Ditto Music has made a name for itself over the last decade as an indie music distribution service used by artists from Ed Sheeran to Stormzy to Chance the Rapper. It’s now ready to expand, and the direction of its growth offers a good insight into the trajectory of the …

The mesmerizing voice of Shawn James, the sharp wit of Hayes Carll and the in-charge confidence of Tami Neilson are all on display in our round-up of the best country and Americana tracks of the week. Meat Puppets, “Warranty” With drummer Derrick Bostrom back behind the kit after a 22-year …

Steven Van Zandt knows what you’re thinking, especially when the topic is his music and not his acting. You hear his name and immediately imagine a bandana-clad rock gypsy who sings and plays heated, self-righteous diatribes about politics and life in a justice-challenged America. And he doesn’t disagree with you. …

Cage the Elephant‘s upcoming LP Social Cues emerged from a time of turmoil for the Bowling Green, Kentucky band. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone‘s Patrick Doyle, lead singer Matt Shultz discusses the stressful process of making a new album in the aftermath of his divorce: “There was a …

The first album Brandi Carlile ever purchased was Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, on cassette, when she was about 14. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to listen to it long — as she reveals in Rolling Stone‘s “The First Time” video series, some kids “ruined it on the school bus …

Sometimes when Dr. Leana Wen thinks about how public policies affect private lives, she thinks of little scraps of paper. In September, four months after Cecile Richards stepped down as president of Planned Parenthood, Wen, 36, became the first physician in almost 50 years to hold that role, and the …

The Outlaw Music Festival Tour will return for a summer 2019 leg in June, pulling together an eclectic assortment of performers from country, rock and Americana. Led as usual by Willie Nelson, this year’s lineup will also include Phil Lesh & Friends, the Avett Brothers and Nathaniel Rateliff & the …

As the opioid crisis in the United States has mounted, pharmaceutical manufacturers have been hit with lawsuits claiming that they used deceptive marketing tools to push the drugs to doctors and failed to advise patients about prospective risks. Now, the once seemingly infallible pharmaceutical companies are beginning to show signs …

Each episode of Saturday Night Live has its own rhythm, and this John Mulaney-hosted endeavor had that of a jam band that was locked in during a live concert. Most of the sketches were long. Like, really long. So long that the normal pattern of the 90-minute episode was essentially …

When Amanda Gorman was in high school, a teacher gave her some advice: “Don’t let school get in the way of your education.” By the time she was 16, Gorman was already a youth delegate for the United Nations, on her way to publishing her first book of poetry, The …