The Music Universe Podcast

Big Time Rush is back with its first new studio record in a decade,  Another Life . The project was kick started by the release of " Can't Get Enough " earlier this year followed by " Waves " in May. However, due to frenzied fan excitement and demand, Another Life  was released one week earlier than anticipated and is available as of today (Fri, June 2nd). The group, which...

We have a pair of country superstars on the show this week. Garth Brooks joins us in Las Vegas ahead of his new residency and former Rascal Flatts frontman Gary LeVox talks to us on his tour bus before a headlining show in Los Angeles. Last week, Brooks kicked off his Garth Brooks/Plus One two year Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show runs through December with 18 dates...

It's New Music Friday and we have some country ladies leading the releases. Erin Kinsey's  Bet My Heart EP is available via Records Nashville while Chapel Hart's third full length album,  Glory Days , drops independently. Erin wrote all seven tracks on the EP, co-writing with songwriting heavyweights such as Sarah Buxton, Josh Kerr, Sara Davis and more. Erin is the embodiment of a ten-...

Caroline Jones is prepping to release her new EP, Superpower , on Friday, May 19th. It features the focus track, "Normal Person," along with " Lawless " and " Keep It Safe " featuring Alyssa Bonagura. Written and co-produced by Jones in Nashville and features five tracks that showcase a wide range of influences from country to pop to Bluegrass and precedes her forthco...

Savoy Brown released its latest album, Blues All Around , on February 17th via Quarto Records. The release of the new album is especially poignant in that it comes after the December 13th passing from cancer of band founder and sole constant Savoy Brown member guitarist/lead vocalist Kim Simmonds. Simmonds is considered one of music’s premier blues/blues rock guitarists and songwriters and is also...

Stagecoach 2023 is in the books and The Music Universe was on hand for exclusive coverage . We saw 18 artists during the three day festival in Indio from April 28-30 and chatted with several as well. We published our print interviews with Ian Munsick and Warren Zeiders already. This episode includes an interview with The Valory Music Co's Mackenzie Carpenter, who was recently named a member of...

Cemented as the hottest rock band in Los Angeles, The Scarlet Opera is lighting up stages and screens everywhere with their " unashamedly queer " brand of music and entertainment. In the past month, the group released its major label debut EP, Comedy , via SB Projects/Republic Records, made their late night TV appearance in March, and wrapped their first-ever headlining tour with a homet...

Country music has returned to New York City as the Broadway play  Shucked opened last month at the Nederlander Theatre. Shucked features a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn and a score by the Nashville songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, who collectively have earned three Grammy Awards and 18 Grammy nominations. The production is directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O...

Dionne Warwick has transcended generations as an R&B and gospel artist for nearly seven decades. The legendary performer has sold more than 100 million records globally and is one of the most-charted vocalists in history with 80 singles making the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Thirty-nine of those songs are with Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Warwick has a lot on her plate at 82 years young. Her hi...

Tonight (Mar 31st), Joni Mitchell is being awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during an all-star tribute concert. The lineup will include performances by James Taylor, Brandi Carlile, Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Marcus Mumford, Graham Nash, Diana Krall, Angelique Kidjo and Ledisi. Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song  p...

Responsible for some of rock and roll’s most enduring anthems including “Juke Box Hero,” “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “Feels Like The First Time,” “Urgent,” “Head Games,” “Say You Will,” “Dirty White Boy,” “Long, Long Way From Home” and the worldwide No. 1 hit, “I Want To Know What Love Is,” Foreigner still rocks the charts more than 40 years into the game with mass...

Trailblazing husband-and-wife duo The War And Treaty are releasing their major label debut album, Lover's Game , on March 10th via UMG Nashville. The husband and wife duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter dug deep into the lessons their love has laid bare, with more than 100 songs written over the last two years before completing the 10 song project. The pair are reshaping the country music...

The Music Universe was on hand at the Orange Carpet at Nickelodeon’s 2023 Kids’ Choice Awards (KCAs) on Saturday (Mar 6th) where we chatted with a variety of attendees. While one may not associate a music website with a show like the KCAs, we had plenty of fun chatting with some music-centric guests, including the cast of  Erin & Aaron (an upcoming music-based sitcom),  Monster High...

Ronni Le Tekrø is a Norwegian guitarist best known for playing with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT and as a solo guitarist cooperating with guitarists like Terje Rypdal, Mads Eriksen and Ledfoot. LeTekrø was born in Oslo but moved to Raufoss at a young age, and has lived there all his life except for the period between 1982 and 1985, when he lived in Trondheim. With TNT he has sold between four...

Tonight (Mar 31st), Joni Mitchell is being awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during an all-star tribute concert. The lineup will include performances by James Taylor, Brandi Carlile, Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Marcus Mumford, Graham Nash, Diana Krall, Angelique Kidjo and Ledisi. Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song  p...

Artist manager Scott Frazier has been a music industry professional for 23 years and counting. If his career was a person, they’d be old enough to get into a rock club and buy you a beer, but they shouldn’t expect Frazier to get them past the velvet rope. Frazier has spent his entire career based in Louisville, Kentucky, preferring to raise his family in his hometown instead of transplanting to Na...

Ryan Dusick, the founding drummer of Maroon 5 and Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) alumnus, has recently authored a book entitled Harder to Breathe: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing It All, and Finding Recovery . Dusick founded the hit band Maroon 5 with singer Adam Levine, guitarist Jesse Carmichael, and bassist Michael Madden in the mid 90s. The band sk...

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss monopolistic practices in the live entertainment industry. In December of last year, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota promised to hold the hearing at the start of this congress. This, in response to the disaster that was the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster on sale , that saw millions of fans locked out and bots make billions of attemp...

The Winery Dogs are back in full force after a lengthy break. The powerhouse trio featuring Richie Kotzen, Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan releases its third studio album,  III , on February 3rd via the band's Three Dog Music label with distribution by Burnside Distribution/The Orchard. They follow with their long-awaited  202III World Tour . Following in the footsteps of their first two...

We wrap a huge year with coverage from the second week of National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas. This year, we saw concerts by Tracy Lawrence ( read our review ), Aaron Tippin ( read our review ), Miranda Lambert ( read our review ) and Cody Johnson ( read our review ). We had planned to see Aerosmith, but the remaining four shows were canceled due to frontman Steven Tyler being sick. While in...

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis has been America’s favorite holiday tradition for over 35 years. Grammy Award winner Chip Davis has created a show that features the beloved Christmas music of Mannheim Steamroller along with dazzling multimedia effects performed in an intimate setting. Fans can experience the annual magic as the spirit of the season comes alive with the signature sound...

Barry Williams is a singer, actor and performer who transformed television in the 1970s with his portrayal of Greg Brady on The Brady Bunch . Since the show ended in 1974, Williams has transcended into singing and performing in musical theater with over 85 productions to his name. He's headlined three Broadway shows and wrote and produced a live variety show that ran for six and a half years in Br...

Last month, The Music Universe had the opportunity to spend the day at Universal Studios Hollywood where we visited the park and attended a taping of The Kelly Clarkson Show . Airing today (Tues, Nov 8th) in 211 markets nationwide, the three-hour taping we saw included an extended interview with NFL legend Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw opened up about his battle with cancer, why he kept it quiet and sa...

Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle is a true Street Survivor. He's been been through three airplane crashes, multiple car wrecks, motorcycle wrecks, shot and stabbed, but is in overall pretty good health at 74 years old. In 2020, MVD Entertainment released Street Survivors: The True Story Of The Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash , recreating the story about the ill-fated flight that crashed in th...

John Morgan is a sought-after songwriter who has written eight songs from Jason Aldean's recent double album,  Macon, Georgia , including the multi-award winning and Grammy-nominated multi-week No. 1 hit , " If I Didn't Love You " that features Carrie Underwood and Aldean's most recent multi-week No. 1, " Trouble With A Heartbreak ." Morgan is also pursuing a solo career, having written all o...