The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival schedule dropped yesterday, leaving fans a little over a month to decide which acts they wants to see, and which ones won’t make the cut. American Songwriter Magazine set in on a conference call Tuesday with Father John Misty (a.k.a. Josh Tillman) and Cole Smith of Diiv to talk [...]

The Flaming Lips The Terror (Warner Bros. Records) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Stream the album The Flaming Lips return with one of their most challenging, yet cohesive records to date. The Terror, the band’s 13th studio album, comes at the heels of an experimental period for the band, which saw them do everything [...]

They Might Be Giants’ new album Nanobots boasts 25 songs in 45 minutes, an impressive feat for the duo’s sixteenth album. American Songwriter sat down with singer/guitarist John Flansburgh before the band’s show in Nashville to talk about Nanobots, the band’s songwriting process, and the strangest thing he’s ever had thrown at him while performing. Let’s [...]

Monsters of Folk seems like a far away thought right now, as the members all prepare for their other projects. Jim James is preparing to release his first solo album of original material, M. Ward is preparing to release his third record with She & Him, his band with actress Zooey Deschanel, and Conor Oberst [...]

CMT’s Crossroads program will bring together classic rock and contemporary country when Stevie Nicks joins Lady Antebellum in an upcoming episode, the country music channel announced yesterday. Nicks and her band Fleetwood Mac are preparing to embark on their first world tour since 2009, and are working up new songs for the shows. Meanwhile Lady [...]

Alt-country pioneer Jay Farrar has his sights set on March 2013. In addition to releasing his memoir, Falling Cars and Junkyard Dogs, Farrar will also join up with his band, Son Volt, to release their first album in four years, Honky Tonk, on Rounder Records. The follow-up to 2009’s American Central Dust, Honky Tonk showcases [...]

Memphis-born singer/songwriter/producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement made his mark on the music industry working with legendary performers like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. So it’s no surprise that when 81-year-old Clement’s house and studio burned down in 2011, more than a few musicians were concerned. One of those musicians was Artist Growth founder Matt Urmy, who [...]

The Black Keys have announced four new dates for their 2013 tour featuring special guests The Flaming Lips. Wayne Coyne and co. will meet up with The Keys in late April and will make stops in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Nashville. This marks the first time since 2010 that The Keys have played an [...]

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell had been meaning to get around to recording together for a long time… about three decades. The duo (who are multiple Grammy award winners in their own rights) finally made the time, and will soon release their first official collaboration since Crowell played in Harris’ Hot Band in 1975, Old [...]

Folk rockers The Mountain Goats and psychedelic gospel guru Matthew E. White proved to be a winning combination Saturday night, packing an impressive crowd into the Mercy Lounge in Nashville. Since releasing their fourteenth album, Transcendental Youth, John Darnielle and co. have been hitting the road hard, wowing audiences across the country. But it was [...]

Singer/songwriter/activist Erin McKeown is combining her political passion and her music for her seventh album, MANIFESTRA, due out on January 15, 2013. McKeown released the first single, “The Jailer,” last month and the song finds McKeown following the same trail that Ani DiFranco blazed in the ’90s. The album also boasts a song McKeown co-wrote [...]

Neil Young certainly got a lot of mileage out of this year. In addition to finishing two new albums with Crazy Horse, developing his own audio format, and releasing his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, Young and the band teamed up to for a big international tour that will now run one date longer and wrap [...]