Chris Willman-Senior: Celebs Rumors

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Love hurts, and so, if you’re a Gram Parsons fan, does the idea that the world has had to do without him for 50 years, as of September of this year. Imagining how his style might have changed over the subsequent half-century is never-ending, as is conjecturing how he might have simply have brought the world closer to his own fearless hybrid of country and rock, with more years to grow his audience after what amounted to a mere five-year heyday.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The mystery of why Daryl Hall obtained a restraining order against John Oates has been solved, at least in part, now that part of the case has been unsealed by a Tennessee judge who previously ordered all details to be kept under wraps. It’s now been revealed that Hall is attempting to block his longtime musical partner from selling his share in their joint venture to Primary Wave Music. On Friday afternoon, the Associated Press was first to report the actual reason for the restraining order, after the judge quietly unsealed some — but not nearly all — of the case two days earlier, on Thanksgiving eve.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Brutal out there” may be a good description for how Record Store Day Black Friday will feel for those customers who have their appetites set only on the limited-edition piece that Olivia Rodrigo has coming out for the occasion. Rodrigo is essentially playing the role of Taylor Swift this time around, in drawing the attention of consumers who might otherwise be fine leaving a Record Store Day event alone with a special release that will be noted for its immediate scarcity — in this case, “Guts: The Secret Tracks,” a four-song EP that has not been pressed in anything near the quantity to meet the demand.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic You won’t even have to already love Wilco to find joy in the experience of reading Jeff Tweedy’s new book, “World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music” — although nothing about coming in as a fan will exactly hurt. His tales about how dozens of pieces of (mostly) pop and rock music have hit him in a personal way over the decades is full of anecdotal pleasures that get at more universal truths about how we’re shaped by art… or, alternately, just illustrate a funny story Tweedy neglected to include in his previous books, the music memoir “Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back)” and the instructional “How to Write One Song.” The book includes his thoughts on youthful favorites he remains unabashed about into his adulthood, like “Smoke on the Water,” “Takin’ Care of Business” and “My Sharona,” adult fare that rewarded more mature readings, like Randy Newman’s “In Germany Before the War,” and songs as disparate as the Replacements’ “God Damn Job,” Wings’ “Mull of Kintyre,” Rosalia’s “Bizcochito” and “You Are My Sunshine.” Variety caught up with Tweedy on the road between stops on Wilco’s fall tour supporting the band’s recent “Cousin” album, following a solo tour in the summer of 2023.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Was there anyone who didn’t have an opinion — and the strong need to express it — when the Beatles‘ “last single,” “Now and Then,” came out earlier this month? The surviving members’ long-aborning completion of a 1970s John Lennon demo profoundly moved millions of fans, and put off some others, but no one in practically any demographic — not boomers or even Gen-Z-ers and millennials — wanted to hold their tongue about it. And that’s the kind of marketing that money and promotion can’t buy.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Mars Williams, a saxophone player known for his work as a member of the Waitresses and later the Psychedelic Furs, died Monday at age 68. His hometown newspaper the Chicago Tribune first confirmed Williams’ passing and reported that the cause of death was ampullary cancer.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift did not offer an introduction to “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” when she performed it as a surprise song at her concert Sunday night in Rio de Janeiro. But she didn’t have to — fans implicitly understood her live premiere of the number, arguably the most wrenchingly emotional song in her catalog, as a tribute to Ana Clara Benevides Machado, who died after attending Swift’s previous show at the stadium.Full video of Taylor performing Biggen Than The Whole Sky (right in front of my face like wow) #RioTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/q5rNYixG1z Swift had previously expressed her sorrow over the fan’s death in a social media post, and had written that “I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it.” But, clearly, she wanted to sing about that which she could not talk about.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Liz Phair remains larger than life, in a way — even taller than 6’1”, if you will — as a result of her utterly down-to-earth yet myth-making first album, “Exile in Guyville,” in 1993. Thirty years after it changed the course of rock ‘n’ roll, that debut is being celebrated on a cross-country tour in which Phair is playing the entirety of the album for the main part of her set, delighting houses full of Gen-Xers, and not a few boomers or Gen-Z-ers who also recognize the record as one of the all-time great freshman efforts.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In a time when country music is suddenly flusher with credible newcomers than it has been in a lot of years, Megan Moroney is one of the freshest of the fresh — with a clever debut single, “Tennessee Orange,” that stands as one of the best No. 1 singles the format has wrought recently, from an album, “Lucky,” that bears no skips among its 16 deluxe-edition tracks.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic When a record comes with a warning label, believe it. That’s the case behind André 3000’s solo album debut, 17 years after the close of the recorded catalog of his Atlanta-based hip hop behemoth, Outkast.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Bob Dylan rarely speaks in his concerts beyond a “thank you,” so when he says even something trivial from the stage, people listen — and when he suddenly breaks with form to defend a controversial figure, they lean in even more. At a show Thursday night at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, he defended Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner, who in September was removed from the board of directors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation — which he also co-founded — after remarks in a New York Times interview that were perceived as sexist and racist.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tish Melton, the 17-year-old singer who recently made a splash with her official debut single, “Michelle,” can’t wait to graduate high school next year and devote herself fully to her nascent music career. But in the meantime she’s got a hell of an early graduation present: a forthcoming debut EP helmed by one of the music world’s most notable artist-producers, Brandi Carlile.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Sean Combs has been sued in federal court by Casandra Ventura, who once recorded for his Bad Boy label as Cassie, with the singer alleging that the music mogul raped and beat her over a period of a decade. In response, Combs’ team is characterizing the suit as the result of an unsuccessful shakedown attempt by a former girlfriend. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Southern California comedy aficionados have experienced some FOMO when it comes to on-and-off L.A. resident Alex Edelman having become the toast of the town in New York theater circles with his one-man show, “Just for Us.” One of the most celebrated younger stars of comedy, Edelman performed parts of what would turn into the theater piece while doing stand-up in L.A., premiered it overseas in 2018, and then had “Just for Us” turn into a hot off-Broadway ticket in 2022 before doing a limited Broadway run this past summer.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The three members of Boygenius are not having to stretch to figure out a time and a place to celebrate the six Grammy nominations that came in for the band Friday morning. They’re booked for “Saturday Night Live” this weekend — and, live from New York, they shared their thoughts via Zoom about the big love that has come their way from the Recording Academy, even as they rehearse for a key TV appearance. “I don’t know how to respond to it,” says Julien Baker.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Nominations for the 66th annual Grammy Awards are being announced by Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. and celebrity guests in a livestream rollout, with nominees in just over 20 categories — including the four general-field competitions — being revealed first, starting at 11 a.m.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic These weren’t your grandfather’s CMA Awards… or even yours, from, say five years ago. A new generation has been firmly installed, between the big look for Lainey Wilson, who is only on her second major-label album but was named entertainer of the year, and other winners from Luke Combs to Hardy, who were also unknown a decade ago. When Chris Stapleton suddenly nearly seems like the “old guard” after only six years of accruing awards, things have changed.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The winners of the 2023 CMA Awards are being announced from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Luke Combs‘ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” won the first two on-air awards, for single of the year and song of the year.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen tied for songwriter of the year of the BMI Country Music Awards, held Tuesday night at BMI’s building in Nashville. To commemorate the tie (which clearly had been communicated to the twin winners in advance), BMI cooked up another surprise: a climactic performance for the evening in which Wallen and Combs sat side by side and borrowed each other’s hits.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Ashley Gorley is always the odds-on favorite to win the songwriter of the year award at the ASCAP Country Music Awards. With the wind of a healthy amount of fresh Morgan Wallen tracks at his back, he was again shooed in for the top honor as the winners were announced Monday night in Nashville.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift‘s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” has now gone down on the books as giving the singer her best first week tally for an album ever. The release tops the Billboard 200 with 1.653 million equivalent album units. That puts it ahead of her previous personal best, which was 1.578 million for “Midnights,” released just over a year ago.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Celine Dion, who has been out of sight dealing with a serious illness, is suddenly coming out in public in Las Vegas again — including an appearance as an audience member Saturday on the final night of Katy Perry‘s residency at the Resorts World Theatre, where Dion had to call off her own engagement two years ago. The sight of Dion in the crowd for Perry’s swan song managed to get even more attention than the attendance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic As Doja Cat‘s “Scarlet Tour” touched down at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena Thursday night for what was only its second date, fans were still learning about just what shape her first arena headlining shows would take. Title cards appearing on the big screens announced that it would be broken down into five parts — Acts I, II, III, IV and V — but it took a while to figure out whether these chapter stops would involve big costume and production design changes, as might be typical on a big diva tour.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Christmas has come early for Beatles fans… who fortunately have been granted a week between gifts, so they don’t have to choose which to unwrap first. There was Thursday’s release, of course, of the newsmaking “Now and Then” single, a track that features the late John Lennon and George Harrison that was recently completed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with Martin on board as McCartney’s co-producer.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Baby, it’s Halloween / And we can be anything,” Phoebe Bridgers once promised, in a song named after the high holy day of Oct. 31.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In advance of Thursday’s release of the recently completed “Now and Then,” which is being billed as the final new track that will ever be finished and released under the Beatles‘ name, fans are hearing portions of the song — and more of the story behind it — in a 12-minute mini-documentary, “Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song,” that premiered on Disney+ Wednesday afternoon. The doc includes footage from the 1995 recording session in which Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison first had a quickly aborted go at adding parts to a John Lennon demo that had been supplied to them for Yoko Ono.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The second round of performances announced for the 2023 CMA Awards includes two collaborations scheduled for the genre’s reigning superstar, Morgan Wallen — one a medley of country classics with Post Malone and Hardy, and the other with a guest duet partner being held back as a surprise. Also planned for the Nov.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The act of exorcism was never more delightful than it is in Allison Russell’s elaborate new music video for her song “Demons,” being released just in time to really turn Halloween into a party. The celebrated singer-songwriter has never employed such epic visuals or choreography before.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic There are quite a few things Jessi Colter, of “I’m Not Lisa” fame, is not — besides Lisa. The country music veteran laughs at the idea that she is an “outlaw queen,” even though one of her claims to fame is being one of the four participants included on the trending-setting 1976 album “Wanted! The Outlaws,” along with her husband Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic On the day of the release of “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Taylor Swift set a Spotify record in becoming the artist with the most streams in a single day in the streaming service’s history, according to a statement from Spotify on Saturday on X. The company added that, on top of that, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” had set a 2023 record as Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day so far this year. Spotify did not release overall numbers for the album or Swift’s total as an artist, as is its custom when announcing records being broken.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It was a very good year, 1989 was. And by 1989, of course we mean 2014.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift‘s big year is being further commemorated with a leading 20 nominations for the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, followed by SZA and Morgan Wallen, who each have 17 nominations in a total of 16 categories. Other stars with a big look in the BBMAs nominations include the Weeknd, a finalist for 16 awards with 17 entries; Drake, who’s up for 14 awards; and first-time finalist Zach Bryan, who’s contending with 14 nominations in 13 categories. The winners in the data-driven awards will be revealed Nov.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic What has been described as the Beatles‘ “last song,” a recently completed version of “Now and Then” that includes contributions from all four members, is about to enter the realm of the now. The long-teased track will finally reach the public’s ears in one week, on Thursday, Nov. 2.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic U2 found what they were looking for in a duet partner Wednesday night at Sphere in Las Vegas, as Lady Gaga joined the group for duets on one of her songs, “Shallow,” and two of theirs, “All I Want Is You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Bono introduced his fellow leather-jacketed guest as “the most audacious, vivacious woman in any room she’s ever in. Would you welcome to our turntable, the divine — the divinyl! — Lady Gaga.” He wasn’t done praising her divinity.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Devo was, and is, the ultimate future-proof band. When they first entered the public consciousness in the late ‘70s, Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale and company seemed impossibly ahead of their time — in a primitive-futurist kind of way — and they still do. There’s very little that you could consider dated about the 50 cuts on their new career retrospective, “50 Years of De-Evolution 1973-2023,” since their worldview always kind of seemed to be trained on offering up dystopianism with a smile and a jacked-up synth-rock beat.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Gregg Sutton, a songwriter and musician who recorded as a solo artist, was a member of Lone Justice, toured with Bob Dylan and was the musical director for comedian Andy Kaufman, died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 74. No cause of death was immediately given.