Neko Case: Celebs Rumors

Mark Guarino Chicago’s Bloodshot Records was a powerful and pioneering force in the alt-country movement of the 1990s and beyond, defining the genre with a roster of breakthrough artists including the Robbie Fulks, Old 97s, Alejandro Escovedo, the Waco Brothers, Neko Case, Justin Townes Earle, and the Bottle Rockets. In 2021, 27 years after its first release, label co-founders Nan Warshaw and Rob Miller sold Bloodshot to Exceleration Music, a global investment group that either owns the catalogs of or has strategic partnerships with other legacy labels like Alligator Records and Kill Rock Stars. At the time, Exceleration said it planned to largely manage and monetize Bloodshot’s back catalog. But this month it is releasing “Music Man,” a new album by Layng Martine Jr., a veteran Nashville songwriter who has written hits for legends like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, and the Pointer Sisters, among many others. It is one of five new albums Bloodshot is set to release this year, said Dave Hansen, an Exeleration principal.

The New Pornographers will tour with founding member Dan Bejar for the first time in seven years this coming November.The tour, announced on Tuesday (July 13), celebrates two unique anniversaries for the band: The “21st birthday” of their debut album ‘Mass Romantic’, and the “sweet 16th” of their 2005 album ‘Twin Cinema’. The band will perform both albums in full across rotating nights on each tour stop.Alongside Bejar, the tour will feature three other founding members of the band: vocalist/guitarist Carl Newman, singer Neko Case and bassist John Collins.