The Music Universe Podcast

Group releases new Dylan cover album The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is celebrating its 56th anniversary with a second album of Bob Dylan cover songs called Dirt Does Dylan . The project is available today (Fri, May 20th) and features 10 gems from Dylan's vast catalog. The album introduces three new members, including fiddler Ross Holmes, bassist Jim Photoglo (who also wrote the group's "Fishin' In The...

Matt Bailey is back in Nashville a month after we covered the 2022 CMT Music Awards. This time, he's in attendance at a Music Memorial for Jeff Carson, who passed away from a heart attack in March at the age of 58. Michael Ray, Wade Hayes, Ty Herndon, Lee Greenwood, Heath Wright of Ricochet, Craig Campbell, Rhett Akins, Tracy Lawrence, John Berry, Halfway to Hazard, Danielle Peck, T. Graham Br...

The Power of Women in Country Music highlights the past 100 years This month, the GRAMMY Museum’s The Power Of Women In Country Music opens for a summer run in Los Angeles. The event highlights the past, present and future of country music’s greatest female trailblazers by exploring the rich history of women as a driving force in country music. The Power Of Women In Country Music will take visitor...

Townes chats about her latest EP, performances and more Last week, Tenille Townes dropped her highly anticipated new EP Masquerades via Columbia Nashville/Sony Music Nashville in partnership with RCA Records. The EP is the first soul-baring collection Townes plans to release, where she fully pulls her own mask down. The project features tracks with Breland and Wrabel. The Canadian country star rec...

We are in Nashville for a big week of fun Last week was a big week for us as we trekked to Nashville to cover the 2022 CMT Music Awards on the Red (Pink) Carpet . We spoke to several country newcomers who are making waves, as well as some well known celebs who were in attendance to present such as Joel McHale and Gayle King. While in town, we covered Breland & Friends at the Ryman and John May...

Hay chats about his latest album Men at Work frontman Colin Hay recently released his 14th solo studio album, Now And The Evermore. The set comprises a collection of ten tracks that celebrate life and love, one that insists on finding silver linings and reasons to smile at every turn. Hay is supporting the album by trekking across the country with an acoustic solo show. Last week, Matt Bailey chat...

Golden releases a three album project with his sons Country and Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Grand Ole Opry and The Oak Ridge Boys member William Lee Golden and his sons The Goldens have set Golden Classics , a three album covers project that is now available. The set features 34 songs that were originally recorded by other artists including Tom Petty, Eagles, Janis Joplin, John Denver, Johnny Cash,...

Magellan chats about the band's new live album Last week, Georgia Satellites released Lightnin’ In A Bottle: The Official Live Album via Cleveland International Records. The 18-track album documents the band's epochal performance at Peabody's in Cleveland in 1988 after shooting to fame with "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" and their version of Chan Romero's "Hippy Hippy Shake" that was featured in th...

Feature length episode relives our concert travels What do Garth Brooks, Tim Allen, George Strait, TWICE, Metallica and Billy Joel all have in common? Us attending their shows over the past five weeks! We’ve got a monstrous episode where we tell you about our experiences traveling to Las Vegas three times in a the shortest month of the year, Los Angeles and San Diego to see some of the hottest liv...

Skid Row co-founder talks new music and being back on the road Skid Row is prepping the final installment of their music trilogy, United World Rebellion: Chapter Three later this year. They expect to release new music in March with singles periodically until the album's release on September 16th. The new project is in partnership with earMUSIC, after the band signed with the German label in 2021....

Moore is a co-founder and CEO TalkShopLive is a leader in live social commerce that provides ease of use, transparency and patent pending proprietary technology that allows customers to purchase products within the video player on any embedded site, turning every video into point-of-sale. The platform is open to businesses of all sizes as well as creators looking to develop their own immersive, li...

McCollum introduces first-ever NFT fan club UMG Nashville recording artist Parker McCollum introduces country fans into the world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) with the first-ever NFT fan club membership . The singer/songwriter's Gold Chain Cowboy Black Card: Signature Edition NFT sold out within the first three days of being offered as the inaugural launch of MusicFX, a one-of-a kind fan engageme...

Band has gone viral due to Peacemaker theme Wig Wam's music sounds straight out of the 1980s glam metal scene. However, the Norwegian band was formed in 2001 and has been largely been unknown to American audiences until recently when its song, "Do Ya Wanna Taste It?," was chosen as the theme for the HBO Max original series, Peacemaker. Peacemaker writer/director James Gunn chose the 12 year old tr...

The band joins us from their Los Angeles studio The Grammy Award-winning Temptations are celebrating their 60th anniversary with a yearlong celebration that includes the release of their long-awaited Temptations 60 album. The new 12 song project consists of nearly all-original songs that are both modern and classic in feel and sound. In addition to tracks produced by group members, the album bring...

Emery was a country music broadcasting legend Last week, Country Music Hall of Fame broadcaster Ralph Emery passed away at the age of 88. Emery was known as "the Dick Clark of country music" and "the Johnny Carson of cable television" as he hosted a variety of programs and introduced new artists to country music. Among his many accolades were host of TNN's Nashville Now, WSM-FM jockey, Ralph Emery...

We talk Ticketmaster practices In this guestless episode, our first of the new year, Buddy Iahn and Matt Bailey discuss the practices of purchasing concert tickets through Ticketmaster. We often get comped to report shows, but we also buy our fair share of tickets. Most of those come via Ticketmaster. We talk about our trials and tribulations when it comes the queues and how some shows seem nearly...

Buddy Iahn and Matt Bailey recap an arduous year The year 2021 was monumental to say the least. It was the second year of a pandemic that continued to dictate the concert industry as artists returned or attempted to return to the road. It wasn't until the back half of the year when concerts starting trekking away again, but COVID continued to rear its ugly head as artists and members of their tour...

Manuel chats with Matt Bailey Designer Manuel Cuevas is so synonymous with combining fashion and music that he's mostly known by his first name. Manuel was responsible for making Johnny Cash the Man in Black, crafting Elvis' signature gold lamé suit, dressing all three Hank Williams, and creating garments for Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Dolly Parton, Dwight Yoakam, T...

Gowan talks about the band's newest music Over the summer, Styx released its first new album in four years, Crash of the Crown . The legendary band also released a Record Store Day exclusive EP as well this year. The music for both was written pre-pandemic and recorded during the trying times of it. Vocalist and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan chats with Buddy Iahn about the process of recording the ne...

Grow recently released a new album Sam Grow is one of country's new voices that everyone is buzzing about. Before his new album, This Town, was released in September, he had earned more than 55 million streams on the tracks. Produced by Colt Ford and Noah Gordon, Grow wrote all of the tracks except for one. His latest single, "You Ain't Gone" had scored nearly 100k streams within its first week of...

Matt Bailey interviews the Queen of Bluegrass backstage The Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent, returns to the show, but this time, it's an in person interview in Branson. Vincent is set to perform six Christmas shows at Branson's Mansion Theatre from December 6-12th with some special guests. On a recent trip to the Missouri city, Matt Bailey chatted with Vincent backstage following an afternoon p...

Carson returns after a 20 year hiatus Jeff Carson transports fans back to the early 2000s with his classic country sound for his current single “God Save The World." This single is more relevant now than ever, igniting hope for the future in a world longing for change and healing. We premiered the video digitally earlier this year, which truly captures each word of the poignant track. Carson chats...

Schneider co-stars with Reba McEntire in Lifetime Christmas movie Christmas is underway and Lifetime is celebrating with 35 original movies for It's A Wonderful Lifetime in 2021. Among those is Reba McEntire's Christmas in Tune, premiering on Friday, November 26th at 8 pm ET/PT. John Schneider co-stars alongside Reba and Candice King (TV's The Vampire Diaries) in the heartfelt Christmas film. Year...

Matt is in town for a special project Branson, Missouri was once a mecca for world-famous live entertainment. Nestled away in the beautiful rugged Ozarks in Southwest Missouri, it once attracted millions of visitors each year with shows covering every genre and variety. Throughout the 80's into 00's, stars such as Mickey Gilley, Barbara Mandrell, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell, The Oak Ridge Boys, Mel T...

Band celebrates Road Apples 30th anniversary The Tragically Hip have released a special version of their sophomore album, Road Apples 30th Anniversary Deluxe . The set was released digitally worldwide on November 5th with physical versions on 4 CD/Blu-ray Pure Audio and 5 LP/Blu-ray Pure Audio staggered for Friday, November 12th in Canada, Friday, November 19th in the US and Friday, November 26th...