — he died...

"We were on top of the world." HBO Docs has unveiled the trailer for a documentary series titled Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., arriving for streaming later this month. This docu series from HBO "captures how an underdog record label launched a movement and superstar musicians like Isaac Hayes and Otis Redding." The Memphis soul sound that electrified the world... In 1960s Memphis, an audacious set of interracial collaborators dared to make their own music on their own terms, forming Stax Records, one of America's most influential creators of Black music. At the peak of its success, Stax artists commemorated the Watts Rebellion by playing to over 100,000 African Americans at the 1972 benefit concert Wattstax. During an era of major social turbulence, systemic inequity, racial tensions, Stax saw stunning artistic & cultural success, and managed to rebound from repeated business setbacks & losses before the studio ultimately dissolved after 15 pioneering years. With appearances by Otis Redding,...

An animated video for Mark Knopfler’s all-star charity single “Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)” – which brought together a stunning lineup of over 60 guitar gods to raise funds for Teen Cancer America and the Teenage Cancer Trust – has been released. It features the final recording of Jeff Beck along with contributions by Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour, Slash, Ronnie Wood, Joan Jett, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Sting.

The song came out a week ago, but it was difficult to discern who was playing what part throughout the ten-minute song.

The Blues Brothers Con in 2002 reunited Aykroyd & Jim Belushi for a concert with original band members. The film was a massive success despite running over budget, attracting fans still hooked on the classic. Vatican declared The Blues Brothers a 'Catholic classic,' praising its themes of redemption and mission.

In 1980, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi starred in The Blues Brothers, which spawned tons of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, including the famous John Belushi backflip story. 22 years later, in 2002, Aykroyd teamed up with John's brother Jim and returned to the sight of one of their biggest moments. The inaugural Blues Brothers Con in August 2022 saw Belushi and Aykroyd perform a concert with three of the original members of the Blues Brothers band (Tom “Bones” Malone and Steve “The Colonel” Cropper reunited with Aykroyd) and performed at the Old Joliet Prison.

It was proof that even over four decades after The Blues Brothers started as an SNL skit,...

Mark Knopfler has teamed up with a host of fellow guitar legends to record a version of his song “Going Home (Theme from Local Hero)” to raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.

The Dire Straits frontman tapped Eric Clapton, Slash (Guns N’ Roses), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Brian May (Queen), Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Pete Townshend (The Who), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Bruce Springsteen, Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones), Joan Jett, and many more, forming what he has dubbed “Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes.” Notably, the star-studded version opens with the final recorded guitar track by the late Jeff Beck.

Knopfler’s longtime collaborator Guy Fletcher handled the production of the track, which might be the greatest assemblage of guitar talent to co-exist on a single song. The Sgt. Pepper‘s-style artwork was created by Sir Peter Blake.

The full song can be heard below now, featuring...

Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler has united with over 60 artists — including Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour, Slash, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Sting, Brian May, Joan Jett, Nile Rodgers, and Brian May — to create a new version of his 1983 instrumental “Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero.”

The song arrives on March 15, though you can hear a brief sample right now. It’s the final recording Jeff Beck created before his death in January 2023. All proceeds from the release will benefit Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.

Zz Top were never really a ballad band. Think “La Grange,” “Tush,” and “Legs.” But for 1986’s Afterburner they tried their hand at a power ballad with “Rough Boy” — this was the Eighties after all. Earlier this week in Nashville, Keith Urban put his own spin on “Rough Boy” at a special event honoring Zz Top’s Billy Gibbons.

Urban was in attendance for the annual BMI Troubadour dinner, an industry event held each September by the performing-rights org to salute a select artist as its “Troubadour.” Last year’s went to Lucinda Williams,...

Dave Cobb had just gotten off a plane when he learned that Robbie Robertson, the leader of the Band and one of rock & roll’s great lyricists and guitar players, had died Wednesday at 80. The Nashville producer behind such modern-day milestones as Jason Isbell’s Southeastern, Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, and Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music says you can hear Robertson’s influence not only in the albums Cobb himself has produced, but in much of what is considered “Americana music” today.

“Robbie was one of the godfathers of Americana.

Myron Elkins is one of those guys who seems to have stepped out of another time. At just 22, the former welder from the small town of Otsego, Michigan — closest city: Kalamazoo — drops names like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Al Green when recounting his musical mileposts. But he’s also fully aware that he’s a white man from the Midwest and that any claim he has to vintage soul music goes through one of his state’s most celebrated blue-collar singers.

“I have this thing, almost like a ‘worthy...

Nearly 50 years after she portrayed Tommy’s mother in the big screen adaptation of the Who’s rock opera Tommy, Ann-Margret is reuniting with Pete Townshend for a cover of the Everly Brothers classic “Bye Bye Love.” It will appear on her upcoming LP Born To Be Wild, arriving in stores on April 14.

“Being offered an opportunity to work with Ann-Margret, especially on an Everly Brothers song, was just too romantic to pass,” Pete Townshend said in a statement. “Ann-Margret’s work on the Tommy movie back in 1974 (when she...

Give 2022 some credit—any year with Kate Bush crashing Top 40 radio can’t be all bad. So let’s celebrate a superbly crazy year for music, when brilliant tunes kept exploding all over the stylistic map. These are my 25 favorite songs of 2022. (Although many other gems are over on my albums list, to avoid duplicating all the same artists. Including, but not limited to: hits, flops, obscurities, pop kicks, rap hustlers, soul divas, guitar monsters, disco jams, reggaeton hipsters, punk rockers, alien superstars, and karaoke room-clearers. And Carly Rae Jepsen,...

Brothers Osborne, nine-time nominees, won their first career Grammy award during Sunday’s streaming Grammy Premiere Ceremony. The duo of Tj and John Osborne won Best Country/Duo Group Performance for their introspective song “Younger Me,” written shortly after the duo’s singer Tj Osborne came out as a gay man.

“I never thought I would be able to do music professionally because of my sexuality and I never thought I would be on this stage accepting a Grammy,” Tj said, his voice cracking.

“I want to thank my younger self for pursuing this,...

The 11th annual Patrick Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament, known as The Warburton, will not be a golf tournament for the first time since it began a decade ago in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Warburton will instead feature its signature music events and popular auction online to raise awareness and support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Historically, approximately 75 stars, songwriters and rock legends join hundreds of guests for an annual weekend of golf and sold-out, one-of-a-kind music events benefiting St. Jude. This year, Songwriters Night will stream online on at 6 p.m. Pt / 9 p.m. Et on Tuesday, April 20, and The Rheneypalooza Jam will stream online at 6 p.m. Pt / 9 p.m. Et on Wednesday, April 21 via thewarburton.krglive.com. Typically, both evenings sell out however this year they can be viewed by all free of charge.

Because these events typically sell out and can be enjoyed for no admission fee this year,...

“How you been, Mavis?” Chris Stapleton asks from Tennessee, where he lives. “I’ve been Ok,” says Mavis Staples, who’s in Chicago. “My bass player sent me a puzzle of the whole band onstage. 500 pieces!” Staples, 81, is contending with her longest break since she started singing with the Staple Singers — her father, Pops, her sisters Cleotha and Yvonne, and brother Pervis — in the 1950s. “I like being in the house, but not this long.” It’s not unusual for Stapleton to call her up; they met after he recorded...

Roots-music trio Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band adds a fourth member in Dom Flemons for a high-octane cover of “Shake Your Money Maker.” The musicians convened at Sun Records Studio in Memphis in late 2019 to re-create the Elmore James blues standard, which they had first performed together as a jam at the Blues Music Awards earlier that year.

It’s a particularly fierce take, with a guitar assist from Stax Records icon Steve Cropper and Scot Sutherland on bass. Their full-throttle version deftly blends elements of roadhouse blues with...

Songwriter Dan Penn doesn’t put out albums under his name very often. The celebrated co-writer behind numerous Memphis/Muscle Shoals-era soul hits, including “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” “Dark End of the Street,” “I’m Your Puppet,” and “Cry Like a Baby” has released only a handful of studio recordings since 1973, beginning with his solo debut Nobody’s Fool.

Penn’s latest, Living on Mercy, comes 26 years after his previous effort, 1994’s Do Right Man. The 78-year-old songwriter doesn’t have a specific explanation for why that is.

“I don’t really know why,...

William Shatner has tackled everything from prog rock to country to Christmas music during his long career as a recording artist, and on his upcoming LP he’s broadening out yet again into the blues.

Titled simply The Blues, the album (due October 2nd) features guest spots from Brad Paisley (“Sweet Home Chicago”), Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (“Smokestack Lightnin'”), Steve Cropper (“Route 66”) and Pat Travers (“I Put a Spell on You”). Wednesday, Shatner is out with “The Thrill Is Gone,” featuring Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore on guitar and his wife,...

Ray Wylie Hubbard and Ashley McBryde maintain social distancing guidelines in the video for their new collaboration “Outlaw Blood.” The song will appear on the beloved singer-songwriter’s guest-heavy album Co-Starring, due out July 10th via Big Machine.

Hubbard lends his idiosyncratic singing style to a story about a tough woman who’s down with bikers and goes heavy on the black mascara. “Her favorite guitar player is Steve Cropper/Says her godfather was Dennis Hopper,” Hubbard sings, performing alone in a home studio space. McBryde beams in from her...

“Gospel goes deeper than entertainment,” Pops Staples said in 1968, shortly after his group, the Staple Singers, signed with Stax Records. “It is the word of god. But you can’t push that down anybody’s throat. All we can do is get as many people to hear us as we can.”

A new box set, Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection, which gathers together the band’s Stax discography on vinyl for the first time in ages, traces the Staple Singers’ eternal relationship with this central tension–how to...

This year marks five years since B.B. King’s death, but the thrill of King’s music will live on during two ambitious nights: February 16th and 17th, 2020, at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York.

The Thrill Is Gone: A Tribute to B.B. King will be an an all-star concert featuring Anthony Hamilton, Bob Margolin, Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy, David Hidalgo, Derek Trucks, Ivan Neville, Jamey Johnson, Jimmie Vaughan, John Scofield, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Little Steven, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Shemekia Copeland, Southside Johnny, Steve Cropper, Susan Tedeschi,...

The musical legacy of legendary soul label Stax Records will be explored in a limited edition eight-lp box set from record subscription service Vinyl Me, Please.

Vmp Anthology: The Story of Stax Records features eight albums from the Memphis label’s golden period of 1957 to 1975, with LPs from Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Booker T and the M.G.’s, Isaac Hayes and more part of the curated collection. Each album in the box set has been pressed onto 180-gram vinyl.

The Story of Stax Records follows Vinyl Me, Please...

“Queen & Slim,” the film, traffics in sudden tragedy and symbolic terror as it portrays the violence of self-defense and self-awareness in stark, painful terms. It deserves an equally audacious score and soundtrack, a job that has gone to another Devonté Hynes, the British singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and director in his guise of Blood Orange.

Hynes has been known for his other musical projects, the punky Test Icicles and the dreamy Lightspeed Champion. But as Blood Orange, Hynes has found himself at the axis of abstract soul and ambient electronic pop with a lyrical edge that is as deeply emotional as it is bracingly inventive. Plus, in the last several years, Orange has been in the pink of top-tier production and writing assignments for the likes of Mariah Carey, Solange, Mac Miller, Fka Twigs, Haim, Florence and the Machine, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kylie Minogue and Blondie. He’s...

No one in the music business was asking “Where’s the beef?” this week. It was right out in the open, as Taylor Swift/Big Machine, Lizzo vs. Postmates, and Sharon Osbourne vs. Bob Lefsetz squared off against each other over various issues.

Using the power of social media to shame, make a point, and generally launch missiles against their foes, the parties lobbed accusations against each other, with various fans and observers choosing sides in the disputes.

This week in music:

NPR Notes Songs About Hating The Biz: In a week where disputes dominated the music business, NPR put together a list of songs that were about hating the business side of the music business. Who knew that legal entanglements had a beat and could be danced to?

Taylor Swiftly J’Accuse: This week saw yet another confrontation between Taylor Swift and her former record label, Big Machine. She...

Eric Clapton, Gary Clark. Jr., Jeff Beck and other guitar icons will appear on the Crossroads Festival’s first-ever vinyl set, a six-lp live release.

Performances from Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Carlos Santana, James Taylor, Steve Winwood, Zz Top, Joe Walsh, Keith Urban, Susan Tedeschi with the Derek Trucks Band, Willie Nelson and Buddy Guy also appear on the package, Crossroads Revisited: Selections from the Crossroads Guitar Festival, out December 6th via Rhino.

Clapton’s selections include “Cocaine,” “Crossroads,” “Layla,” “Have You Ever Loved a Woman,” a cover of George Harrison...

Steve Cropper, the guitarist for Booker T. and the MGs and songwriter of such soul staples as “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and “In the Midnight Hour,” was honored with the Bmi Icon Award at Tuesday night’s Bmi Awards in Nashville, a loose Golden Globes-type party that finds artists loudly mingling at tables and the bar. Cropper, a Music City resident, was in attendance as a diverse group of singers — including one surprise guest — paid musical tribute.

Nashville soul powerhouse Mike Farris and songwriter Lucie Silvas kicked...

Update: The great Dan Aykroyd read Deadline’s recent tribute to Aretha Franklin’s performance in Blues Brothers, and had a different recollection of events surrounding him not starring in Animal House than did John Landis, who directed both films and recalled that Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels kept Aykroyd from joining his pal Belushi in the frat house classic because several cast members from the then white-hot show were peeling off to do films. Landis also recalled that Paul Shaffer was held back as well. Here is Aykroyd’s note:

Mike,

Great Landis reminiscence about Aretha. But he is flat wrong regarding Lorne not releasing me for Animal House and John knows it. In fact Lorne put no pressure on me, said I was free to go but I decided not to leave him short-handed. Also Shaffer voluntarily stayed with Gilda and her Broadway show because he had pre-committed to it.

Radio’s reluctance to take a chance on unknown, independent acts is almost cliche at this point: The airwaves are dominated by a few major-label records that are played into the ground. But along comes Esnavi, whose independently-released “The Way” is getting played by two brave R&B stations, Wbls in New York and Wakb in Augusta, Georgia.

Esnavi is in possession of a cool, generous voice and a keen grasp of southern soul tradition, and “The Way” demonstrates the enduring pleasure of old standbys. The drummer taps out a...

2017 is William Bell’s 60th year in the music industry. He’s 77 years old. Cream, the Byrds and Linda Ronstadt have recorded his songs. And this year, he’s up for his first Grammys.

Strangely, they’re in what could be considered opposing categories — American and traditional R&B — but it makes sense for Bell, who never quite fit into easy categories. Performer, songwriter, producer — Bell has done it all.

Born William Henry Yarborough in Memphis on July 16, 1939, Bell, like a lot of soul singers from his era, first started singing in church when he was just 8 years old. He...

Dan Aykroyd and Judy Belushi, widow of John Belushi, are rebooting The Blues Brothers as a primetime animated series, which they'll begin to pitch to networks and TV platforms this month, Deadline reports.

Aykroyd and Belushi co-created the series with original Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beatts, while the animation is being handled by Bento Box Entertainment (Bob's Burgers). Episodes will focus on the adventures of Jake and Elwood Blues and their band, and feature a bevy of soul, blues and R&B hits performed by the Blues Brothers, along...

The Blues Brothers are back! And this time, Jake Blues lives! Yes, Blues Brothers originator Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's widow Judy have teamed up with Bento Box Entertainment (the company behind Bob's Burgers) for a new half-hour animated prime time comedy adventure series, which will be shopped to various TV networks starting this month. Maybe most exciting is the fact that the music in the show will take precedence over the action and comedy.

The Blues Brothers series was co-created and will be executive produced by original Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd, Judy Belushi and Emmy-winning original Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beatts. Each half-hour will be devoted to the music, mayhem and comedy first seen in the original 1980 movie and its 1998 sequel. Jake and Elwood Blues will reunite with their infamous Blues Brothers band, taking their act on the road. Their home base will still be Chicago, with soul,...

This is a good day for fans of soul and R&B music — and the business people behind it. Two unrelated deals suggest that we’ll hear a lot more of the classics from the 1960s and ’70s. Viacom’s Bet Networks says it bought Soul Train, a library of 1,100 television episodes and 40 television specials. And Primary Wave Music Publishing forged a publishing partnership with Steve Cropper, the legendary Stax Records guitarist, producer, songwriter known for hits including Wilson…...

Miranda Lambert got herself a star! The country singer was among four iconic crooners who were honored with a star in Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame earlier today. Lambert's former tour buddy and fellow country star Dierks Bentley presented her with the tribute during the induction ceremony in downtown Nashville this afternoon. Also among those honored were the legendary Johnny Cash, former Grand Ole Opry General Manager Bud Wendell and songwriter, producer and guitarist Steve Cropper. Recipients of these stars are recognized for their significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and for contributing to the world through song of other industry...

For years, Lee Ving, the vocalist and leader of impish punk bruisers Fear, has been teasing the release of a song the group recorded with John Belushi in 1981. He's finally putting out the tune — the appropriately snotty-sounding "Neighbors," which was supposed to accompany the Belushi movie of the same name — digitally on Halloween and as a special seven-inch in November. But even before the decades-long wait for its release, the origins of the recording were steeped in strife.

The SNL actor became a fan of Fear after catching them on the L.

Elvis Costello and the Roots, “Walk Us Uptown” Elvis Costello has always thrived in the company of a fierce backing group, and if anyone can match the slashing attack of the late, lamented Attractions, it's the Roots. The first taste of Wise Up Ghost, the E.C.-Roots album that arrives in September, folds a whole lot of history into its three-plus minutes — what else would you expect from a Costello-Questlove collaboration, a summit meeting of pop’s biggest nerd-connoisseurs? There's dub; there’s New Orleans funk (listen to the horns); there’s some wonderful Steve Cropper–style guitar playing; there are menacing organ lines that nod to garage rock, and to Costello’s old keyboard ninja, Steve Nieve; there’s some vaguely psychedelic clatter that you may as well just call hip-hop. The groove is a monster, but “Walk Us Uptown” isn’t just funky, it’s smart — a song calibrated for optimal punch,...

A celebration of Memphis soul music occurred at the White House yesterday and ended with a star-studded concert that included Mavis Staples and Alabama Shakes as well as Booker T. Jones and Justin Timberlake. “Let’s face it, who does not love this music?” President Obama said when opening the event. “These songs get us on the dance floor. They get stuck in our heads. We go back over them again and again. And they’ve played an important part in our history.” Queen Latifah, Steve Cropper, William Bell, Ben Harper, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Sam Moore and Charlie Musselwhite also performed...

Justin Timberlake performed at White House's celebration of Memphis soul music on Tuesday, serenading Barack and Michelle Obama with a strong take on "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and imploring the president to sing along.

The event was a part of the Obama's "In Performance" series. The first couple has made a habit of inviting musicians from different genres to explore the themes and history of their respective crafts. Tuesday's event also featured Otis Redding, Booker T Jones, Queen Latifah and Cyndi Lauper.

A clip of Timberlake's performance is available above. Tuesday's gig is yet another step in Timberlake's hot streak that began when he released "Suit & Tie," the Jay-z-featuring lead single off his comeback album "The 20/20 Experience." The singer moved nearly 1 million copies of the album in its debut week, lined up an arena tour with Jay-z and inked a massive deal with Budweiser.

(Timberlake also...

Justin Timberlake performed for Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House last night (09.04.13). The 'Mirrors' hitmaker topped the bill for the Us President's celebration of soul music from Memphis, Tennessee - the singer's hometown - at the latest 'In Performance at the White House' concert, performing alongside the likes of soul legend Booker T. Jones, Queen Latifah and Cyndi Lauper. The 32-year-old star serenaded the couple and a private audience in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. with a cover of Otis Redding's '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay', while Steve Cropper, who wrote the...

Justin Timberlake performed for Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House last night (09.04.13). The 'Mirrors' hitmaker topped the bill for the Us President's celebration of soul music from Memphis, Tennessee - the singer's hometown - at the latest 'In Performance at the White House' concert, performing alongside the likes of soul legend Booker T. Jones, Queen Latifah and Cyndi Lauper. The 32-year-old star serenaded the couple and a private audience in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. with a cover of Otis Redding's '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay', while Steve Cropper, who wrote the song along with Otis, looked on and appeared to be impressed by the crooner's take on the soulful...

Tokyo — Bass player and songwriter Donald "Duck" Dunn, a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame band Booker T. and the MGs and the Blues Brothers band, has died in Tokyo. He was 70.

Dunn was in Tokyo for a series of shows. News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep.

Miho Harasawa, a spokeswoman for Tokyo Blue Note, the last venue Dunn played, confirmed he died alone early Sunday. She had no further details.

Dunn, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1941, performed on recordings with Eric Clapton, Neil Young and many others, and specialized in blues, gospel and soul. He played himself in the 1980 hit movie "The Blues Brothers."

He received a lifetime achievement Grammy award in 2007 for his work with Booker T. and the MGs.

Getty Images Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform during SiriusXM’s concert celebrating 10 years of satellite radio at The Apollo Theater on March 9, 2012 in New York City.

Last night at the Apollo Theater, Bruce Springsteen, along with his expanded E Street Band, prepped for a U.S. and European tour with a performance that reminded the audience that his four-decade career is built in part on a passion for African-American music – raucous Memphis R&B in his formative...