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Carlos Santana

Photo: Edu Hawkins/Redferns/Getty Images

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Carlos Santana & Buddy Guy To Be Honored In NYC carlos-santana-buddy-guy-be-feted-jazz-foundation-americas-great-night-harlem

Carlos Santana & Buddy Guy To Be Feted At Jazz Foundation Of America's A Great Night In Harlem

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The Foundation's Vice Chair/Founding Director Wendy Oxenhorn will also be honored at the April 14 event at the Apollo Theatre
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Mar 3, 2020 - 4:23 pm

Two of a generations most electrifying guitarists, Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy, will be honored by the Jazz Foundation of America during their annual A Great Night In Harlem event on April 14 at NYC's Apollo Theatre.

https://twitter.com/RecordingAcad/status/891713122880311296

Music is in the blood! 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and seven-time GRAMMY winner @therealbuddyguy's career spans over 50 years! pic.twitter.com/mZD9rke1V0

— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) July 30, 2017

Santana, a ten-time GRAMMY winner, will receive the organization's inaugural Claude Nobs Award, which is named after the late founder of the Montreaux Jazz Festival where Santana has performed many times.

An eightt-time GRAMMY winner, Guy will recieve the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his remarkable career as one of the most prolific and influential blues guitarists of all time. 

While both artists are receiveing big honors at the event, they are still in the middle of busy tour schedules. Just last week, Santana announced a with R&B/soul icons Earth, Wind and Fire. that kicks off June 19 with dates on the books through November 2020. Guy will also hit the road starting tomorrow, March 4 in Davis, Calif. and staying out through the tour's conclusion Sept. 30 in Seattle. 

Since 2001, the annual gala has called the Apollo Theatre home, bringing together legends and unknown artists alike from the worlds of jazz, blues, rock and soul to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America. NEA Jazz Master and the Foundation's Vice Chair/Founding Director Wendy Oxenhorn will also be honored.

Tickets for the event, which borrowed its name from a 1958 photograph by Art Kane for Esquire capturing 57 jazz legends titled "A Great Day In Harlem," are on sale now via the Foundation's website.

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Photo:: Ken Welsh/Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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Record Store Day Rescheduled For Fall record-store-day-2020-moved-three-separate-rsd-drops-fall

Record Store Day 2020 Moved To Three Separate "RSD Drops" This Fall

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The announcement of August, September and October installments comes after the independent record store celebration's initial move from April to June
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Apr 30, 2020 - 8:59 am

Record Store Day 2020 has moved once again, and will now involve a series of “RSD Drops” occurring on three Saturdays this fall: Aug. 29, Sept. 26 and Oct. 24.

https://twitter.com/recordstoreday/status/1255482105494192139

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Originally scheduled to take place on Apr. 18, Record Store Day was initially pushed back to June 20 due to the coronavirus crisis. But the new model of the annual celebration of independent record stores is built to fit the uncertainty of the of 2020's musical landscape. 

"2020 is different. So what we're doing this year is going to be different too," RSD posted. "No one knows what kind of party we'll all be in the mood for, or able to hold safely, at any time this year, in any part of the world. So we're focusing this year not on the party aspect of Record Store Day, but on getting the great releases on the RSD 2020 List into your local record store, and then into your collection."

The three RSD Drops will still get exclusive titles into participating indie record stors, and an updated list of RSD releases will be available June 1. 

The aim of Record Store Day continues to be, "Bringing revenue to the stores, as well as to the artists, labels, distribution and every other business behind the scenes making record stores work."

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The Recording Academy Welcomes Valeisha Butterfield Jones As First-Ever Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer

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Lucinda Williams

Photo: Danny Clinch

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The Rebellious Brilliance Of Lucinda Williams rebellious-brilliance-lucinda-williams

The Rebellious Brilliance Of Lucinda Williams

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"I'm a punk. Maybe people are going to figure that out now," the GRAMMY winner said in our exclusive interview around her raw new album 'Good Souls Better Angels,' out Apr. 24
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Apr 22, 2020 - 3:21 pm

Even the most irreverent artists tend to mellow with age—but not Lucinda Williams. The latest proof is out this Friday, Apr. 24, with her bombastic, defiant and gorgeous new album Good Souls Better Angels. Emanating divine light from just beneath the surface of its devilishly oversaturated guitar tones and her cracked stained-glass voice are what Williams does best: her songs.  

"I'm just an anomaly. I'm not like everybody else and I don't know how to explain it. Everybody's asking me, especially now with this album and it's so punk-ish and garage rock-ish and youthful," the 67-year-old Williams told the Recording Academy. "'Wow, you're still out on the road touring and you're still so active and productive. How do you do it?'… 'Are you still going to be able to write songs?' And I was like, 'Yes.'"

Since teaming up with producer, co-writer (and now-husband) Tom Overby on 2007's West, Williams has been downright prolific, releasing seven albums in 13 years, including two double-albums. Relatively speaking, her career was on a slow rise before 1998's landmark, GRAMMY-winning Car Wheels On A Gravel Road skyrocketed her into the upper echelon of American songwriters, bringing with her the blueprint for Americana music that everyone from East Nashville to Silverlake still uses today.

From the very timely and polically charged urgency on her brand-new album to the authentic enthusiasm in her voice over the phone, you can hear Williams just getting started.

"My dad said one time, 'Poets usually don't even get taken seriously for their work until they're at least in their 60s,'" she told us. "It never occurred to me to stop. It's what I do. It comes from me. It's self expression."

A true artist to the core, Williams spoke with us via telephone late last month to talk about her new album and the chaotic world it now enters. The conversation took place before the tragic passing of two of her friends and talented contemporaries due to coronavirus, fellow songwriting sage John Prine and collaboration ace producer Hal Willner. At the time, news of Prine's COVID-19 diagnosis had just struck the music world, putting the crisis into new perspective for almost everyone who ever penned a song, including Williams.

In this extensive interview, Williams opens up about co-writing the songs of Good Souls Better Angels with Overby, recording with GRAMMY winner Ray Kennedy again, taking her landmark album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road on the road for its 20th anniversary, producing and writing with Jesse Malin, the real story behind her GRAMMY-winning song "Passionate Kisses," hip-hop as the new blues music and much more…

It's a bit of a loaded question these days, but how are you doing?

I know right? You really want to know the answer? Well, right now, currently, I'm pretty concerned about John Prine. I found out about that yesterday [this interview took place on March 30, 2020]. It's starting to hit close to home. At first, I didn't know anybody personally who even had it. Then a good friend of mine got it, but she's doing okay now. She's fine. She climbed out of it. Yeah. Then the next one was Jackson Browne. But apparently, he got a light case of it… Now I'm angry, as are a lot of people, because the idiot who's in the White House, the way he's been handling [this]. They could have made sure that things were done sooner. So, that's a whole thing.

https://twitter.com/HappyWoman9/status/1248074696425431042

No one in the Lu camp could have known that five short months ago would be the last time we’d share a stage with friend and legend, John Prine. We landed in the Dominican Republic and promptly found ourselves among a sea of familiar faces - all ready and excited for John’s pic.twitter.com/PTypPxmy5B

— Lucinda Williams (@HappyWoman9) April 9, 2020

That's really the perfect segue into your new album. Good Souls Better Angels has so much snarl. There's such a punk spirit to it, starting right out of the gate.

I know. Because I'm a punk. Maybe people are going to figure that out now instead of this whole, "Well, I've always been pegged country or country something." It's kind of, just kind of got stuck. I guess by default, because I started out as a singer/songwriter. I mean, I was and am a singer/songwriter, but for a long time, I didn't even have a band or anything. I just played around in the early days by myself. So, it's a natural progression, I guess, to get tagged in that.

When I was trying to get a record deal in the '80s, the thing that kept me from getting a deal was there was no market for Americana and they kept telling me my music fell in the cracks between country and rock, which is exactly what Americana is or was created for. But I remember when I almost got a record deal with Sony Records back in the '80s, and when I was in LA, the LA label said it was too country for rock and they sent it to Nashville to see if Sony in Nashville was interested. They said it was too rock for country. [laughs] I know, it's ridiculous.  So, my stuff's always been mixed up…. Hank Williams was punk. Punk's an attitude. I don't have to tell you that.

I had a lot of fun making this album. It was done relatively quickly with just my band, and other than Ray Kennedy brought this guy in that played a little keyboard parts on a couple of things. But other than that, we just left it alone. Stuart [Mathis] did all the guitar parts and not a lot of cymbals. We told Butch [Norton] to put all the cymbals down because he loves all that stuff.

The other thing that added to it was that Ray Kennedy has a collection, a huge collection of vintage instruments, vintage guitars, and vintage amplifiers. So, I used his stuff that was there. So, everything I played, I was playing at one point through a 1950s guitar going through a vintage amplifier. So, you immediately get that crunchy sound. Then Ray just latched onto this sound for these songs. We went in there really just to cut a couple of tracks and see how it went kind of thing because Ray kept saying, "Well, come by and do a couple things and come over in my studio."

So, it was real casual. It wasn't like a formal thing like, "Okay, we're going to go do a whole album with Ray." We just went in to see how it went and the sound was just [so good]. We all just kind of were knocked back. We all just went, "Holy s**t. This sounds really good." So, we kept going and we cut other stuff too that'll be on the next album. But the sound we were getting was more suited for these kind of songs.

"Punk's an attitude. I don't have to tell you that."

Yeah, the guitar sounds on the record are mind-blowing, but so are the songs. How was it like doing the co-writing with Tom? That was new for you, in some ways.

It is. It's actually been really good. It's been really positive. It's been really kind of liberating. We ended up with more songs than we would have had because it started before this, actually, a little bit like Ghosts of Highway 20, we had everything already written and cut and everything. Tom said, "Well, I kind of feel like maybe we need one more song." He said, "I have this idea for this song," and he had this Ghosts of Highway 20.

He said, "Why don't you write about the South and all these things you see in the South?" At first, I said, "Well, I don't know what I could say that I haven't already said in the song, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," and I was resistant about it at first. But he said, "Well, just kind of see." He kind of nudged me a little and he said, "See what you can do." Then I did it. I went in and did it and then we ended up with that song, "Ghosts of Highway 20."

So, he was a little shy about it too. He didn't want to interrupt my space or anything. So, then we were working on stuff in between, way before this album got done and all last year. He's always been into writing everything. So, I would be working on something and he would bring an idea in and he'd say, "Now, you don't have to, but here's an idea I had." One of them was "Man Without a Soul." He had that line and the idea for it. The atmosphere was what everybody's living with right now, what's going on in the country right now.

I go, "Wait a second. Everybody's got a soul," and Tom looked me and rolled his eyes like, "Well, I don't know if everybody does." He goes, "But just look at it like an expression and everything." Because I was remembering that Neil Young song where he goes, "Even Richard Nixon has got soul"? It's like even Donald Trump has got soul and Tom goes, "No, no, no. No. Not in this case."

So, anyway, it's been a really positive experience and both of us were a little hesitant at first about because the whole thing of, oh, now Lucinda's writing with her husband, Tom, and the whole thing. But it actually hasn't really been like that. We haven't had negative feedback about it. What I always say is, what I like to remind people of is that Tom Waits and his wife [Kathleen Brennan].

It's a great example.

I think that's probably the best example of that because they've done a lot of writing together and nobody said anything like, "Oh, now Tom's working with his wife," kind of thing.

It's almost two minds are better than one. What's the biggest relief about it? Does it take any of the pressure off? I imagine it might.

Well, I still felt the pressure of getting the songs done and finished and everything. I'm not real disciplined… Tom gets worried. He's starting to get used to it now. He was always worried, "Well, you're not writing enough. You're not writing. You're a songwriter. You're supposed to be writing every day, all day." You know?

I'm more like, I kind of work on it on a J curve, as it's called sometimes, like you just go along then there's a big whoosh. Then when I'm in that period, I'm writing, writing, writing. That'll last for a couple of weeks and I'll write. Once I get into that, then I am writing every day, all day. But I do that in spurts.

I didn't think about it as far as taking all the pressure off. I found it somewhat liberating because it does give me that more room. There's more room for more ideas. Bring them on. You know? "Big Black Train" was Tom's idea too. That was another one where he said, "I've had this idea roaming around in my head for a while and about a big black train." It's supposed to be a metaphor for depression, like the big black cloud. He brought that to me and the first thing I said was, "Well," I said, "what am I going to say about a train? "Big Black Train"? Do you have any idea how many songs have been written about trains and black trains?"

Yeah. Especially in East Nashville.

Yeah. Tom goes, "Well, just see what you can do" and I'm like, "Oh, god. I don't know." But I started working at it and somehow, I got inside of it and I got some more lyrics. Then I came up with this melody and it got inside of me and I got it. I did it. Now almost every time I sing that song, I feel like I'm going to cry. There's something about it. It's weird. Other people have told me that, that when they've heard that song, it made them cry.

I can see why. It's a beautiful song. How were you able to broach the topic of depression, and handle such a sensitive subject matter?

Well, yeah. I've dealt with things like that, the sensitive subjects before. But this one is so much like a metaphor. It doesn't have to just be about depression. Somebody told me, I was doing an interview the other day and she said, "It kind of reminds me of death a little bit." Like getting the train to go to… You know?

Yeah, I thought about [Bob Dylan's] "Not Dark Yet."

Exactly. Yes.

Well, you've also been extremely prolific the last few years, starting your own label, releasing double albums. What do you think the difference is between now and earlier in your career?

I don't know. A lot of it is Tom gently nudging me and, "We got to get some songs written," and that kind of thing. I guess working with somebody else, it's a combination of we're just able to work well together. It kind of goes back to when that album, [2008's] Little Honey and [2007's) West, those two albums were towards the end of my contract with Lost Highway. I think [2011's] Blessed was the last album for them.

Tom and I got engaged around the time that the Little Honey album came out and I was doing press for that album and they were asking, believe it or not, I was getting asked one of the most ridiculous questions, maybe the most ridiculous question I've ever been asked, which was, "Well, everybody's concerned that you might not still be able to write songs now that you're engaged and you've found your soulmate." Yeah. I swear to God, they were asking, in all seriousness. "Are you still going to be able to write songs?" I'm like, "Oh, my God." I go, "Okay. Do I have to explain this to you? Just because you get married, just because you have kids, just because you have a big house, you're making more money, whatever it is, I'm an artist first and foremost." You know?

https://twitter.com/HappyWoman9/status/1251563884428832770

Pre-order your copy of Good Souls Better Angels through an indie record store and get a limited edition, indie exclusive LP.

It comes pressed on natural, uncolored vinyl and includes 5 exclusive bonus tracks + a download card. https://t.co/s1yg2fQpWy pic.twitter.com/PbW8LxncPM

— Lucinda Williams (@HappyWoman9) April 18, 2020

Absolutely.

It all comes from there. Did Picasso quit painting? There's this whole myth that, well, once you get past a certain age or once this happens, once this happens. I go, "These are all external things." It's just part of life. I can't spend the rest of my life in a miserable state of loneliness in order to keep writing songs, although some people think they do and they subconsciously sabotage relationships because that's the only way they can write songs, because that's all they know to write about.

I figured out a long time ago, way before I met Tom, that at some point in my life, I need to learn how to write other kinds of songs. So, it's kind of a combination of that kind of thinking, and I'm just an anomaly. I'm not like everybody else and I don't know how to explain it. Everybody's asking me, especially now with this album and it's so punk-ish and garage rock-ish and stuff, youthful, and my age and all. I'm 67, like, "Well, wow. You're still out on the road touring and you're still so active and productive. How do you do it?" But anyway, so I started getting asked that question about, "Are you still going to be able to write songs?" And I was like, "Yes."

Yeah. It's what you do.

Then exactly. That's what I do. Maybe it's because I grew up around poets. My dad being a poet. He was married with three kids and taught college, as did most of the writers I grew up around. Most of them taught creative writing. But they all still wrote and my dad said one time, "Poets usually don't even get taken seriously for their work until they're at least in their 60s." It's just a different world. It never occurred to me to stop. It's what I do. It comes from me. It's self expression.

So when all that stuff started coming up, I'd already been thinking, for years, I've wanted to write more topical songs, but good ones. They're not easy to do. I wanted to be able to write songs like Bob Dylan did in his early topical songs like "With God on Our Side" and "Masters of War" and those kinds of just brilliant, really well-written, anti-war protest songs. But they're harder to do probably for most songwriters, I would think. because the easiest thing to write, I think, is an unrequited love song. You can write those forever… There are other things to write about. There's always something to write about. That's the thing. That's the lesson here.

You mentioned your dad and poetry, and you also mentioned Picasso and painting… Have you ever thought, "why songs?" Why are songs your medium for expression?

Yeah. Well, probably because my dad was a writer. I'm not really sure. And my mother was a musician. Not professionally, but she studied piano all of her life and she was a music major at LSU when she met my dad. So, she played piano. So, there was always a piano around the house. My music genes, I definitely got from my mother and my dad, the words part, I got from my dad.

As soon as I was able to read and write, I remember sitting and writing little poems and stories and I think I just gravitated to songwriting because, I don't know, I fell in love with music and it was a great. When I was growing up, it was just such a vital time for folk music and folk rock and rock and all that. There are just amazing stuff coming out. I just gravitated towards that, towards that medium. But that's an interesting question.

Actually, my other interest is photography. I always said if I ever didn't write songs, that would be the other thing that I would want to learn how to do. I don't know how much of that needs to be taught necessarily.

There's something about the imagery in your lyrics feels photographic, so that makes sense.

Yes. Absolutely.

What about producing? I love what you did with Jesse Malin last year on Sunset Kids.

That was a great adventure and project and everything, too. But that was a first. Tom and I both, Jesse approached us and asked us and said, "Would you help me make my album?" We said, "Yeah, absolutely." So, it was like a team effort really with Tom and me. Because my last albums, it's just been us with the engineer, so it's been a co-production kind of a thing.

But the last time I worked with an outside producer really would be Don Was, I think he worked with us on the Blessed album, I believe. Then the West album was with Hal Willner. But then gradually, it was comfortable and we felt confident just because the engineers that I was able to work with have just been David Bianco, he's the first one I worked after we did the Blessed album. I think I started working with David Bianco and it's a very democratic process when I go in the studio with my band and the guys. Greg Leisz was involved with a lot of that, with a lot of stuff, listening back and just talking about what we're listening to and what we're hearing and just all of that. I want everybody to be happy with everything. I don't want anybody to walk out of the studio and feel like they don't like something.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B99mraIhstz

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So, it's been a learning experience as we've gone along, and I was flattered to have been asked to work on Jesse's album. Then of course, I got involved with him with a couple of the songs. He asked me to throw my two cents worth in with lyrics and stuff. The whole thing was a real positive experience.

Yeah. It's a great record.

It is a great record. I think it's really good. I think it's his best one. The sound, there were a lot of little of things, like Tom was really good about. The vocal sound I think is really good and we focused on that with Jesse because Tom told Jesse, he says, "You should sing in in a lower key and so your voice is a little more relaxed sounding and not try to push so much and everything," because Jesse was used to singing in his punk band, D Generation.

So, when he became a singer/songwriter from D Generation, he was kind of still pushing his voice past his range a little bit because he was so used to doing that with D Generation. So, Tom got him, worked with him a little, and got him to look at his vocals a different way, and it really made a difference, just that alone.

You did a Car Wheels… 20th anniversary tour recently. How did it feel to revisit that material two decades later?

Well, I didn't have any problem with it and part of that is because several of the songs, I'd been doing already on a regular basis in our show. So "Drunken Angel" and "Joy" and "Lake Charles." Almost all the songs on there were on my set list here or there. Some of them more than others, the ones I mentioned. Like "Joy," we pretty much end every show with that song. I'll always do "Drunken Angel" because that turned into an anthem almost. So it wasn't really that kind of thing like, "Oh, wow. I've got to revisit these old songs."

"Metal Firecracker" was my introduction to your work, and I love that song so much.

Oh, thanks. I think that might be my favorite track, my favorite one to do on the album. It's more sort of a pop-rock kind of a song compared to some of the other ones. So, you can see I'm trying to branch out a little bit there. Of course, well, I kind of did that with that song "Passionate Kisses"… You can see me kind of, a little bit by little bit, trying to move away a little. It's never a conscious decision. It's not like, oh, I'm never going to write another country song or whatever, because I don't think in terms of that anyway. I don't think in terms of what style this is and, well, I should do this style or I can't do this other style or something.

That's the other thing. I'm still going to write narrative songs and all that. This album that's out right now is a lot about that. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to ever write another song like "Drunken Angel" or something. I'm always going to be just doing whatever I do. I'm never going to leave anything behind and never do it again.

It seems like a lot of those labels were forced upon your music anyway. But you did win your first GRAMMY for "Passionate Kisses" and I believe it was in a country category…

It's not a country song. That's what's so funny about it. I know. I mean, duh. Well, the story behind that is that Mary Chapin Carpenter and I have got to know each other a little bit because when she and Roseanne Cash and I did a little acoustic tour in Australia in the early '90s, and we did these writers-in-the-round things, and Chapin had heard "Passionate Kisses," and she had started doing it at her live shows. During that tour, she asked for my blessing because she wanted to record the song. Of course, I said yes, said that would be awesome. So, she cut the song and then she started having problems with some of the people at our label because she wanted it to be the first single. They said no, that they didn't want it to because it wasn't country enough. This is the ultimate irony.

Chapin, bless her heart, she stood her ground and she said, "Look. I've been playing this at my live shows. My fans love this song. I think it should be the first single." So, she fought with them about it and then they finally conceded and they put it out, and lo and behold, it wins a GRAMMY for Country Song of the Year [Best Country Song, a songwriter's award]. Nobody was more surprised than I was. But it was kind of like the label said it wasn't country enough and there it wins a GRAMMY for Country Song. I was like, "Wow. This is crazy."

Yeah. She proved the label wrong. You've also won in a Rock category, and Folk...

Tom and I were talking about that one time and he said, "You've been nominated just about every in just about every category almost, except for hip-hop and jazz."

And you're not done yet. So, you never know. 

Yeah. I'm not done yet. Exactly.

Speaking of hip-hop, some of the more rhythmic, lyric-heavy songs you do really reminds me of that style.

Yes. Well, that's because I got into it at a certain point because I like good songwriting, and Tom's turned me on to some really great music, because he worked at labels for years and years. So, he's like a music freak and he knows about almost any band you mention to him. So he turned me onto Thievery Corporation and I just loved it and still love them, and also a hip-hop artist out of Minneapolis who goes by the name Atmosphere. Just brilliant writing. Hip-hop kind of in that vein, but it's more musical and there's stuff mixed in. I just love it.

I think that some of the hip-hop artists really are kind of the blues artists of today in a way. The blues/soul type. See, again, there are probably some of them that don't want to be lumped into the hip-hop thing maybe. It's like because somebody like Atmosphere, when you hear their stuff and look at [Slug's] lyrics and everything and he's a really good writer and he's very compassionate and you can hear it. I've met him before and he's just a really nice, really cool guy, a really good person. Tom's from Minneapolis, so he knows him and he turned me onto his music and I just fell in love with this one particular album called Southsiders. It's just really good.

Then there's another artist, Tricky, who's out of London, and his stuff is really good. Yeah. His stuff is really good too. A lot of people are so close-minded, if they just hear a certain style of music, they go, "Oh. I don't like that kind of music," without even really listening to it. I don't listen to the radio, commercial radio. So, most of the stuff I like isn't going to be on the radio… Well, now you've got satellite radio and all that, so that's all changed now. But I'm talking about the top 10 or top 100 Billboard artists. You're not going to find Atmosphere on the top 100 Billboard artists in any particular year or something like that. So, you've got to go outside the lines a little bit to find really good artists.

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Bandsintown Adds WATCH LIVE Livestream Fan Alerts bandsintown-adds-watch-live-fan-alerts-livestream-concerts-announces-online-benefit

Bandsintown Adds WATCH LIVE Fan Alerts For Livestream Concerts, Announces Online Benefit Fest

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With touring suspended, the online show listing service will expand to include livestreams and launch the Bandsintown Live Music Marathon next week to benefit MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Mar 20, 2020 - 12:06 pm

As the music industry shirts its focus from live events to livestream performances due to the global coronavirus pandemic, artists and business alike continue to adapt. Now, Bandsintown, a leader in direct-to-fan engagement has announced the addition of WATCH LIVE fan alerts for online performances by their favorite artsts.

With the new feature, artists will be able to add WATCH LIVE listings on their pages that will link directly to their performance on Facebook Live, Instagram Live, other third party streaming hosts, and a new live music channel on Twitch Bandsintown launched today to host live concerts at live.bandsintown.com. They kicked off the new channel with a special set by producer/DJ Black Coffee live from South Africa. 

https://twitter.com/Bandsintown/status/1241053502345895936

Music unites! 🌍 Fans are tuning in from all over the world for @realblackcoffee's live stream show, happening now! Join us at https://t.co/q2jCcGLozC pic.twitter.com/UjJcezWeRz

— Bandsintown (@Bandsintown) March 20, 2020

The new Bandsintown Live channel will also host the multi-day Bandsintown Live Music Marathon next week Mar. 26 & 27 featuring both established and rising artists. The full lineup is yet to be revealed, but all donations received during the livestream will be donated to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. 

WATCH LIVE will become available for free for artists on Bandsintown starting next week. For more information, visit the Bandsintown website.

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Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund

Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin

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Rick Korn & Jason Chapin's Revisit Harry Chapin harry-chapin-when-doubt-do-something-filmmakers-rick-korn-jason-chapin-revisit

'Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something' Filmmakers Rick Korn & Jason Chapin Revisit Singer/Activist's Legacy At A Vital Time

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The new documentary looks at the life of the late GRAMMY-nominated folk singer and how his message of hope and making a difference resonates so strongly today
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 21, 2020 - 3:40 pm

In 1972, not long after signing to Elektra, a 29-year-old folk singer/songwriter named Harry Chapin released his debut album, Heads & Tales, spawning the hit single "Taxi." Later that year, he'd release his sophomore album, Sniper & Other Love Songs, and receive his first GRAMMY nomination, for Best New Artist at the 15th GRAMMY Awards.

Just two years later, in 1974, the Brooklynite released his fourth album, Verities & Balderdash, along with his most well-known song and only No. 1, the deeply moving "Cat's in the Cradle." The memorable track also brought his second GRAMMY nomination, for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 17th GRAMMY Awards.

Almost as quickly as Chapin rose to global fame, he began using his platform to make a difference in the world. With nudging and support from his wife Sandy Chapin, he and radio DJ Bill Ayers founded WhyHunger in 1975 to address the root causes of food insecurity and poverty. The "Shooting Star" singer, who died at just 38 in car accident, would spend the rest of his time on earth hosting and playing benefit concerts, mentoring rising artists, advocating in D.C. and raising money and awareness to fight hunger.

Now, with the release of Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something on Oct. 16, World Food Day, viewers get a deep dive into the inspirational man behind the music, along with the message that one person really can move make a difference when they put their mind to it. We recently spoke to the documentary's director, Rick Korn, and co-producer/Harry Chapin's stepson, Jason Chapin, about the film, what the great folk artist's legacy means to them and much more.

Watch: History Of: The World-Famous Troubadour In West Hollywood

Harry Chapin, When In Doubt, Do Something comes out soon, on October 16. What messages do you hope viewers will get from watching it?

Korn: Well, there are two messages with Harry's story. The most important thing is about his activism, his music, his way to really inspire generations of music artists, of people like myself. I think the most important thing for people to get out of this is it's a break from the craziness of what's going on in the world around us, it's a 93-minute escape into Harry's world, which is just so entertaining and inspiring. I hope that people look at it from that perspective. I know people that have seen the film have walked away from it thoroughly entertained and thoroughly inspired. That's what we hope people get out of the film.

Chapin: I'll add that my father's been gone for a long time, but over his 10-year career, he accomplished a lot musically. His music continues to be listened to by younger generations, which is great, but the humanitarian side, starting WhyHunger in 1975 and Long Island Cares in 1980 and being involved in a lot of other important causes and organizations, is also big. It's amazing that those organizations have grown so much and continue to help, literally, hundreds of thousands of people each year. If you think about today, hunger and poverty is a much bigger issue now, but, fortunately, because of my father's work and many organizations fighting against it, there's a lot being done.

The takeaway, I'm hoping, for those that see the movie, is that it's one individual who was motivated to do something, who inspired many others to continue to support what he did, but they also are doing great things on their own. It's really inspirational to know that one person can make a difference.

Related: Darius Rucker To Receive Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award At Music Biz 2019

I feel like that answers this question a bit, but I still want to ask it this way. Why did you decide to make a documentary about Harry Chapin?

Korn: Harry was unique in a lot of different ways, and if this was a story about another music artist that focused on their vices and the destruction of their lives, we would not have been interested in making the film. What interests us about Harry is his prolific creativity and his ability to literally move people, to save people. What really blew our minds when we did our research on Harry was he was so incredibly effective in fighting for the underdog.

He could write a protest song and you can do a benefit concert, but Harry was more than that. He literally got his hands dirty doing the work, and figured out what the root causes of hunger and poverty are and attacked them in every way. He spent a good portion of the most vital 10 years of his life just trying to help people, and that is unique in the world, particularly in the world today. That's why we made the film. We made the film because I think the world needs a little bit of Harry today.

Chapin: One thing I'll add, maybe it's not known to a lot of people, but my father was a successful filmmaker before he became a successful musician. I think film helped him really understand stories better and made him a much better songwriter. It's also just amazing, so many years later, when Rick and S.A. Baron [who co-produced the film with Korn and Chapin] asked if we would be interested in a documentary, it was special to me because there had never been interest in a film about him. They saw a different subject matter that others didn't.

Also, it's just the right time, because there's so much going on that my father was passionate about and committed to, and, as Rick said, there's so much negativity out there, but this is the right film at the right time.

Why do you feel like it's so important to share this story and these messages now?

Korn: I don't want to say we rushed it because we didn't, but we really worked hard getting this film out now because of all the divisiveness in the world. Harry's story is unique from any other music artist because he really inspired a generation of music artists. You look at Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, Bob Geldof and Ken Kragen, all these people that created Live Aid and "We Are the World"/U.S.A for Africa and Hands Across America. Harry inspired these people in that way, and his music, on top of that, was just so moving and so incredible.

I want to follow up on something that Jason said about him being a filmmaker. One of the things that surprised me when we did our research, was that he was a filmmaker, and not only that, but an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and documentarian, but we learned that was the way Harry wrote songs. It's very similar to the way a director writes a film. His songs are these mini movies. His storytelling feels like you're the character, one of those two people in the taxi in the song, "Taxi." And you always feel like the parent in "Cat's in the Cradle." He and Sandy just had a way of making songs that you find yourself in, and that's the brilliant part of his songwriting.

Explore: It's The One: 45 Years Of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born To Run'

Do you have a favorite story or anecdote from any of the artists you talked to while making the film?

Chapin: I was at the Billy Joel interview and he told us a lot of things that I didn't know. I learned that he opened for my father and years later, my father opened for him, and they had a nice friendship, and supported each other. And Billy Joel started talking about how people would think that "Piano Man" was written by my father, and he really loved the way my father wrote songs, and he was describing how much he loved the song "Taxi" and how it gave him goosebumps. And then he was talking about my father as a humanitarian, and he called him a saint. I think that was probably my favorite experience with this whole project.

Korn: Yeah, the Billy Joel interview was certainly a great one because I didn't realize how close Billy and Harry were, just on a human level. The reason for that, I think, was the fact that Harry treated everyone like your kid brother. The fact that he would support Billy, which was so rare in the music business then, and even now, it just broke down whatever barrier or competition they normally would have with each other. That surprised me.

My favorite interview—there's so many, because after each interview, you love everybody that you interviewed because they loved Harry. You can't make a movie just with that one interview, but the two that stand out for me is DMC [a.k.a. Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC], because he taught us something we didn't know about, how he did "Cat's in the Cradle" [on 2006's "Just Like Me" with Sarah McLachlan] and they were one of the first rap groups. The fact that Harry was considered cool in the early days of hip-hop music blew my mind. He's a great guy. He's done so much for WhyHunger over the years, and he's just a really genuine guy, so I really loved that interview.

I have to say that the most entertaining interview for me that maybe I've ever done was Sir Bob Geldof, which ended up being a two-and-a-half-hour interview when my average interview is about 45 minutes. I literally asked two questions in the entire interview. He just went on and on and on. He would come back and say something about Harry, but then he would go on.

They all loved Harry. Harry changed their lives, just as he did mine. Harry came to my high school in 1974. Everyone in the school, teachers, coaches, janitor, everyone came into the auditorium, and he came running in and played for two and a half hours and talked about hunger and poverty, and it was the greatest lecture you ever went to in your life. It was inspirational.

Read: From Aretha Franklin To Public Enemy, Here's How Artists Have Amplified Social Justice Movements Through Music

What does his legacy mean to you?

Chapin: When I think of his legacy, I think of all the people that my father looked up to, and one of them was Pete Seeger, and I think he saw that Pete was doing great things over many years. He was completely selfless and hugely impactful. As I look at my father's legacy, it's the fact that so many fans can tell stories about meeting him after a concert in the lobby, so many fans talk about how they shared his music with their kids, and now grandkids, and the fact that he started these organizations and that continued to grow and help more people each year.

I think the overall, in terms of his legacy—he even says in the film that he wanted to matter. That's another way of saying he didn't want to be forgotten. The fact that people are still talking about him, people are still inspired by him is just amazing.

Korn: I'd like to tag on to that. When I think of Harry's legacy, obviously he was a great songwriter. Music is important, and his music is important, but when I think of Harry's legacy, I think of what is going on right now with this pandemic and the fact that what he and [N.Y.C. radio DJ] Bill Ayres and Sandy Chapin created in 1975—and Sandy and Bill are still at it—is still saving lives today. That is a legacy that is larger than life.

Can you talk a little more about WhyHunger's work and why specifically the issue of access to healthy food was so important to Harry?

Chapin: I think what's important to understand is that it was my mother who really nudged my father and said, "You should get involved in more things, not just do music." My father was interviewed by Bill Ayres on his radio show, "On This Rock," and they had instant chemistry. They started talking, with my mother at some of their meetings, they decided that they wanted to focus on something that would really have a big impact on a lot of people. They did a lot of research. They talked to a lot of experts, and they realized hunger and poverty was at the root of all of our issues, and if they tackled that, that could solve so many of our problems. They continued to educate themselves and talk to experts. They spent a lot of time down in D.C. talking to legislators, and they were really committed to being knowledgeable and informed and getting other people to understand.

I think what my father knew is that if you tackle hunger and poverty, you're also tackling social injustice, you're tackling women's issues, you're tackling racial issues, you're tackling so many root issues, and so I think it was very insightful for them to talk about that. It wasn't just about giving people food.

My father was very into being self-sufficient, so he wanted people to have access to education and work to become self-sufficient. At the same time, I think he wanted people to understand that people don't choose to be hungry or poor, that there were certain policies that were put upon them that created a lot of the problems, a lot of the barriers that they faced.           

I think it's also important to say that the fact that we still have a problem doesn't mean that we're losing the war. It just means that there are more people that need to get involved in order to solve the problem. WhyHunger's job is not to solve the problem, it's to help other people it, so it's a very grassroots focus. They do a lot of work with groups around the country and internationally to help support what they're doing and connect them to other organizations so that they can realize their potential and do even more great work.



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Join us tonight for a very special Docu-Concert to inspire us all to DO SOMETHING AND VOTE! Harry Chapin is the original reason I love folk music. I listened to “Cats in the Cradle” on repeat as a kid. Very surreal to be a part of this event with him and more of my heroes @springsteen @blackpumas @kebmomusic @alabama_shakes @theheadandtheheart and @derekandsusan ! We’ll be raising money today for many nonprofits including @return2heart ! Tune in tonight (link in bio!)!

A post shared by RAYE ZARAGOZA (@rayezaragoza) on Oct 20, 2020 at 11:27am PDT

What do you each see as the connection between art and service?

Korn: Art is service in a certain way. We have a livestream docu-concert coming out called Do Something and there's an artist participating by the name of Raye Zaragoza. Raye is a young artist/activist. She's Native American and she's all about the environment and has devoted her life to it. She doesn't just write the songs. An artist/activist is someone, in my opinion, who doesn't just write and perform great music, but as Harry taught us, they get their hands dirty.

If you care about the pipeline going through South Dakota and the reservations, you're going to go to protests. You're in Washington. You're writing motivational songs. It doesn't mean you have to write motivational songs, because Harry didn't have many protest songs, but he understood his nature and human feelings and empathy, and he had tremendous empathy. I think that's the connection, that's what makes an artist an artist/activist.

Chapin: Yeah, and my father and my uncle Tom [Chapin] did a lot of benefit concerts, and I know they had a lot of conversations. My father was always fascinated with Pete Seeger's philosophy about being an activist, getting involved, and he said it was because he got to work with great people, people who were very passionate and committed. My father and Pete Seeger and others, I think they were getting more out of the experience than they were giving to the experience, and it made their lives richer.

My father, he spent a lot of time in high schools, middle schools and colleges talking to young people. He always felt that young people were the future, and he wanted to know what they cared about, what they were interested in doing, and to encourage them to get involved. It didn't have to be hunger and poverty, but just get involved, to commit to something. It was all about letting them know that they could make a difference.

Lastly, a lot of musicians, I think, tend to be a little bit self-centered, but my father was very generous when it came to other musicians. He used to do these songwriting workshops where he would spend time with a group of up-and-coming musicians, those who wanted to learn more about songwriting and composing music. My father had these regular meetings with different musicians on Long Island. I think the musicians who attended really enjoyed the experience of learning from my father, but my father also enjoyed the experience of hearing what they were thinking and collaborating with them. I think that was also very rewarding for him.

Read: From Chicago To Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Here's Who Was Honored At The 2020 GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends

It becomes so much more than the artist saying, "I care about this, you should too." When it's like, "I really care about this. What do you care about?" it feels different.

Chapin: Yeah. I think it's a beautiful community when musicians collaborate and they do things together. I think that really attracted my father's interest, he just loved other communities, whether it was other artists or not. He was really into a lot of intellectual stuff. He did a lot of reading. He was intellectually very curious, and I think he also liked learning from other people and finding out what motivated them and what inspired them. I think that gave him a lot of, I don't know, excitement just to be around people who were very eager and action-oriented.

Do you think art can change the world?

Korn: You know, I think that music is, by its very nature, a healer. I'm not saying it can cure cancer, but it can help cure cancer. Maybe that's an overstatement. I just mean it that it's got that power. People get moved by music. I was working with a gentleman by the name of Carl Perkins, who wrote the song, "Blue Suede Shoes." We were flying over to London [in 1997] to do a benefit concert with Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton and a bunch of people, and for the island of Montserrat after a volcano eruption. I asked, "Why is it that it seems like music artists are always the first ones to jump in and do benefit concerts?"

Carl's response was, "Did you ever meet a great songwriter that didn't grow up poor or have some sort of difficulties in their life? They just tend to be more empathetic towards the common man. They write about it." From that standpoint, I don't know if they can save the world, but I think Harry in a lot of ways has saved lives, and I guess that's your answer. [Chuckles.]

Chapin: Yeah, that was well said, Rick. I can't think of anything else that brings people together more than music. It's a universal thing, and once you bring people together and there's somebody who plants a seed as to something they should all work toward or work on together, then anything is possible. We know, going back decades, whether it was Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, the Beatles and their Concert for Bangladesh, or Live Aid or "We Are the World," we know when groups come together, anything is possible. They may not be solving all the world's problems, but they can certainly make a huge difference.

It's so true. I have to share, my dad grew up in Brooklyn Heights and went to Grace Church, so he knew all the Chapins. The first concert I ever went to was Tom Chapin—my dad took us to his shows all the time when we were kids.

Chapin: I'm so glad you shared that because that's where everything happened, at Grace Church. That's where my uncles Tom and Steve were in the choir. My father was a little older, so he wasn't as involved, but that's also where they met Robert Lamm from Chicago. John Wallace was also a member of the choir, and he ended up being a key part of my father's band. That was such a magical time back then, because there were so many musicians and they would all go into Manhattan and play at the different clubs and community events. Everybody wanted to be a musician or go listen to musicians. Brooklyn now is still—that's the hot borough in New York City. That's where the musicians want to live, and that's where they want to perform. It's a fabulous tradition.

Great to hear that you've been to some of my uncle Tom's shows. I don't know if you're aware, but my father had two GRAMMY nominations, but Tom won three GRAMMYs, so that's fun family history.

Beat By Beat: How "Song Exploder" Unlocks The Intimacy Of Music And Creativity

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