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USA Today
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Patti Scialfa makes rare appearance at Linda Ronstadt tribute in Nashville
Bruce Springsteen's sweetheart and storied musician, Patti Scialfa, made a rare appearance this week. Scialfa, 71, was part of a star-studded tribute to Linda Ronstadt at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Alongside Trisha Yearwood and other singer-songwriter legends, Scialfa took the stage on July 22 for a spate of heartfelt performances. Springsteen's longtime wife and collaborator, and a member of the E Street Band, Scialfa sang "To Know Him Is to Love Him" and "Birds" with Yearwood and Emmylou Harris. Her set also included a duet of "Valerie" with Harris and "The Water Is Wide" with Yearwood, Harris, Rodney Crowell and James Taylor. The event was co-produced by Yearwood and the Country Music Hall of Fame, and was put on in connection with the museum's newest exhibition, "Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock." "I'm not exaggerating when I say that Linda Ronstadt is the reason I became a singer," Yearwood said, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. "Celebrating Linda and her fellow LA-based musicians alongside some of my biggest musical heroes is a lifelong dream come true for me." Scialfa, a New Jersey native, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer, in September, and her appearances and performances since have been sporadic. 'This affects my immune system, so I just have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go," said Scialfa in the 2024 documentary "Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band." "Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs onstage, and that's been a treat," she added. "That's the new normal for me right now, and I'm OK with that." Sciafa's last live performance was in April, when she took the stage to celebrate at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music's American Music Honors. Smokey Robinson, John Fogerty, Emmylou Harris, Tom Morello and Joe Ely, in absentia, were bestowed honors by Scialfa, Springsteen, Little Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren. For fans eager to hear from the red-headed songstress, The Yearwood and Friends Ronstadt salute was filmed and will be available next month on the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's website and YouTube channel.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
The Everly Brothers, shocking talents whose sound was usurped by the 1960s
Somewhere near the end of Barry Mazor's fascinating 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story,' the long-retired and increasingly frail Phil Everly finds himself at a concert by Rosanne Cash at the Country Music Hall of Fame's Ford Theater in 2009. Introducing the Boudleaux Bryant standard 'Love Hurts,' first made famous by the Everlys' incandescent version, Cash remarked that she had learned the song from Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. She didn't mention that their rendition was itself an inspired imitation of the Everlys' take. As so frequently happened, history had skipped a step and the Everly Brothers had been overlooked again. Spontaneously, Phil struggled up in his seat, hands held upright, his face wearing a wry 'Aren't you forgetting something?' expression. The audience, as if recovering from collective amnesia, burst into applause.
USA Today
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Dollywood is 40 years old, and Dolly Parton says it's time to visit
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Nine-to-five would probably be a vacation for Dolly Parton. The living legend is always juggling multiple projects. 'And why not?' Parton told USA TODAY. 'I've lived this life, and I'm going to keep living it as long as I can, and I'm going to make hay while the sun shines.' Her new musical 'Dolly: A True Original Musical' debuts in Nashville on Friday. That's also where she's featured in a special Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit through September. This winter, she'll return to Las Vegas for her first run of shows there in more than 30 years. And all year long, her namesake theme park, which she co-owns with Herschend, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Parton spoke to USA TODAY about Dollywood and other matters close to her heart earlier this park season. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. QUESTION: You dreamed of opening a theme park. What was your vision? Dolly Parton: When I first started getting successful, I used to think if I ever made it as big as I hoped to, then I (would) want to have my own theme park. I was just dreaming of having a wonderful place for people to come, have a good time, having all kinds of things to enjoy and providing jobs for my family and the kin folks around here and the good neighbors. And sure enough, we've got all that now. Of course we opened 40 years ago. It took a little while to get it all in the works, but it's more than I even imagined that it could be. When you have a dream, you gotta dream big, so I'm always dreaming big, but sometimes your dreams really take on a life of their own, and that's the way that it is with Dollywood. This is a wonderful part of the country to be in. We get a lot of tourists. I can't take credit for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They were drawing people for many years before we came – another reason that I knew this would be a good place to have a business like Dollywood. A lot of great people have worked really hard to make it what it is. And here we are 40 years later and it's just bigger and better every year. Dollywood's original dream team: They came for the summer and stayed 40 years What would you want folks around the country to know about Dollywood? DP: I want them to know they should get here and do whatever you gotta do to get here cause once you've been here, you're going to love it. Almost everybody that's been here, they always come back. Our slogan is (creating) memories worth repeating and love every moment. And we've had different slogans through the years like that, but I really think people just make beautiful memories here because there's something for every age group in the family. Even the teenagers can get their jollies, as they say, on the roller coasters and a lot of the things we have. Grandparents can love all the shopping, all the arts and crafts and the old mill and the glass blowing and so many wonderful things that couples can enjoy and the kids can enjoy, so they can meet up at one point or another during the day. You can bring the whole family and there's something for everybody to enjoy without being in each other's face all day. You've also got Splash Country and these world-class resorts and your dinner theater opportunities. You could have a whole week's vacation. DP: I am very proud of the businesses that we have over on the parkway. We have the Pirates Voyage. We have the Stampede and we have the Comedy Barn. We have so many things, like the Hatfields and McCoys and all the fun things (outside) the park. But here in the (resort) we have, as you mentioned, Splash Country; people love that. We open early in May, and we go through until September when the weather starts to cool off. We just have something for everybody in this whole area. Plus, not to be selfish with just my own, but there's so many great businesses around here, so many great things for people to see. This, to me, is sincerely one of the greatest places that anyone could visit. This part of the country, right here in Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg, and in this general area, there's just so much. You're the Dreamer in Chief here. Can you tell us a little bit about that? DP: Well, we all get together and we kind of brainstorm, thinking about how well we've done with certain things and how much better this did than that and what we don't need to do again. And then we think, 'Oh, we need to really expand on this idea.' And so out of the great people that have great minds, we come up with great things. Sometimes I'll come up with an idea and it's not always great, but they'll take that and we can incorporate that into something else in the park. For instance, the restaurants, we even theme a lot of our meals based on things that I've talked about, about my own childhood, like stone soup ... My mom used to make that. We all felt special because we thought that stone made it twice as good as what it was, only because of Mama's stories and she was a good cook. But we try to have little things that really connect people to me as much as we possibly can, stories that I've told, songs that I've written, memories that I've had, talking about the people in the community. We try to have little links to kind of connect that chain that goes all the way through any and all the businesses that we have. Over the past 40 years, you've done so much through the park. What are you most proud of? DP: Well, I'm proud of all of it. I'm proud of the whole idea that it was a big dream and it came true. That's a lot to be proud of. I'm proud of all the things we have, but I'm extremely proud of the Imagination Library, which is our Dollywood Foundation, and we do a lot of giving. We do a lot of things through that, and the Imagination Library is one of the things I'm proudest of anything I've done, even outside the park, just my whole career in general. That's a very warm, loving, emotional thing for me to think that I'm the book lady and that I've done something for the little kids, because being from a big family, I have a special love for children. There are eight kids younger than me in my family. I have a sister and two older brothers, but there's just something about young kids. They're the future. They're the ones that's going to be going on after us, and so I think if you can give them a head start, a little chance of any kind in their early years and their most impressionable years, that's a good thing. A lot of theme parks try to make you feel like you're in one place or another, but Dollywood really showcases the Smokies. What was the intention behind that? DP: Well, we wanted to try to keep as much of the Smoky Mountains and all the nature that we can. It always breaks your heart when you're going to have to build something. You have to cut down a tree or bushes or uproot this or that. But we've tried very hard to work around as much nature as we can rather than just mowing it down and just scooting it off a mountain somewhere or off a bank. We try to work around nature, and we try to keep as much as we can. We have all the beautiful flowers all over the park. I think it's one of the prettiest parks ever. You'd have to agree, right? I mean, when you walk around, there's trees and bushes and flowers everywhere, and we love that. So, we want to keep as much of the Smokies and that attitude and that feeling, because I'm a mountain girl and I think people know all that and they would expect that of me as well. Mountain people are also very important to you. For those who haven't been here, how would you describe the warmth and hospitality of the people? DP: There's just something about Southern people in general – they call that the Southern hospitality – but there's something even more than that about mountain people, people that are in the hills 'cause most of them grew up hard, so they have an appreciation and understanding of all people. There's just a warmth and a depth and a knowing in mountain people, I think. And they welcome you because most of them are from big families. Most of them take their own kinfolk in like that, so it's just almost like everybody's a friend, everybody's a family member. I know myself, when I do shows, I look out at my audience. I can see somebody I know in every person out there. Somebody reminds me of Uncle So-and-so. That looks just like my sister Stella. Oh, that person looks like Uncle Fred, so I kind of feel that warmth and I play to those people, so I'm always home wherever I'm at. And I think people go away from here, when they've been here, they think, 'Wow, that's just like we're having to leave some kin folks that we really like. Can't wait to go back next summer and spend our summer vacation out on the farm with the Partons and the Owenses.' So many people want to connect with you, and they have some other ways to do so around the country coming up DP: Come and be part of it and enjoy it. I'm very proud of my life story as a musical. We're going to open that in Nashville. We're actually doing previews in July and August. Then we go to New York, and we'll be opening on Broadway sometime next year, along with the (Nashville) hotel. I'm very excited about that and my museum (exhibit). And I have a new book coming out called 'Star of the Show.' It's about my life on stage and on the road, and so there's this whole lot of stuff going on. As much as I can do while I'm living, I'm going to try to get it done.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Kenny Chesney Scores 20 New Single Certifications At Once
Kenny Chesney earns 20 new RIAA certifications, including five-times platinum honors for 'American ... More Kids' and No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems. NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - NOVEMBER 21: Kenny Chesney performs onstage for the 2021 Medallion Ceremony, celebrating the Induction of the Class of 2020 at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on November 21, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo byfor Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum) Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Kenny Chesney has been a superstar in the country music world for decades at this point. He has produced more hit songs than most artists can hope for, and throughout the years, the singer-songwriter has moved tens of millions of both albums and songs in the United States. Recently, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified a massive number of Chesney's tunes. Some tracks earned their first honors, while others advanced and now rank among his most successful. 20 different songs by Chesney were recently certified by the RIAA, including those that went gold for the first time, as well as several that advanced to multi-platinum status. The music industry organization certified that another 16 million singles by the country artist have been shifted in the U.S. — a sum that includes both pure purchases and streaming activity, which the RIAA adopted into its methodology some years ago. Three tracks snag their first gold certifications, as 'Bar at the End of the World,' 'Til It's Gone,' and 'I Lost It' have all moved half a million units each. Five tunes jumped from gold to platinum status, which signifies another 500,000 copies moved. 'Everything's Gonna Be Alright,' 'Knowing You,' 'She's Got It All,' 'Me and You,' and 'Young' all double their total number of copies shifted in the country. Another dozen compositions added new platinum certifications, as all of them had previously reached that milestone, which is reached when a tune or album moves one million equivalent units. Five tracks doubled from platinum to double platinum. An equal number pushed from double platinum to triple platinum. One song advanced from triple platinum to quadruple platinum, while 'American Kids' is now a five-times platinum smash in the U.S. Just two of Chesney's albums also received new certifications from the RIAA. The Road and the Radio is now a quadruple platinum success, while No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems advances from four-times platinum to five-times platinum, a huge win for any country artist.
Los Angeles Times
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Ray Stevens shares update after minor heart attack: ‘Everything is still beautiful!'
Singer Ray Stevens has shared his first update since being admitted to the hospital on July 4 for surgery. According to his Instagram, the 86-year-old has been moved out of intensive care and is continuing to recover. 'Ray is out of ICU and beginning to walk the halls as therapy with a nurse's assistance as he is working towards recovering from this surgery,' the post from Wednesday reads. 'Ray is very grateful for all of the cards and get-well messages. Everything is Still Beautiful!!!!' The last line is a reference to one of Stevens' best-known songs, the Grammy Award-winning 'Everything Is Beautiful.' In a previous statement provided to People magazine, representatives of Stevens said he was recovering after a 'minimally invasive heart surgery' on Monday. On July 4, he went to a Nashville hospital after experiencing chest pain. Following a heart catheterization, Stevens was informed that he had suffered a minor heart attack. A subsequent surgery was carried out successfully. Though the two-time Grammy winner's upcoming performances at his CabaRay Showroom in Nashville have been canceled, fans are just happy to hear he is OK. 'This is the good news I was waiting for,' one Instagram user commented under the update. Another rejoiced, saying it was 'great news in a world of such sadness and loss recently.' Stevens has had a successful music career, cutting his first top 10 pop hit, 'Ahab the Arab,' in 1962. The singer has recorded 45 albums, according to his website, won two Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019. Following the induction, Stevens was asked whether he would be retiring anytime soon. 'I feel fine; I'll probably keel over after I hang up the phone,' he joked. In 2024, he announced he would be hanging up his boots — only to change his mind a year later with the release of a new album, 'Say Whut?' 'Although I said earlier that last year was going to be my final year at the CabaRay … I'm kind of going back on that because I want to promote this album,' he told NewsChannel 5 Nashville.
