(Don Schlitz and Kenny Rogers) Songwriting can sometimes be a solitary task, or at most a collaboration of a handful of people. So when a song hits a nerve and resonates with others it can be a wondrous thing to watch it take off and have a life of its own. For the past 43 [...]

The lineup for this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which runs from April 29 to May 1 and May 5 to May 8, was announced today. Among the multitude of artists set to perform are Arcade Fire, Robert Plant, The Strokes, Wilco, Lauryn Hill, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp. Says festival producer/director Quint [...]

Iconic Welsh singer-songwriter Tom Jones (that’s “Sir” to you) has received an apology from his label, Island Records U.K., who’s SVP David Sharpe wrote a disparaging e-mail about Jones’ upcoming album, which is ironically titled Praise and Blame. Sharpe wrote that the label should “pull back this project immediately or get my money back,” and [...]

Tom Jones Praise And Blame Lost Highway Rating: It may seem a little weird to compare Tom Jones to Johnny Cash. But about ten seconds into Jones’s new Praise and Blame CD, that comparison just happens. On this excellent collection of songs examining the human condition, Jones confronts the issues of heaven and hell in [...]