Mavis Staples Performs on Conan O'Brien

Mavis Staples who recently won her first Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, is experiencing tremendous success with her new album "You Are Not Alone". Last night, she performed "Creep Along Moses" on Conan O'Brien's show. Enjoy a video of her performance below. 

Mavis Staples is currently on a world tour, here's her tour schedule, buy tickets here.

Mar 04 Los Angeles, CA     NAACP Image Awards    

Mar 10 Denton, TX 35 Conferette    

Mar 12 Skokie, IL North Shore Center    

Mar 13 Green Bay, WI Oneida Casino    

Mar 14 Green Bay, WI Oneida Casino    

Mar 15 Green Bay, WI Oneida Casino    

Mar 24 Brownfield, ME Stone Mountain Arts Center With Billy Bragg.

Mar 25 Portsmouth, NH The Music Hall With Billy Bragg.

Mar 26 Burlington, VT Flynn Center With Billy Bragg.

Mar 27 Tarrytown, NY Tarrytown Music Hall With Billy Bragg.

Apr 02 New Bedford, MA Zeiterion Theatre With Billy Bragg.

Apr 08 Meridian, MS MSU Riley Center    

Apr 15 Adelaide, Australia The Gov    

Apr 17 Fremantle, Australia West Coast Blues 'n' Roots    

Apr 20 Melbourne, Australia Palais Theatre With Blind Boys of Alabama.

Apr 23 Byron Bay, Australia Byron Bay Bluesfest    

Apr 24 Byron Bay, Australia Byron Bay Bluesfest    

Apr 25 Sydney, Australia Sydney Opera House With Blind Boys of Alabama.

Apr 26 Sydney, Australia Sydney Opera House With Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Aaron Neville.

Apr 28 Auckland, New Zealand Aotea Centre With Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Aaron Neville.

Apr 29 Wellington, New Zealand     St. James Theatre With Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Aaron Neville.

Apr 30 Christchurch, New Zealand Christchurch Town Hall With Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Aaron Neville.

May 14 Cleveland, OH     Cleveland Convention Center    

May 27 Memphis, TN     Minglewood Hall    

May 28 Helena, AR     Arkansas Delta Family Gosp…    

Jun 03 Woodstock, NY     Levon's Midnight Ramble    

Jun 04 Hunter, NY     Mountain Jam    

7th annual 4-day music and camping festival.

Jun 12 Manchester, TN     Bonnaroo 10th annual 4-day music and camping festival.

India.Arie Prepares New Album "Open Door" with Idan Raichel

India.Arie will be working on her next album "Open Door" with Israeli singer and songwriter Idan Raichel. The album will feature Hebrew and English songs, India.Arie doesn't know Hebrew, however she says that Idan Raichel is teaching her the translation.

During a vacation in Israel, she asked locals who the most influential political singer-songwriter was in town. "Everybody said, 'Idan Raichel, Idan Raichel — same name all the time,'" she recalled. "So I just went to his little apartment, I heard his music and was like, 'That's my music!'"

Idan Raichel blends unique Israeli, Ethiopian, Yemenite and Latin sounds, and he is mainly known for his role in the group The Idan Raichel Project. The Project has some 90 revolving members from Sudan, Uruguay, Colombia and Rwanda. They sing primarily in Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic and Swahili, and bandmates range in age from 16 to people in their 80s.

India.Arie and Idan Raichel have previously collaborated on the YouTube video "Gift of Acceptance", which they performed in December at the Nobel Peace concert in honor of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo in Oslo, Norway. They also held special concerts in Los Angeles and Atlanta."People were crying and (there was) a lot of good feedback," said India.Arie, who is also planning an international tour with Idan Raichel.

http://www.soulbirdmusic.com/
http://www.indiaarie.com/
http://www.idanraichelproject.com/en

George Michael Covers "True Faith"

George Michael has revamped New Order's True Faith hit to help raise cash for charity.

The proceeds from the single will go to Comic Relief, a British charity which previously received the proceeds from George Michael's "As" hit.

Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis is thrilled with George Michael'scontribution to the charity, revealing that he has been very generous with his cash and time in recent years.

"Over the years, George has been the most tremendous supporter of Comic Relief. Out of the blue one year he gave us all the cash from the release of As, his single with Mary J Blige. Then he did a brilliant Little Britain sketch".

"But, most excitingly, he's giving Comic Relief all the money from his new single, True Faith. It's always so moving when people stick with us year after year - and we're thrilled and delighted about the song, and the wonderful video that goes with it."

"We promise we'll use every penny we make from it to save and change lives in Africa and all over the UK." Richard Curtis, Vice Chair, Comic Relief

The video will premiere at on March 19th at the end of Comic Relief's annual Red Nose Day telethon.

 Here's the original version of "True Faith", sung by New Order in 1987.

Lenny Kravitz Unveils "Black and White America" Cover Album

Today, Oprah's show featured the smartest and most talented kids including Willow "Whip My Hair Back and Forth" Smith. Willow Smith was the co-host with Oprah and Lenny Kravitz made a guest appearance to inspire a teenage guitar genius.

During the show he unveiled the cover of his next upcoming album "Black and White America". Before the show, he also gave an interview.

Duruing the interview he discussed the inspiration for his new album which is usually his life. Lenny Kravitz always draws from whatever he's going through in his life. He recorded most of it in the Bahamas in a very remote place, where there were not many people. Far away from technology. Kravitz loves working that way because it's organic and true.

Lenny Kravitz will tour for a couple of years straight, starting from the beginning of the Fall. What does he take with him on his tour? Family pictures of family, his daughter, friends, family events. The road can be very ungrounded at times and these pictures are always good to look at.

Musical inspirations and mentors include: Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, The Rolling Stones and many more. Discovered his passion for music when he was 5, he heard a symphony by Chikovsky, afterwards it was The Jackson 5.

What do you think of Lenny Kravitz' cover for "Black and White America"?

Click here to view the backstage interview with Lenny Kravitz.

Esperanza Spalding on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Esperanza Spalding was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. Jimmy first interviewed her and asked her what she did after winning her Grammy Award for "Best New Artist", her reaction to Bieber fans, she also discussed how she got into music at a very early age and the instruments she's learned to master over the years.

Esperanza also talked about the four times she played at the White House. While some artists might get nervous meeting President Obama, she was too enamored by musicians in the front row to let her nerves get the best of her.

“He’s very kind and was very gracious,” she explained. “I shook his hand, said hello, tried not to get all googly. Just very gracious. And also, the first time I played for them, Paul Simon was there and Herbie Hancock was there and Stevie Wonder was there. So I sort of was preoccupied with the front row lineup and didn’t have time to be nervous with him or anything.”

Watch Esperanza Spalding on Jimmy Kimmel Live below. There's also a video of her performance for “Really Very Small” she did at the end of the show.

Janelle Monae - Character Approved Honoree

Janelle Monae is the recipient of the Music honor in this year’s Character Approved Awards from USA Network. These awards honor the people who are changing the face of American culture by influencing our opinions, style and views of the world creativity in their respective fields.

Her songs—and her distinctive style—have garnered a Grammy nomination. In 2010, Monáe released the brilliant and imaginative The ArchAndroid (Suites II & III), which was lauded as one of the best albums of the year by the industry and fans alike. It broke into the Billboard Top 20 and earned her two more Grammy nods.

Janelle Monae discusses how she took her music to another level:

Warner Bros. Records - To Release Vinyl Albums For Record Store Day

In honor of Record Store Day (April 16th), Warner Bros. Records has announced the release of a series of vinyl albums and singles. The releases will be available in limited quantities.

Here's a list of the vinyl albums and singles which will be released on April 16th.

• Bad Brains: God of Love (vinyl) plus a bonus 7-inch, two-song single
• The Belle Brigade: The Belle Brigade (vinyl LP)
• Built To Spill: “Ripple” (7-inch picture disc)
• Eric Clapton: Unplugged (Two-disc set on 180-gram vinyl)
• Deftones: Covers (vinyl LP). The disc will include rare cover songs from The Cars, Drive Like Jehu, The Smiths, Sade, Jawbox, The Cardigans, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Japan, Duran Duran, The Cure, and Santo & Johnny
• The Flaming Lips: Heady Nuggs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992-2002. This five-album collection includes four out-of-print sets. The collection includes 1992′s Hit To Death In The Future Head, Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, Clouds Taste Metallic, The Soft Bulletin, and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. The box set will be limited and numbered.
• Fleetwood Mac: Rumours. Both standard (33 1/3 RPM single disc) and audiophile deluxe (two-disc, 45 RPM, 180- gram vinyl) editions.
• Glassjaw: Worship And Tribute (vinyl)
• Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American. 10th anniversary, limited edition, three-disc reissue, featuring a disc of rarities and b-sides pressed on 140 gram vinyl. (Each will be hand-numbered with a gold foil stamp.) There will also be a special run of colored vinyl made exclusive for the Zia Record Store Day tent at Coachella in support of the group’s appearance at the festival.
• Mastodon: Live At The Aragon deluxe two-disc set on 180-gram vinyl and a DVD.
• My Chemical Romance: “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na). 7-inch picture disc, includes the previously-unreleased “Zero Percent” on the b-side.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (limited-edition white vinyl) and You’re Gonna Get It! (limited-edition blue vinyl).
• R.E.M.: Three. Three 7-inch single 45 RPM discs. The first three singles from the group’s new album, Collapse Into Now, each in individual art gatefold sleeves with previously-unreleased B-sides._ Disc 1: “Mine Smell Like Honey”/”Supernatural Superserious” (live in Raleigh, NC).
  Disc 2: “Oh My Heart”/”Harborcoat” (live in Riga, Latvia)
  Disc 3: “UBerlin”/”What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” (live in Oslo, Norway)
• Regina Spektor: Four From Far (limited-edition 33 1/3 RPM EP on powder-blue vinyl). Three previously-unreleased tracks taken from 2009′s Far recording sessions, none of which have ever been available on vinyl. “Eet” from Live in London is also included.
  Side A: “Riot Gear,” “The Sword & The Pen”
  Side B: “Time Is All Around,” “Eet”

Warner Bros. Records is also launching “Side By Side,” a series of extremely limited-edition 7-inch singles featuring Warner Bros. artists covering other historic and influential WB family artists. Each title will be colored uniquely, and 100 of each pressing will be available randomly on clear vinyl. The first four singles will be released on Record Store Day, with more singles to be announced soon.

• “Havana Affair” (red vinyl): The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers
• “Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” (orange vinyl): Hüsker Dü. Green Day
• “Just Got Paid” (yellow vinyl): ZZ Top, Mastodon
• “Love Hurts” (light-blue vinyl): Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels (featuring Emmylou Harris), Jenny And Johnny

Warner Bros. Records is an official partner of Record Store Day.

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