Monday, March 17, 2025 – Jesse Colin Young, a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group The Youngbloods, died Sunday at 83 at his home in Aiken, S.C.
The Youngbloods were part of the Woodstock generation of bands and were best known for their song "Come Together."
Young was born Perry Miller on Nov. 22, 1941 and raised in Queens, New York. He decided while a student at New York University to drop out and pursue music full time. He changed his stage name to Jesse Colin Young as a blend of the names of outlaws Jesse James and Cole Younger, and Formula One design engineer and team owner Colin Chapman.
Young released several albums on his own.
Young met guitarist Jerry Corbitt, a folk singer from Cambridge, Mass. and formed a band as a duo, The group expanded with the inclusion of Corbitt's friend, Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and drummer Joe Bauer.
The Youngbnloods signed to RCA and released their debut single "Grizzly Bear" in 1966, and their debut, self-titled album in 1967.
That album contained "Get Together", written by Chet Powers, and was released as a single in 1967 to moderate success. That was not the end of the song, however. After its release as a public service commercial for the National Council of Christians and Jews was released in 1969, "Get Together" became an international hit.
After breaking up in 1972, Young started a solo career, releasing albums through Warner Bros. Records, including "Song for Juli" (1973), "Light Shine" (1974), "Songbird" (1975) and the live album "On the Road" (1976).
Young switched to Elektra Records and Cypress Records, in the 1980s before going the indie route with his own Ridgetop Music, in 1993.
Young was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease in 2012, and retired from music. He began performing again in 2016 with his son Tristan, releasing a new album, "Dreamers, in 2019 through BMG.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 – Suzanne Vega will release her first full-length album of new music in nearly a decade. "Flying With Angels" is due May 2 on Cooking Vinyl.
The record is produced by Vega’s longtime collaborator and guitarist Gerry Leonard. Flying With Angels is available for pre-order HERE.
“Each song on the album takes place in an atmosphere of struggle,” said Vega. “Struggle to survive, to speak, to dominate, to win, to escape, to help someone else, or just live.”
The new single “Speakers’ Corner” acknowledges the increasingly political nature of communication today, when the ability to speak one’s mind is easier than ever on social media, and yet that privilege is often misused.
Vega said, “That’s something you don’t want in democracy: the shutting down of the speakers’ corner where people get a say. This is a moment in time when people are saying a lot, but sometimes they’re not making sense or not telling the truth. People should be accountable for what they say. They can’t just lie. One would think that that would be self-evident.” The new single is accompanied by an animated lyric video directed by artist/animator Michael Arthur.
Vega's most recent release was "An Evening of New York Songs and Stories" from 2020, one of five live albums she has released. Her last studio disc was 2016's "Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers,"
Vega will tour throughout North America and Europe, performing an evening of career-spanning songs as well as showcasing material from the new album. Newly announced shows include New York’s Town Hall with special guests Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche as well as the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh. Vega and Leonard will be joined on stage by cellist Stephanie Winters.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 – Lucy Dacus will put out her fourth studio album, “Forever Is A Feeling,” on March 28 via Geffen Records.
The cover art is a painting of Dacus by visual artist Will St. John and contributors for the album include Hozier, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, Blake Mills, Bartees Strange, Madison Cunningham, Collin Pastore, Jake Finch and Melina Duterte.
Bridgers and Baker are members of boygenius with Dacus.
Dacus unveiled two new tracks, “Limerence” and “Ankles,” accompanied by a music video for “Ankles” which was filmed in Paris with a special guest performance from Havana Rose Liu. These two songs mark the first new music from Dacus since boygenius.
Dacus tour North America in April following her previously announced run of smaller venues in museums and special places in February. Support for the Spring dates comes from special guest Katie Gavin (of Muna) as well as jasmine.4.t. The sign-up for pre-sale access starts today at lucydac.us. Pre-sale for tickets begins Jan. 21 with public on sale beginning Jan. 24.
Dacus partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to providing relief and long-term recovery support for individuals, families, and communities impacted by the devastating LA wildfires via the PLUS1 LA Fires Fund.
Most of the songs on “Forever Is A Feeling” were written between fall 2022 and summer 2024. “I got kicked in the head with emotions,” said Dacus. “Falling in love, falling out of love.” She had to make peace with the price of the love she wanted. “You have to destroy things in order to create things. And I did destroy a really beautiful life.”
“You can’t actually capture forever,” Dacus said. “But I think we feel forever in moments. I don’t know how much time I’ve spent in forever, but I know I’ve visited.”
Tour dates are:
An Evening With Lucy Dacus (all dates are sold out)
Feb. 18 - St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church - Brooklyn
Feb. 20 - The Murphy Auditorium at the Driehaus Museum - Chicago
Feb. 22 - Legion of Honor - San Francisco
Feb. 24 - Secret Location GBD- Los Angeles
Forever Is A Feeling Tour
April 16 - The Met - Philadelphia, PA #
April 18 - The Anthem - Washington, DC #
April 21 - MGM Music Hall - Boston, MA #
April 23 - Radio City Music Hall - New York, NY #
April 25 - Massey Hall - Toronto, ON #
April 29 - Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN #
May 1 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL #
May 5 - Palace Theatre - St. Paul, MN #
May 7 - Midland - Kansas City, MI #
May 9 - Winspear Opera House - Dallas, TX #
May 10 - Moody Amphitheater - Austin, TX #
May 12 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Denver, CO #
May 14 - The Greek Theatre - Los Angeles, CA #
# with Katie Gavin and jasmine.4.t.