Caryn Rose

In a world that revolves around the confounding belief that modern humans can only process information being presented in 30-second clips, deciding to create a rock opera — on any topic — in 2025, let alone a concept record about ’60s counter-culture figure Dennis Hopper, is both cantankerous and bold. But it’s also completely unsurprising coming from Mike Scott, the leader of the musical ensemble known as The Waterboys.

Within the first 15 minutes of “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – the Untold Story,” a new documentary about the groundbreaking late ’90s touring music festival, viewers will learn that a tour that featured two female artists, headliner and opener, was referred to as a “pussy package.”

The first line of “Hard Headed Woman,” the new record from Margo Price, begins with a battle cry. There’s a high and lonesome fiddle sounding the alarm, before a gloriously defiant harmony vocal: “I’m a hard headed woman . . . and I don’t owe ya sh*t.”

Neil Young is on tour this summer with the chrome hearts (Micah Nelson — guitar, Corey McCormick — bass, Anthony LoGerfo — drums and Spooner Oldham — keyboards) on the continuation of what Young has dubbed the “Love Earth” tour. After a trip around the European festival circuit earlier this summer (including an appearance at Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage), the band arrived back home at the beginning of August.

When Sinéad O’Connor left the planet in July of 2023 at the age of 56, the internet coalesced into a digital wake, with feeds full of tributes, song quotes and memories. For every person posting about “Nothing Compares 2 U,” there were those who could immediately reference the songs she made that were not chart-topping, million-selling, MTV-at-the-top-of-every-hour hits.

Ana da Silva and Gina Birch of The Raincoats (Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)
“You can’t tell the story of UK punk without The Raincoats.”
This is the opening statement of “Shouting Out Loud,” a fantastic new book about this important, culture-shifting band. Author Audrey Golden continues, listing the myriad other movements that The Raincoats are fundamental to, including: New York City’s downtown scene, Riot Grrrl, grunge, American indie pop, alternative rock, noise rock, queercore and the mod...

If you’re a Bruce Springsteen fan, at this point, you’ve likely heard all about his latest release, “Tracks II: The Lost Albums,” a collection of seven unreleased albums recorded from 1983 to 2018, a total of 83 new songs. But if that seems like an overwhelming abundance of riches, the Boss has kept you in his thoughts with “Lost and Found: Selections From The Lost Albums,” a single CD/2 LP release which whittles the tracklist down to only 20 songs, dealer’s choice. That boils down to three s...

You’re never too many songs into a Low Cut Connie show when bandleader Adam Weiner runs his hands across the piano keys and declares, “I love everybody in this room right now.” He’s also fond of declaring, “I love you so much, boys and girls.” He says it because he genuinely means it, it’s not a line, it’s not even shtick. Weiner says it repeatedly because it’s the vibe he wants to create in the room he’s working in. It’s corny, sure, but it’s also sincere and true.

The sun was just setting behind the GA section at Pine Knob and bouncing off Bob’s disco piano as I glanced up and Bob Dylan and his band were suddenly walking onstage.

It's a great day when your favorite artist releases a new record. But what if they released seven new records at once, recorded across almost three decades, full of music you didn't even know existed? That's exactly what Bruce Springsteen is doing later this month.

Millions of people, no matter where they are in the world, can hum or sing at least one chorus of a Beach Boys song like “Good Vibrations” or “I Get Around,” to name only a couple of their indelible and timeless hits.

“I’m still pretending this is a book tour,” Bono says shortly into "Stories of Surrender," the new film on Apple TV+. He’s just shared the story of his “eccentric heart” and the non-trivial health scare he went through around 2015, and then taken the crowd into a quasi-acoustic rendition of U2’s “Vertigo,” accompanied not by guitar, bass and drums but rather some electronic percussion and a cello.

A handful of songs into Benmont Tench’s recent performance in Chicago, he paused to take inventory before choosing the next number, ticking off the names of the artists on one hand: “Tom, Tom, Jerry, Chuck…” He is legitimately on a first-name basis with most of those people, but it wasn’t bragging, he was talking about those artists in the same the way the fans in the queue outside had been doing while waiting to get inside.

Three nights in Oakland at the old arena, three different opening numbers. Night one it was “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” night two was “The Ties That Bind,” and the last night was for the diehards: “Adam Raised A Cain,” but not just any “Adam,” an “Adam” that’s guaranteed to bring you back to Winterland in 1978 whether you were pressed up against the stage or only experienced it through the magic of FM radio.

About three-quarters through a performance by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on a Friday night in Columbus, Ohio, in a quiet moment between songs, a gentleman had a song request: “Release the Bats!” he yelled.