Our new music feature Origins finds bands giving listeners a bit of an inside scoop on their latest single. Today, Charley Crockett wants you to “Fool Somebody Else”. When a songwriter sings of woe and heartbreak, we want to believe them. We want, in some part, to believe that this person has really gone through the wringer of life, and what we’re hearing is all that adversity spilling out. It’s not that we’d ever wish such hardships on a person, only that if they’ve experienced it, we can feel it in their songs. Well, there’s no doubt that you can feel it in the songs on Charley Crockett’s new album, Welcome to Hard Times. The country musician has been through homelessness, felony stints, family addiction, and the struggle of being an independent artist. Even with all that behin...
Well, here’s a story that keeps getting worse. Lady A, formerly known as Lady Antebellum, is now suing Anita “Lady A” White, a Black blues singer who has been performing under the name for over 20 years, over the rights to her name. To recap, the country trio Lady A dropped the “ntebellum” from their name in June in response to the country’s ongoing reckoning with institutionalized and ingrained racism. Beyond the fact that the “A” essentially still stands for America’s pre-Civil War era, the switch drew criticism when it was revealed that White had been already been using the moniker for years. “For them to not even reach out is pure privilege,” the 61-year-old artist said at the time. A few days later, the band Lady A tweeted a picture of their video chat with the singer Lady A. “We are ...
Lady A, the country band formerly known as Lady Antebellum, is suing Anita “Lady A” White, a Black blues singer who has been performing under the name for over 20 years, over the rights to her moniker. Now, Anita White has issued a new statement to Pitchfork in response to that lawsuit. In the band’s most recent statement, Lady A said the decision to file a lawsuit stemmed from White “demanding a $10 million payment.” That money, as White later clarified, would be split in half to rebrand herself and to donate to organizations supporting Black independent artists — a tradeoff so that Lady Antebellum could keep the Lady A moniker. White is now doubling down in that request, saying, “I will not allow Lady Antebellum to obliterate me and my career so they can look ‘woke’ to their fans.” ...
Frank Lampard has said Wednesday’s loss to West Ham United is emblematic of Chelsea’s season. The Blues were downed 3-2 by the Premier League relegation battlers, a defeat which meant they missed the chance to moved into third. And speaking after the game, Lampard said the result was indicative of why his team were not challenging for the title. “It happens, it is the Premier League and if you make mistakes like we did, we dominated the game in terms of possession, but make mistakes and teams will hurt you,” said Lampard. “I’m not happy with any of the goals. You don’t get given victories for scoring two goals, you have to be better than that. “There were moments they counter-attacked, which we knew they would. There were details in the game which we knew but we lost because we didn’t get ...
Newly crowned Premier League champions Liverpool face being banned from playing their remaining home games at Anfield unless fans stop partying on the streets. The Reds joined Merseyside Police, the City Council and Mayor Joe Anderson in condemning some of their own supporters for “wholly unacceptable” behaviour, which “risked public safety” as thousands swarmed into the city centre to celebrate the end of their 30-year wait for a league title, despite repeated warnings over the spread of coronavirus. The iconic Liver Building was set on fire by a firework on Friday as fans ignored social-distancing rules and dropped tons of litter while celebrating. A joint statement from Liverpool, the police and the council said: “Several thousand people turned up at the Pier Head on Friday and some cho...
Kyle Meredith With… Marcus King Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public Marcus King calls into Kyle Meredith to speak about his new album, El Dorado. The South Carolina-born singer-songwriter discusses the album’s production by The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, leaving home for a life on the road, the loss of style and character, and finding a strong metaphor in old Cadillacs. He also talks about taking inspiration from Willie Nelson, his Grand Ole Opry debut, what Beatles song he listened to every morning before school, and singing about whiskey. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Fri...
Kyle Meredith With… Marcus King Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public Marcus King calls into Kyle Meredith to speak about his new album, El Dorado. The South Carolina-born singer-songwriter discusses the album’s production by The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, leaving home for a life on the road, the loss of style and character, and finding a strong metaphor in old Cadillacs. He also talks about taking inspiration from Willie Nelson, his Grand Ole Opry debut, what Beatles song he listened to every morning before school, and singing about whiskey. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Fri...
Lady A (aka Anita White), via YouTube, and Lady A (fka Lady Antebellum), via Instagram Yesterday, Grammy-winning country trio Lady Antebellum announced that they were changing their name to Lady A. They intended for the rebranding to distance themselves from the so-called Antebellum South, which is the period in the US before the Civil War ended slavery. But it turns out that black blues singer Anita White has been performing under the name Lady A for more than twenty years. In an interview with Rolling Stone, White said that neither the band nor their representatives reached out to her before making the change. “I’m not about to stop using my name.” she said. “For them to not even reach out is pure privilege. I’m not going to lay down and let this happen to me. But now the...
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has revealed how his former Blues’ teammate, Juan Mata, helped him win the 2012 UEFA Champions League. Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties in the final to win their first Champions League trophy eight years ago at the Allianz Arena. Thomas Mueller put the host in front with eight minutes left to the end of the match before Didier Drogba equalised for the Premier League giant following an assist from Mata as the encounter ended 1-1 after 120 minutes. “Eight years ago, the manager [Andre Villas-Boas] had been sacked by the club and we, the players, had a team meeting where we recognised being partly responsible for his departure,” Drogba wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night. “The captain @johnterry spoke, @franklampard @petrcech and other leaders in the ...
Fantastic Negrito has announced his new album Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? The follow-up to the Grammy-winning Please Don’t Be Dead arrives August 14th, and to promote it, the blues rocker ripped through a fiery performance of the lead single “Chocolate Samurai” on Colbert. Xavier Dphrepaulezz began his Late Show set alone, holding two kinds of tape — measuring and duct — and marking out six feet of distance for his band. For the concert, he wore a fuzzy bucket hat and what looked like a military uniform made out of the Bible’s coat of many colors. Fantastic Negrito has a powerful voice with an inimitable grind; he approaches the notes with the unstoppable force of a locomotive barreling down the tracks. Throughout “Chocolate Samurai” he strutted and danced, refus...
Jesper Gronkjaer is backing Hakim Ziyech to succeed after his £37 million ($43m) move from Ajax to Chelsea. The Blues completed a deal in late February and the 27-year-old is set to link up with his new team-mates on July 1, with the Eredivisie season cancelled amid the coronavirus outbreak. Ziyech will join a group including Filipe Luis, Bertrand Traore, Mario Melchiot, Winston Bogarde and Gronkjaer himself in making the switch to Stamford Bridge having played at the Amsterdam ArenA. Moving to the Premier League will prove a step up for Ziyech and Gronkjaer believes he is the star player from the Dutch side’s run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2018. “Ziyech was the one who has caught my eye over the past two seasons even though he wasn’t produced by Ajax’s academy,” Gronkjaer told...