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The best, worst and megachurch-iest of Stagecoach Day 2

The best, worst and megachurch-iest of Stagecoach Day 2

Less than a week after Coachella concluded, the Stagecoach country music festival has drawn another crowd in the tens of thousands to the now mostly grassless Empire Polo Club in Indio. The three-day event kicked off Friday and will run through Sunday night with headliners Zach Bryan, Jelly Roll and Luke Combs. I'll be here all weekend to bring you the highs and the lows as they happen. Here's what went down on Day 2:
'This is officially the biggest show I've ever headlined in my career,' Jelly Roll said not long into his main-stage performance, and for him that presented an opportunity to do more than entertain: 'I never would have dreamed that God would've brought a boy from Tennessee to the desert of Southern California,' he added, his voice steadily rising like a pastor's, 'to lead us in church service on a Saturday night to heal the broken through the power of music.'
True to that framing, the face-tattooed rapper-turned-singer did plaintive versions of his songs 'Son of a Sinner' and 'I Am Not Okay' — both of which draw on his history with drugs and jail to tell stories of redemption — and brought out an actual worship leader, Brandon Lake, to sing his growly Christian-music crossover hit, 'Hard Fought Hallelujah.' The stage set resembled a gas station with a neon sign assuring us that Jesus saves — an oasis in the desert, in other words.
Jelly Roll made time for some more earthly pleasures: cameos from BigXthaPlug and Wiz Khalifa that reminded you of his hip-hop roots, and an appearance by MGK, who did his appealingly bratty pop-punk 'My Ex's Best Friend.' He also brought out Alex Warren to sing his gloopy ballad 'Ordinary' and to premiere a new duet between the two of them called 'Oh My Brother.' (Unfortunately, it sounded like Imagine Dragons.)
Jelly Roll finished his set with another faith-minded moment, welcoming Lana Del Rey to the stage to join him for 'Save Me' as simulated rain fell on the two of them. Del Rey's feathery croon was totally wrong for the song, which calls for an unembarrassed quality that's not part of her whole deal. But Jelly Roll looked so amped to have her out there that you were inclined — hey, what do you know — to forgive.
Saturday's big megachurch energy continued with Creed's late-night set in the Palomino tent, where singer Scott Stapp struck an assortment of messianic poses as his bandmates ground out the gospel-grunge riffs of 'One Last Breath' and 'Higher.' For the latter, Creed brought out the pop-soul star Tori Kelly — just one of the many millennials and zoomers who've kept Creed in business a quarter-century after the band's hit-making era.
Did you know that Lana Del Rey had made out with your pal Morgan Wallen, as she claimed in a song at Stagecoach on Friday night?Did she say so? Good for her.
Your girlfriend recently announced she's pregnant. If you could choose, what would be the first song your child hears?'Island in the Sun' by Weezer? I don't know. It's a good vibe.
You posted a photo the other day of you and Bailey Zimmerman hanging out at Billy Bob's in Texas. Bailey's drinking a Twisted Tea. Did you let him know that Twisted Tea is a disgusting drink?I honestly don't know what happened that night. We went to a bar, and I think his manager was like, 'Please don't go out with Koe.' Once we got offstage, it was sort of chaos — kind of black-out city. Twisted Tea, I'm not a big fan of it. But Bailey's young. I remember being that young and drinking it too — I can't hold it against him.
What's an adult beverage you've sworn off?I will never drink Rumple Minze ever again.
Last year, Jessie Murph said on TikTok that she'd been called a rat by some of your fans for appearing on your song 'High Road.' Then she directed them to the solo version you released and told them to go get their DUIs. What's your response?She's a bad bitch. Shout out to her. Everybody that was talking s—, go f— yourself.
You wrote songs for your album '9 Lives' with the songwriter Amy Allen, who also had a hand in Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short n' Sweet.' Are you into Sabrina's album?I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't in there jamming it. I'm a Sabrina fan.
Are you involved in a beef with another musician at the moment?I'm currently beefless. I think I'm pretty cool with everybody. If you hear different from somebody else, though, let me know — we'll fire it up for sure.
Last week you posted a photo from the studio. The best new song you've got so far — what's it about?We wrote a song about a serial killer the other day.
What's a tattoo you regret?'F— 2020' on my leg. I was super-drunk when I got it. I woke up the next morning, wiped the blood away and said, 'Well, that's there forever.'
Tiera Kennedy, dressed in an Aaliyah T-shirt for her second Stagecoach performance of the day, moving nimbly through SWV's always-welcome 'Weak.'
Ashley McBryde, on the main stage at sunset, nailing the haunted yet blissed-out vibe of Don Henley's 'The Boys of Summer.'
Playing Stagecoach as part of a tour behind last year's 'Passage du Desir' (which he released under the alter ego Johnny Blue Skies), Sturgill Simpson and his tight four-piece band offered up an hour of soulful boogie-rock jams that evoked the Allman Brothers backed by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Speaking of covers: In addition to William Bell's early-'60s soul staple 'You Don't Miss Your Water,' Simpson played a longing rendition of, uh, 'Party All the Time' by Eddie Murphy.
Like T-Pain on Friday, Shaboozey completed a rare Indio trifecta on Saturday, performing on Stagecoach's main stage after doing both weekends of Coachella. (Perhaps that's why he wore three bedazzled belts as part of his sharp denim suit.) The rap-fluent country star sang a moving rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door,' which he called one of his favorite songs of all time; brought out Sierra Ferrell to do 'Hail Mary'; and closed of course with 'A Bar Song (Tipsy),' his 2024 smash that spent 19 weeks atop Billboard's Hot 100 last year. Around the time of February's Grammy Awards, Shaboozey appeared to have tired — reasonably! — of 'Tipsy's' rootsy jollity. Here, though, he seemed reenergized by the thousands singing along.
One vivid demonstration of Stagecoach's evolution from the festival's early days: Scott Storch's appearance inside Diplo's HonkyTonk, where the producer and songwriter was introduced by his Don Julio-guzzling hype man as the guy who dated both Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Eyes hidden behind his signature aviators, Storch took up a spot behind a Korg Kronos synthesizer and played along with a handful of the slinky pop and R&B hits he helped create in the early 2000s — not least Justin Timberlake's 'Cry Me a River,' before which he very dramatically ripped a cig.
Help me parse the timeline in your viral hit 'Austin.' The narrator used to live in L.A., then moved to Austin and now is talking about moving back to L.A.?'Austin' is actually about Nashville, but Nashville had some s— rhymes, so we changed it to Austin. In the song, I had been in Nashville — Austin — was living in L.A., and I was moving back to Nashville. That was the whole storyline there. And the guy that I was talking to was in Nashville. Well, Austin.
Hmm. Is it true that things don't rhyme with Nashville?Cashville? Hashville?
Would you rather be 10% smarter or 10% funnier?Funnier. I feel pretty smart. But also: You have to be intelligent to be funny.
What's the last thing you used ChatGPT for?In the set today, I whip out a harmonica and play it, so we built a harmonica holster into my outfit — my ass-less chaps that are hanging over there. They were asking what the dimensions were, and I was like, 'How would I know?' But ChatGPT will know.
Throwback to your L.A. days: Ralphs or Vons?I'm more of a Trader Joe's girl.
Most hated freeway?The 10 is f—ing terrible.
Do you consider yourself a theater kid?Yes — a thespian, all the way.
Is 'theater kid' derogatory?People use it as an insult, but I think it's the biggest compliment. Before I go onstage, to everyone in my band and my dancers, I'm like, 'Broadway, guys — Broadway.' I channel my musical-theater self onstage, as if I'm playing myself in a musical-theater production.
What's a musical you'd like to be in but you haven't yet?I'm dying to play Sandy in 'Grease.'
How many unread text messages do you have?823.
Does anyone besides you know the passcode to your phone?I think my whole team does. I don't have anything to hide on there.
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Does 2025 Even Have a Song of Summer?

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Eric Meier (left) and Morgan Freeman (right) co-own Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, ... More Mississippi, partnering for this summer's launch of the 'Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience' concert tour Since 2001, actor and narrator Morgan Freeman has owned and operated Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, celebrating blues music in the birthplace of the artform. Located just about a mile from the infamous crossroads at the intersection of Highways 61 and 49, where lore has it that legendary bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil, Ground Zero showcases the sound of blues artists young - like 26 year old phenom Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram, who was born in Clarksdale - and old - Bobby Rush, 91. While he was born in Memphis, Tennessee, later moving to places like Chicago, Illinois and Gary, Indiana, Freeman was raised in Charleston, Mississippi, about an hour northwest of Clarksdale in the Mississippi Delta region, where he discovered blues music. 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This summer, Freeman traces the evolution of the blues as part of 'Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience,' a concert tour launching Friday, July 25, 2025 in San Francisco, California, crisscrossing North America into November. The show itself features a live symphony orchestra backing a blues band on stage in each market in addition to a visual component narrated by Freeman tracing the unique path of the blues as it moves north out of the Delta through places like Memphis and into Chicago, where it was first electrified, as well as its impact on rock and roll, influencing British Invasion acts like The Beatles and Rolling Stones. The 'Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience' concert tour launches July 25, 2025 in San ... More Francisco, running across North America into November 'This is kind of like any start up where you keep prototyping and piloting it but the general concept is remaining the same, which is, how do you take kind of the soulfulness and energy of blues music and pair it with kind of the refinement and gravitas of the symphony? It's super hard to do,' said Ground Zero president and co-owner Eric Meier. 'What is music about? Rhythms,' added Freeman. 'And classical music and blues music you're able to synthesize. By that, I mean you're able to bring the two together seamlessly. It's surprising how well it works.' On paper, adding blues to classical music doesn't necessarily add up. Blues is driven by improvisation whereas classical is a far more precise, exacting sound. But on stage it does, with the live orchestra providing a cinematic backdrop that helps Freeman drive the narrative. CLARKSDALE, MS - SEPTEMBER 23: Actor Morgan Freeman poses on the pool table at Ground Zero blues ... More club on September 23, 2005 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. (Photo by) Following pilot performances in Savannah, Georgia, Dublin, Ireland and Salzburg, Austria, the 'Symphonic Blues Experience' examines the roots of a distinctly American sound. 'Look, it's storytelling, right? It's emotion,' Meier explained. 'And we're very blessed to have our music director, Martin Gellner from Vienna,' he said, referencing the versatile composer who frequently collaborates with famed film score composer Hans Zimmer. 'But the beauty of what Morgan is doing is really providing that backdrop of this 100 year journey. And, obviously, we're doing some very cool photo imagery to accompany the storytelling that kind of helps you fill in the pieces,' Meier explained. 'When we did the Savannah venue, we didn't have that. Now we've started and I think it adds a lot of depth to the exercise and to the event,' Freeman concurred. 'You think of the symphony orchestra and you don't think of storytelling. It's just classical music. Now, with the blues, it's storytelling. Put those two together and I think what happens is that the blues is enhanced.' The legendary crossroads of highways 49 and 61 outside Clarksdake, Mississippi. In the juke joints ... More around Clarksdale, Mississippi, Robert Johnson was known as the kid who could barely play the guitar he often carried. Stories are told of musicians inviting Johnson to join them on stage, knowing that, before he got very far, the audience would be laughing. He disappeared for a while. When he returned, no one who heard him could believe he was the same man. He blew everyone away, playing the songs that would make him famous, among them "Cross Road Blues" and "Me and the Devil Blues." Rumours started and a myth was born: Johnson did a deal with the devil here at the crossroads of highways 49 and 61 and sold his soul in return for his musical abilities. | Location: Clarksdake, MS, USA. (Photo by Louis Quail/In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images) For Freeman, this tour is an opportunity not to portray the experience of another but to detail his own while examining the story of a sound closely aligned with American history, one which grew out of field hollers in the south at places like Dockery Plantation, 45 minutes from Ground Zero Blues Club, where future blues artists like Johnson, Charley Patton and Howlin' Wolf all worked. Reembracing the blues was born out of a move back to Mississippi, where Freeman still lives today. 'I was living in New York. And I began to get ill. Concrete buildings, tall buildings - you were living in a cave. And that just began to get to me very, very viscerally,' he began. 'On one of my trips back to visit my parents - I think it was 1986, might have been '83 - I realized that this was where I was most comfortable. Life was most agreeable for me,' said Freeman of making the move. 'And that realization made me decide with my then wife that we would make our home here in Mississippi. A little town of Charleston where I was until I was 6 and a half years old. It's sort of ancestral grounds. Well, Mississippi is anyway. But along with that came back this appreciation for the original music: and that's the blues.' In Clarksdale, 40% of residents live below the poverty line. But embracing its blues roots has begun to help revitalize the town, with places like the crossroads and Ground Zero standing as legitimate tourist attractions, hallowed ground boasting visits from legendary rockers like Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant. Kingfish was born there with contemporary blues artists like Ghalia Volt spending time there. Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod, who performs on stage as part of the 'Symphonic Blues Experience,' calls Clarksdale home and teaches music as part of the Delta Blues Museum's blues and education program. The Ground Zero Arts Foundation stands as the philanthropic arm of Freeman and Meier's club, with a portion of proceeds from the 'Symphonic Blues Experience' finding direct placement within the Clarksdale community, a critical element of the outing. 'It's essential,' said Meier. 'You look at Kingfish - clearly a child prodigy. But he learned his craft at the Delta Blues Museum and played on stage at our club at the ripe old age of 12 or 13. And people like Anthony Sherrod and others kind of helped teach him. If he didn't have that exposure, I would imagine he'd be living a very different life at this point,' he said. 'So, our goal is a portion of the proceeds. And we've got an album we're going to release and it's also to benefit the local artists through supportive services - which includes education. There's healthcare needs and just basic business planning. And we want to make sure that we're doing our best to support the artists and artist community.' While a sister location has operated in Biloxi, Mississippi since 2022, Ground Zero Blues Club's Clarksdale location will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. Successfully navigating COVID while supporting artists via a series of livestreams, the club thrives today as an economic driver in the Delta region. CLARKSDALE, MS - SEPTEMBER 23: Actor Morgan Freeman waits for his turn to shoot pool against local ... More musician James "Super Chikan" Johnson at Freeman's Ground Zero blues club. (Photo by) For Meier and Freeman, the goal at the heart of the 'Symphonic Blues Experience' tour was simple. 'The reason we're doing this is because it's hard to get to Clarksdale a little bit. So, we kind of said, 'We're gonna come to you.' And, fortunately, the symphony kind of becomes the vessel in which to tell the story of the blues here,' said Meier. 'Now I'm in the blues business at this late stage - partly because of just happening to be in the right place at the right time,' said Freeman with a smile. 'Bill Luckett and I were working on getting the restaurant started across the street from where we were working and saw a young couple of backpackers. And Bill, being the social maven that he was, went out to talk to them,' said the actor, citing Luckett, the former Clarksdale mayor who partnered in Ground Zero until his death in 2021. 'Well, they were obviously lost. And it turns out that they were looking for some place to hear blues music. They were in the Mississippi Delta in this storied place - well, we couldn't tell them. So, that was a catalyst,' he explained. 'It's all a music experience of America rooted in the blues,' said Morgan Freeman. 'I think it's absolutely a story of a people. And a lot of the music is anchored there,' he continued. 'You're listening to lament, sorrow, love lost, love won. Where am I going?' he explained. 'Put that to music and it's magic.'

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