Debbie Gibson has a soft spot for fellow former teen pop star Britney Spears.
The “Only in My Dreams” singer, 52, shared that she wants nothing but the best for Spears, who has experienced years of upheaval, including being put under a 13-year conservatorship that ended last year.
“It’s very easy to kind of mock her social media posts,” Gibson told Page Six. “But I see somebody who is joyful and just dying to get out of that bubble. She’s a natural performer, so if she has to perform in her living room, on social media, that’s what she’s going to do.”
While Spears can often be found posting videos of herself dancing at home, Gibson says she’s hopeful the “Stronger” singer will make her way back to performing live for her millions of fans one day soon.
“I hope she finds her stage again,” Gibson said.
Gibson, who skyrocketed to fame in the ’80s as a teen pop star with songs like “Foolish Beat” and “Shake Your Love,” credits her protective parents with keeping her safe during her days of music superstardom. Gibson’s mom, the late music manager Diane Gibson, shielded her daughter from the darker side of the industry.
“I jokingly but not jokingly say she literally threw her body in front of anybody that was out to cause me any kind of harm, and she prevented any sort of #MeToo situation from happening,” Gibson continued. “It didn’t always get her brownie points but got her a lot of respect, and it protected me. So, I’m really lucky that I had protective parents that didn’t want anything from me but for me to turn out sane and happy and healthy.”
While her mom died in January of this year, Gibson still has a strong relationship with her father, with whom she’s very close. The duo even take to Instagram together on occasion for live videos.
“I’m very lucky because I had my mom and my dad. I spoke to my dad last night, and he is one of my favorite people in the world, and I have a great relationship with him,” said Gibson, carefully alluding to the troubled relationship between Britney and her father, Jamie Spears, who placed his daughter under a conservatorship back in 2008.
Following her mother’s death back in January, Gibson shared an emotional Instagram essay about how her mom managed to skyrocket her daughter to teen superstardom without extensive knowledge of the music industry.
“Diane loved fiercely, protected those she cared about with every fiber of her being, and with no college education and no showbiz connections went on to become a bold and groundbreaking music manager in what was a man’s world,” she wrote. “Self-taught and street smart, a force of nature and the OG ‘Momager,’ guided by her intuition, love of music, and the desire to help see my vision to its fullest potential, she stopped at nothing to help get my music heard leaving an undeniable mark on the world and its cultural landscape. I quite literally couldn’t have done any of this without her.”
Gibson stated that the key to her relationship with her mom was that Diane’s focus remained on her daughter at all times.
“She did not care about her reputation as much as she cared about me turning out sane and healthy. We went through all the ups and downs and twists and turns of a true partnership but our relationship landed at the most loving and lovely juncture,” she wrote.
As noted in our Best TV Shows list, there was just a lot of television in 2022. It’s so, so easy for great work to get lost in the relentless churn of new streaming content, even as reality programming bends us ever closer to the “30 Rock” universe. It’s even easier for great musical work to get lost on television, where scores are able to have an ambition and originality the rest of a legacy IP production might lack, or to embrace experimental elements viewers may not even notice while they’re watching a conventional-looking scene. We double-checked that film legends John Williams and Howard Shore came to TV to score themes this year, because it feels like a million years ago already now.
Speaking of legacies, Ramin Djawadi and Siddhartha Khosla pushed the boundaries of some of the most iconic recent scores on television even as “The House of the Dragon” and “Only Murders in the Building” continued to lean on memorable old themes. Newer thrillers like “The Resort” and “1899” mined great tension and atmosphere out of their scores, even if they never reached the cultural earworm heights that “Stranger Things” ran up that hill this year. There are hidden sonic gems all over the TV landscape, from documentary to comedy to even true crime. Whether they distinguished themselves for their sheer emotive power, originality in instrumentation and rhythm, or their collaboration and integration with the drama of their series, it might be the biggest compliment we can pay the scores that made our Top 10 list this year that they are first among many, many equals.
10. Gaslit (Mac Quayle)
“Gaslit” has a bunch of tricky tones it needs to hit all at once: it’s a political thriller about one of the most told stories in American politics, a commentary on power itself, a darkly funny comedy, a Julia Roberts performance vehicle, and probably the most stressful story about a cat on TV this year. What on Earth does all of that sound like together? Well, it sounds like Mac Quayle’s score, which blends twisting strings and flutes with more full orchestrations that can make the events onscreen look either demonic or ridiculous or, sometimes, both at once. More than tying music to any one character, Quayle ties the score to Nixon’s Washington D.C., with all its ostentation with rot at its core; he builds and breaks musical refrains with the glee of a child knocking over a block tower and blows the sound up big only to have a solo piano cut through it like a knife. The music of “Gaslit” perfectly captures the twists and turns of the show’s story and creates a sonic environment to match the wood-paneled rooms where idiot men thought they could get away with anything. —Sarah Shachat
9. “Severance” (Theodore Shapiro)
There’s a very unnerving marriage of ticking percussion and electric drones and delicate piano running throughout the “Severance” score, but generating unease isn’t the beginning or the end of what composer Theodore Shapiro is able to achieve with the music or the show. The world of “Severance” is an unnervingly layered puzzle box of corporate dread, and Shapiro built a score that is, paradoxically, ambitious in its restraint. The show’s central theme obsessively recurs in fits and starts and variations, giving us a musical window into how inescapable and dense the reach of Lumon is and perhaps also a sense that our characters’ experiences as both their “innie” and “outie” selves, in and out of work, is connected in ways none of us understand. Because Shapiro is operating within a very confined musical space, too, listeners are able to track small changes in the music and give them the force of a giant key or instrumental change. Each time Shapiro frays, distorts, and reframes the show’s core musical idea prompts the viewer to lean just a little bit closer to the screen and get sucked a little bit deeper into the mystery. He’s also able to fold some of the characters’ tenderness towards each other into the repeating piano chords, too, and that hope that a theme will be able to break free and realize its fullest expression ramps up the tension and makes the inevitable wrong note all the more heartbreaking. —SS
8. “Interview with the Vampire” (Daniel Hart)
“Operatic” is a descriptor you truly have to earn. In setting an immortal and doomed love story to music, Daniel Hart’s violin-heavy “Interview with the Vampire” score arpeggiates its way into the infinite. Vampire tales, especially through Anne Rice’s conception and the series interpretation, are a blend of tragedy and romance. Hart provides both. The aggressive bowing and dissonant piano melodies give way to graceful, lush lines of discovery. You can feel the thrill and despair of Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) as he discovers what his new life brings with it. Much like Louis savors the riches of a New Orleans evening while facing the burden of forever, Hart can tiptoe his way between something full and fierce and a haunting music-box feel. Expect nothing less from a show that turns the simple idea of tuning into its own knowing, transgressive act. —SG
7. “Rings of Power” (Bear McCreary)
Howard Shore may have penned the title theme for Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” prequel, but it’s composer Bear McCreary who makes the world of “The Rings of Power” so musically rich and inviting. The score is a force of nature unto itself, whether McCreary is scoring the first eruption of Mount Doom or finding a musical way to convey the call of Paradise. But what makes the “Rings of Power” score so exceptional is the way that McCreary organizes it to convey storytelling and character information. The show uses score not just to differentiate the many realms of Middle Earth’s second age, but also to subtly position how the main characters fit (or don’t fit) within them. The instrumental, choral, rhythmic, and temperature choices that McCreary makes for elves, men, dwarves, halflings, and TBD magical entities are so clear you can close your eyes and listen to the tracks on the score that underlie big moments of action and understand the dynamics at play without needing to see a thing. That would be accomplishment enough. But McCreary composes with a wonderful awareness of the work of his predecessor, never copying but sort of reverse engineering the sounds that would, a couple thousand years of story later, lead the Celtic strings of the nomadic Harfoots to sound a lot more like the county fair fiddles of the Hobbits of the Shire. The score achieves exactly the impossible feat the series sets out for itself: to sound both completely new and exactly like the Middle Earth we remember. —SS
6. “The Baby” (Lucrecia Dalt)
When you’re dealing with a show about a little tiny toddler who may or may not have come from Hell itself, you need some music that really sells that idea. There are a few classic horror story signifiers here, but Lucrecia Dalt also whips up what sounds like fragments from other works trying to worm their way into what the audience hears. Drum fills with clanking bottles? Bass-heavy thrums that could fill a giant oil tanker? Tiny synth patterns that bore right into your frontal lobe? Is that a harmonica or an airy saxophone or someone trying to control your brain? Dalt moves back and forth between all of these ideas with ease. She also weaves in some otherworldly humming and breathing, sometimes layered as if the singers themselves were using their vocal cords like the found percussion items peppered in everywhere else. (The closest “The Baby” has to a featured melody is a simple rhythmic breathing that lies somewhere between heartbeat and ancient curse.) Dispensed in shorter bursts in the overall flow of the Sky/HBO series, every new piece has the kind of destabilizing effect you want for a show that straddles genres, decades, and maybe even dimensions. It’s a whirlwind, it’s an attack, it’s a symphony. —SG
5. “Better Call Saul” (Dave Porter)
Over almost a decade and a half, Dave Porter has honed the own sound of Albuquerque. Through anger and evil and heartache, as the main characters in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” have done the unforgivable, Porter has been right there with an industrial grittiness to back it up. The final “Saul” season had plenty of that, but like so many other artisans who’ve worked in this universe for that long, Season 6 was an ideal chance to pull out all the stops. To the usual arsenal of heavy guitar fuzz, versatile drum samples, and ambient synthscapes, Porter brought in some “Terminator”-style firepower for the series’ unstoppable forces. When the show made a wintry move to a black-and-white hideaway, there was the composer showing off his gentler, sneakier side too. Dense, layered, and propulsive, Porter’s series-long work adds up to a vibe that few would ever think to bring to these sprawling personal tragedies. And it’s impossible to imagine this show’s twists and turns sounding any other way. —Steve Greene
4. “Pachinko” (Nico Muhly)
Nico Muhly is mostly a classical composer and his approach to the music on “Pachinko” is correspondingly timeless, bound up in rich strings, piano, and choral work. But Muhly’s choices fit perfectly with a family saga spanning three countries and three generations, where what connects the story of young Sunja (Minha Kim) all the way to her grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) is the emotional longing for more, for a better life. This is a Romantic score with a capital “R” and a quasi-chamber music feel, creating a structured sound that compliments the visual ways directors Kogonada and Justin Chon achieve intimacy with their compositions. Muhly’s music is never overemphasizing what we can see and always instead adding another dimension to it. The themes composed for Sunja find ways to expand and echo out across time with a wistfulness and not a little bit of heartbreak, but there’s an underlying strength to them, too, and a conscious beauty that matches the Korea she eventually leaves behind. The result is, simply, one of the most gorgeous scores of the year. —SS
3. “Candy” (Ariel Marx)
All it takes is three chords at the end of the opening credits sequence to sell you completely on this bewitching score from Ariel Marx. In lesser hands, the sound for this Hulu whydunit would come off as ironic or tasteless, with fairy-tale flutes and mallet percussion making an obvious contrast to the haunting, real-life murder story at the heart of the series. But Marx manages to blend the feel of an unassuming North Texas coziness with the very real trauma of an entire town processing a senseless death. It’s a magical sound with decay all around the edges, a trick she also manages to pull off in her work on “A Friend of the Family.” When paired with the sing-song patter of church mothers and secret afternoon trysts, it becomes the musical equivalent of the peppermint circle Candy herself hands out: seemingly sweet on its own, but with some extra added pangs in context. —SG
2. “Andor” (Nicholas Britell)
Few shows were more musically ambitious or more richly rewarding this year than “Andor.” Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) adopted homeworld of Ferrix has innate musical characteristics to it, which series creator Tony Gilroy and composer Nicholas Britell needed to hammer out well before shooting started. That early work helped Britell come up with a score that advances the musical language of “Star Wars” just as much as Gilroy’s story richly fills out the evils of the Empire. “Andor” dips into synths and trap sets, experiments with mixing in the metal and hammers of Ferrix, and the events of the Season 1 finale turn on the arrival of a second line that has the same achingly perfect out-of-tune sound as its New Orleans counterparts. But when Britell crafts thematic material for Cassian, it conveys just as much longing and wonder as John Williams was able to imbue into Tatoonie’s binary sunsets. If there’s a little bit more sadness and a little bit more anger and a little bit more cello in “Andor,” well, that’s only fitting for how this story will end. But Britell’s music proves there are thrills to be found in corners of the galaxy untouched by Jedi or Mandalorians, and that the undercover agents of the nascent rebellion can be just as breathtaking and heroic as the sunrise we know they’ll never see. —SS
1. “The English” (Federico Jusid)
Hugo Blick’s Prime Video series doesn’t so much revise the Western as much as it frays its edges and somehow, Federico Jusid finds that same tension between expectation and execution. “The English” is yet another series with a pitch-perfect opening theme woven through the episodes that follow, stirring when it first pops up again and gutting when it’s brought back in an altered form later in the series. It’s fitting for a show that thrives on a specific mix of beauty and brutality. Where the story itself often feels dominated by the latter, Jusid provides a kind of counterbalance. There’s a gentle yearning in the show’s quieter moments, particularly as Cornelia (Emily Blunt) and Eli (Chaske Spencer) struggle to find the words for what they come to mean to each other. Jusid fills in those unspoken gaps, but not just with the grand sweeping orchestral language you might expect. The melody of their love story is filled with starts and stops, like the rocky terrain that often stretches out in front of them. There’s an elegance here in those quiet heart-to-hearts and even in the show’s more violent moments. It wouldn’t feel out of place in the classics of Hollywood past, yet Jusid’s work here feels inextricably linked to this different conception of what was lost in the West rather than won. —SG
Bonus track: “Station Eleven”
We cannot order programming slates to slow down any more than we can order the tide to go out, but what we can do — because it’s our list — is issue an Emeritus pick and honor a score that we simply refuse to forget about. The arrival of HBO’s “Station Eleven” at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 couldn’t have been timelier even if some viewers maybe didn’t feel emotionally ready for a show that deals with the aftermath of a deadly global pandemic in the middle of the Omicron winter. But the show is as worth discovering now as it will be 10 and 20 years from now, because “Station Eleven” isn’t some cruel-edged, post-apocalyptic tragedy. There is tragedy, and also “Hamlet,” but “Station Eleven” is about hope and art and connection and comic books; and nothing in the world could be warmer, kinder, or more heartfelt than composer Dan Romer’s music for the series.
There’s an unfussy, lo-fi, homespun quality to much of Romer’s work that perfectly matches the handmade aesthetic of the show’s nomadic theater company, The Traveling Symphony; and yet the score can rocket into pure orchestral beauty, conveying meaning across timelines and storylines, life and death, shared pain and love, in moments where words and images alone aren’t enough. Romer’s music acts as the emotional glue that makes the show’s jumps across time so potent, and the score includes some fun original compositions by Romer and series creator Patrick Somerville, and a baller cover of “Midnight Train To Georgia” besides. Only three of the show’s ten episodes came out in 2022, but they contain some of the Romer’s (and the show’s) most vital work, including the finale that brings all the disparate focuses of “Station Eleven” together in multiple moments that would not work without Romer’s themes acting as an unseen scene partner. We must add it to the wheel before we move on. —SS
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The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is set to perform a historic concert at the Emirates Palace Auditorium in Abu Dhabi on December 20 at 8PM, marking its first performance in the Mena region in over 80 years.
Presented by Abu Dhabi Classics, an initiative of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra will give a one-time-only appearance and perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 1.
Written between 1884 and 1888, the symphony was inspired by the works of the German romantic period and imagines in music the possibility of a noble and heroic life. For this special gala concert, the orchestra will also perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 23 (in A major).
Founded in 1936 by violinist Bronisław Huberman, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the most renowned orchestras in the world. The orchestra has toured the world and played with the greatest performers in classical music including Valery Gergiev, Daniel Barenboim, Radu Lupu, Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, Gustavo Dudamel, Evgeny Kissin, Kurt Masur and his son Ken-David, Mischa Maisky, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Yefim Bronfman, Maxim Vengerov, Murray Perahia and Yuja Wang.
Since 2020, the orchestra has been playing under the artistic direction of star conductor Lahav Shani, who rose to fame as Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and is also going to conduct the historical performance this time in Abu Dhabi. Shani is notably the orchestra’s first native Israeli director.
This historic performance by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is adding to Abu Dhabi’s tradition of creating unique high-level artistic events for the Gulf region. G42, the first UAE entity to open offices in Israel, is privileged to host this monumental event as its main sponsor, which speaks for the blossoming relationship of the UAE and Israel, as the two countries continue to find common ground and commonalities in their cultures.
Standing at the intersection of technology and arts, G42, the leading UAE-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing technology company and Main Sponsor of this event, strives to explore the possibilities and push boundaries of bolstering the creativity of artists and enhancing the present and future of music and arts by harnessing the power of AI and technology. In this challenging world, music brings people together, making this concert a unifying event between Israel and Arab countries, and G42 is proud to support artistic performances like the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra which have been instrumental in shaping the future of classical music, arts and beyond.
Capturing the euphoria in the moment where affection turns to obsession, the independent Czech songwriter, DJ and producer Goshok let the evocative floodgates open in his entrancing EDM mix, On My Mind.
Never one to pigeonhole himself under the EDM umbrella, the Dance music producer gives himself free rein to experiment and amalgamate elements from other subgenres, and that more than shows in the naturally powerful progressions in On My Mind.
The arrestingly ardent single pulls you safely through the heart-in-mouth drops and the tension-fraught build-ups that leave you in galvanised anticipation for the stylishly produced beat to drop. If you want to hear an artist at the top of their game, hit play.
On My Mind was officially released on December 9th. Check it out on Spotify and SoundCloud.
And last year…well you can probably already guess that, for the fifth year straight, there was an appearance from Florida Georgia Line on the list. There may have been trouble in paradise with the duo, but they still managed to drop the ear-splitting “New Truck.” Kane Brown also made his second straight appearance with “One Mississippi.” And then there was the most WTF moment of the year: “Where the Country Girls At” by the head-scratching trio of Luke Bryan, Trace Adkins and…Pitbull.
The Three Worst “Country” Songs Of 2021
Which brings us to 2022.
Overall, it’s been a pretty good year for country music. The pendulum has definitely swung back towards more traditional country, Zach Bryan dropped approx. 482 new songs, and the music coming out of Appalachia is some of the best country music we’ve heard in a long, long time.
But enough about the good. That’s for another article.
Let’s talk about the bad – because there was plenty of bad too.
Now of course this year brought us songs like that nails-on-a-chalkboard remix of George Strait’s “Carrying Your Love With Me” from TikTok rapper David Morris. But we kept our list to only singles that actually made an appearance on the mainstream charts this year, because otherwise we’d be getting into more obscure shit that nobody heard anyway.
So without further ado, here’s the worst of the worst from 2022:
Honorable Mention: “Ain’t Enough Cowboy” – Jason Aldean
This song was just an album cut, but it still got attention for being so f*cking terrible, so I felt like I had to mention it. Jason Aldean for some reason decided to go full T-Pain with the autotune, while singing a song about how he doesn’t have enough “cowboy” in him to keep himself from running back to a bad relationship.
Pro-tip here for Jason: We can all tell there “ain’t enough cowboy” in you. Cowboys don’t use this much autotune.
And now on to the “top” three:
3. “Y’all Life” – Walker Hayes
Walker Hayes won the fan-voted worst song last year with (of course) “Fancy Like” after the entire world was bombarded with that damn Applebee’s song.
But this year he moves onto our list with “Y’all Life.”
Now at this point it seems like Walker’s found his sound – and by that I mean all of his songs sound pretty similar – but the lyrics for “Y’all Life” are just all-time terrible.
“Turn that bass up, shawty show ’em how Y’all we raise up, and y’all, we goin’ down, down, baby Your street in my Bronco I’ma talk to ya real slow Said where the crawdads crawl Said living that y’all life”
Dafuq does that even mean? Is this supposed to be some ode to living in the country? While simultaneously ripping off Nelly’s “Country Grammar?”
Whatever it’s supposed to mean, it’s just all around tough to listen to.
Walker’s a great guy, but it seems like at this point he’s found what works for him… and found a recurring spot on our list of the worst songs of the year.
2. “Party Mode” – Dustin Lynch
We’ve said it a million times…bring back the “Cowboys and Angels” Dustin Lynch.
Unfortunately that ship has long since sailed, and Dustin has taken a different path – one that’s led us to songs like “Party Mode,” which sounds like it was straight out of 2014.
But what really did it for me was his interview from the Tennessean where Dustin says that they spent “weeks” working on the lyrics to this one…
“We reworked and tweaked the lyrics and melody on that one for a few weeks and got it to the point where- we had a signature riff, and the hooks sounded like a hit to us.”
So what was the end result of those weeks of work? Let’s go to the lyrics…
“Party mode, party mode, party mode That’s how it goes, how it goes, how it goes Neon lights, honky-tonks ’til they close Party mode, party mode, party mode”
Time well spent. A masterpiece that would rival some of the poetry of guys like Tyler Childers and John Prine.
And all of those weeks of work paid off, because it landed the song a spot on our list of the worst songs of 2022.
1. “Rolex On A Redneck” – Brantley Gilbert ft. Jason Aldean
The worst song of the year unquestionably has to be “Rolex On a Redneck” by Brantley Gilbert and Jason Aldean. Not only does it have the trap beats and “hick hop” sound that I thought we had left back in the bro-country era, but my God, the lyrics are just cringeworthy.
It’s supposed to be a blue collar anthem about how if you work hard you can buy nice things like… Rolexes and Yeti coolers. But then you get ridiculous lines about “giving the good Lord his 10%” and if you do “it’ll do what it does,” which apparently means if you give money to your church you’ll be able to afford a Rolex.
That’s some Joel Osteen-type gospel right there…
And the chorus isn’t much better:
“It can put a Rolex on a redneck It can put some inches on your big block Chevy It can put a Yeti on your back deck, slap-full of long necks Camo on your brand new Benelli Yeah, it can put some pearl on your snap, some gator on your boots Girl on your lap ’cause your paper’s to the roof This turnin’ dirt life might not put a milli on a paycheck, but It can put on a Rollie on a redneck”
Yikes.
The song was actually written by some pretty talented songwriters: Guys like Randy Montana, Hardy, and Taylor Phillips, who also wrote “Hurricane” with Luke Combs.
But when you start writing lines about how all it takes is “paper to the roof” to get girls on your lap, that’s enough to land even the best songwriters on our list of the worst songs of the year.
So there you have it. But if you need a palate cleanser after that, we’ve also got our annual Best Albums coming soon.
Because thankfully, the rest of 2022 wasn’t as bad as these songs.
Twelve students sat in a downtown Phoenix classroom talking among themselves while three Phoenix Symphony musicians set up their instruments and readied to teach a lesson related to music theory at Hope Academy High School.
As the musicians began playing “Winter Wonderland,” the students stopped their conversations to listen.
After the performance, Tessa Gotman Bock, second violin for the Phoenix Symphony, began a lesson — about math. Gotman Bock explained the mathematical order of operations and how it is similar to the composition of a song. The lesson is part of the Phoenix Symphony’s Mind Over Music program, which started in 2015 with the goal of having teachers and Phoenix Symphony musicians collaborate to incorporate music into science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
After the lecture, the musicians started a hands-on activity with the students. The students were instructed to arrange shuffled pieces of a song into the correct order. The musicians Michael and Dian D’Avanzo, along with Gotman Bock, helped the students along the way.
Since its launch, Mind Over Music has served Phoenix schools at all grade levels with significant low-income student populations. Hope Academy High School only has about 80 students on its campus, which helps create a more personalized learning environment. The musicians participating in Mind Over Music visit the school regularly and develop relationships with the students they teach.
The school is overseen by the Maricopa County Regional School District and has a student body ranging in age from 14 to 21. Hope Academy is an accommodation school, meaning it serves students who may not have a home address, may be without shelter or have been suspended from another public school.
“This whole job has been relationship first,” said Michael D’Avanzo, cellist for the Phoenix Symphony. “The hardest thing is to get the students to get over their skepticism, but they warm up quickly.”
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the ability of musicians participating in Mind Over Music to go to schools and teach. But Valerie Bontrager, the director of education and community engagement for the Phoenix Symphony Association, said the program is regaining its traction and lessons at Hope Academy and the Academies at South Mountain are scheduled for the 2023 spring semester.
Surveys given to students at Hope Academy show that the Mind Over Music program is an overwhelming favorite. The students even made hats for the Phoenix Symphony musicians who teach at their school.
Last year, Season for Sharing raised $1.8 million and distributed it among 164 nonprofit organizations. The Phoenix Symphony’s Mind Over Music program was among those organizations. With the $7,500 grant awarded to them by The Arizona Republic, the Phoenix Symphony is able to pay the participating Mind Over Music musicians to develop and teach lessons and continue building trust with the communities they serve.
Donate to Season for Sharing: sharing.azcentral.com.
Among the other music-centered nonprofits that received Season for Sharing grants last year were:
Rosie’s House: A Music Academy for Children, Phoenix, $7,500: Free afterschool mariachi classes for underserved K-12 students.
Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, $7,500: To create a free virtual education program for Maricopa County children who attend under-resourced schools.
Hospice of the Valley, Phoenix, $7,500: To fund the Musical Comfort for Persons Living with Dementia Program.
Ways to give
Fill out the secure, online form at sharing.azcentral.com.
Text “SHARING” to 91-999 and click on the link in the text message.
Go online at facebook.com/seasonforsharing and look for the “DONATE HERE” post.
Clip the coupon on Page 4A of The Arizona Republic, fill it out and mail it to P.O. Box 29250, Phoenix AZ 85038-9250.
Make a donation when you buy tickets to Las Noches de las Luminarias at Desert Botanical Garden. dbg.org.
Where does the money go?
When you give to Season for Sharing, you are helping nonprofits that support education, feed the hungry and help struggling families and older adults. The Republic pays all administrative costs, so 100% of donations go back to the community.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Season for Sharing helps low-income children connect with music
Every death brings its own measure of sadness, but some seem more part of the natural order of things than others. A respected musician who lived a full life passing peacefully at home in comfortable old age seems different somehow to a musician – or anyone else for that matter – taken in their prime.
We lost many more good people in 2022. Not just musicians but artists, producers, record executives and others who add to the richness of our various scenes. As the year comes to a close it’s time to reflect on those who have gone – but also to celebrate the music they helped create.
Here’s to you and thank you for the music!
Burke Shelley (April 10, 1950 – January 10, 2022)
Burke Shelley was best known as the frontman and bassist with Welsh rock trio Budgie – contemporaries of Black Sabbath and one of the progenitors of heavy metal. His daughter announced that he died in his sleep at a Cardiff hospital, aged 71.
Ronnie Spector (August 10, 1943 – January 12, 2022)
Ronnie Spector was the co-founder and singer with 60s pop icons The Ronettes, who had a tumultuous marriage with producer Phil Spector. She lent her voice to numerous hits including Be My Baby, which Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has said was his biggest influence and the greatest record he had ever heard. She died after a short battle with cancer and her family said she lived her life with “a twinkle in her eye, a spunky attitude, a wicked sense of humor and a smile on her face”.
Meat Loaf (September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022)
Born Marvin Lee Aday, Meat Loaf found global stardom after teaming up with writer and producer Jim Steinman. His Steinman-penned debut album Bat Out of Hell remains one of the biggest-selling albums in history and the Bat Out of Hell trilogy sold more than 65m copies worldwide. He also had small but scene-stealing roles in films including The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club. Alice Cooper called him “one of the greatest voices in rock’n’roll” after his passing – the cause of which was not officially disclosed.
Jon Zazula (March 16, 1952 – February 1, 2022)
Also known as Jonny Z, Zazula was instrumental in bringing the music of Metallica and many other bands to the world. He co-founded Megaforce Records to create a home for the thrash legends after hearing their No Life ‘Til Leather demo. A label rep said he died from complications of the rare neuropathic disorder CIDP, COPD and osteopenia. Daughter Rikki said: “Our Dad lived a life as fast, hard, heavy, powerful, and impactful as the music he brought to the world.”
The world of rock and metal would not be what it is today without Jon Zazula.Jon’s love of music and musicians was unwavering. A giant was lost today.Rest In Peace Jon. pic.twitter.com/fiMt444mMnFebruary 1, 2022
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Ian McDonald (25 June 1946 – 9 February 2022)
Not many musicians get to play a part in creating one hugely influential band, let alone two. Ian McDonald co-founded prog progenitors King Crimson in 1968 and his mellotron, sax and flute formed a huge part of their sound on seminal debut album In the Court of the Crimson King. He left the band shortly after but went on to co-found Foreigner, appearing on their first three albums. A rep said he passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family.
Gary Brooker (May 29, 1945 – February 19, 2022)
Gary Brooker was the frontman of Procul Harem throughout their 55-year history, writing and singing their signature hit A Whiter Shade Of Pale. The band said he died at home of cancer, adding that he “was notable for his individuality, integrity, and occasionally stubborn eccentricity”.
Mark Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022)
Mark Lanegan rose to fame as frontman with the influential Screaming Trees, who were caught up in the 90s grunge explosion but actually predated it by several years. Lanegan was also a member of Queens Of The Stone Age and The Gutter Twins with the Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli, as well as a successful solo artist and author. He died at home at the age of 57, with the cause of death not revealed.
Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022)
Taylor Hawkins’ death at the age of 50 shook the music world. He was best known as the drummer for the Foo Fighters but had also been the live drummer for Alanis Morissette and formed side projects including Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders and The Birds Of Satan. Two huge concerts at Wembley Stadium and the Kia Forum in California saw dozens of bands and artists pay tribute, with rock royalty including Paul McCartney and members of the Foos, Queen, Rush, Motley Crue, Metallica and many more taking part.
Chris Bailey (November 29, 1956 – April 9, 2022)
Chris Bailey was the founder and frontman with Australian punks The Saints. The band had their first hit with (I’m) Stranded in 1976, predating debut release by English contemporaries like The Damned and Sex Pistols. He was also a prolific solo artist. The band announced his passing with a statement saying: “Chris lived a life of poetry and music and stranded on a Saturday night.”
Sylvia Lancaster (November 26, 1952 – April 12, 2022)
Sylvia Lancaster was a tireless anti-hate crime campaigner and educator who set up The Sophie Lancaster Foundation following the brutal murder of her daughter Sophie in August 2007. She was a regular at festivals including Download and Bloodstock – with the latter naming its second stage after Sophie. Former youth worker Sylvia was awarded an OBE in 2014 for her work in reducing hate crime and community cohesion.
Klaus Schulze (August 4, 1947 – April 26, 2022)
As a former member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze was in at the beginning of the krautrock movement. He also released dozens of solo and collaborative albums, some under the alias Richard Wahnfried and was widely recognised as a pioneer in electronic music.
Gabe Serbian (May 1, 1977 – April 30, 2022)
Best known as the drummer with San Diego mathcore outfit The Locust, Gabe Serbian also played with Cattle Decapitation, Dead Cross, Holy Molar, Head Wound City and more. He was just 44 when he passed away, with no cause of death confirmed.
Ric Parnell (August 13, 1951 – May 1, 2022)
Although Ric Parnell played drums in blues rockers Atomic Rooster, he was perhaps best known for his role as drummer Mick Shrimpton in iconic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. Harry Shearer, aka Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls, broke the news on Twitter, writing: “Ric Parnell, our drummer in This is Spinal Tap, passed away today. No one ever rocked harder.”
Howie Pyro (June 28, 1960 – May 4, 2022)
Having been a part of the New York punk scene in the 70s and 80s, bassist Howie Pyro (born Howard Kusten) went on to found glam punk band D Generation. He also played with Danzig for a period in the early 2000s. D Generation bandmate Jesse Malin said that Pyro died from Covid-19-related pneumonia yesterday (May 4) following a long battle with liver disease.
Trevor Strnad (May 3, 1981 – May 11, 2022)
Trevor Strnad, frontman and co-founder of melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder, died in May aged just 41. The cause of death was not given but his bandmates shared contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline with the announcement. They added: “His lyrics provided the world with stories and spells and horror and whimsy. It was his life to be your show.”
Ricky Gardiner (August 31, 1948 – May 13, 2022)
Having enjoyed moderate success with his own band, Scottish progressive rockers Beggars Opera, Ricky Gardiner really made his name collaborating with musicians including Iggy Pop and David Bowie. He contributed classic riffs for Bowie’s Low and Pop’s The Passenger, amongst others.
Vangelis (March 29, 1943 – May 17, 2022)
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, known professionally as Vangelis, was a composer and arranger working in fields ranging from ambient and electronic to classical. He was known for his soundtrack work, including the theme music to Chariots Of Fire and Blade Runner.
Cathal Coughlan (December 16, 1960 – May 18, 2022)
Irish singer-songwriter Cathal Coughlan co-founded indie-pop band Microdisney in 1980 and formed the acclaimed Fatima Mansions eight years later. Neither band enjoyed major mainstream success but were well respected for their eclectic, inventive and uncompromising approach.
Andy Fletcher (July 8, 1961 – May 26, 2022)
Andy Fletcher’s keyboards were an integral part of Depeche Mode’s sound for more than four hugely successful decades. The band revealed that Fletch, as he was commonly known, died aged 60 from an aortic dissection – a tear in a main artery from his heart.
Alan White (June 14, 1949 – May 26, 2022)
Although he originally joined seminal prog rock band Yes in 1972 as a replacement for original drummer Bill Bruford, Alan White went on to become the outfit’s longest serving member. He passed away aged 72 after a short illness.
Ronnie Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022)
Nicknamed ‘The Hawk’, Ronnie Hawkins was an American-born musician who became a pivotal player in the Canadian rock scene of the late 1950s and 60s. He had a flare for showmanship and his live shows incorporated backflips and a ‘camel walk’ move that would influence Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk. His wife Wanda said he passed peacefully, aged 87.
Ken Kelly (May 19, 1946 – June 2, 2022
Ken Kelly was a fantasy artist who lent his epic style to a host of rock and metal album covers. Some of his best known include KISS classics Destroyer and Love Gun, Rainbow’s Rising, Coheed and Cambria’s Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow and a whole slew of Manowar albums. KISS frontman Paul Stanley posted: “His fantasy art captured the larger than life image of KISS perfectly. Rest In Peace.
Alec Jon Such (November 14, 1951 – June 4, 2022)
American bassist Alec John Such was a founding member of Bon Jovi and appeared on the band’s first five albums. Although they parted company in 1994, Such was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with his former bandmates in 2018.
Manny Charlton (July 25, 1941 – July 5, 2022)
Manny Charlton was a founding member and the lead guitarist with Scottish rock band Nazareth through their 70s heyday right up to the end of the 80s. He also produced a number of their albums, leading to Axl Rose requesting him to work on Guns N’ Roses’ debut full-length Appetite For Destruction. While Mick Clink would end up producing the album, Charlton helmed the original demos, which eventually surfaced as bonus tracks on the 2018 reissue of Appetite…
Paul Ryder (April 24, 1964 – July 15, 2022)
Along with his brother Shaun, Paul Ryder was a founding member of Mancunian indie icons the Happy Mondays. His grooving basslines were a big part of the band’s sound. He died aged 58, the night before the band were due to play the Kubix Festival in Sunderland.
Colin Harkness (1959 – July 21, 2022)
Col Harkness was a founder member of British boogie-rockers Spider, who were frequently compared to Status Quo during their 80s run. The remaining band members said in a statement that their former frontman and guitarist had been in poor health and in and out of hospital in the months preceding his death.
Mo Ostin (March 27, 1927 – July 31, 2022)
Record company executives can get a bad rap but sometimes they really are on the side of the music. This was the case with Mo Ostin, who had a reptation for giving artists creative freedom. In an extraordinary career at Warner, Reprise and more he signed or oversaw the signing of artists including the Kinks, Jim Hendrix, Prince, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, R.E.M., the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many more.
Nicky Moore (June 21, 1947 – August 3, 2022)
When Bruce Dickinson left Samson to join Iron Maiden in 1982, Nicky Moore plugged the gap. After leaving Samson in the late 80s he joined heavyweight rockers Mammoth – the name being a tongue-on-cheek nod to the fact that all its members were on the larger side. He died at the age of 75 from Parkinson’s disease.
Steve Grimmett (August 19, 1959 – August 15, 2022)
Steve Grimmett’s distinctive style and impressive range was one of the defining features of New Wave of British Heavy Metal stalwarts Grim Reaper through the 80s. He also appeared on a single album with thrashers Onslaught (1989’s In Search Of Sanity) and joined Lionsheart in the 90s. In 2016 Grim Reaper released their first new album in decades (under the name Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper) and their final album, 2019’s At The Gates was inspired by Grimmett losing his leg following an infection on tour in Ecuador. The singer had said they were working on new material as of the start of 2022.
Stuart Anstis (May 2, 1974 – August 21, 2022)
Guitarist Stuart Anstis joined British extreme metallers Cradle Of Filth after the release of their first album, making his debut on the 1996 EP V Empire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein. While he only played with the band for four years he made his mark, especially on enduring Filth fan favourite Dusk…And Her Embrace. Frontman Dani Filth said Anstis was an “amazingly talented guitarist who brought a real sense of magick to everything he wrote in Cradle of Filth”.
David Andersson (February 25, 1975 – September 14, 2022)
David Andersson joined Swedish metallers Soilwork in 2012 and appeared on four albums, including the recent Övergivenheten. He also played in The Night Flight Orchestra alongside Soilwork vocalist Björn ‘Speed’ Strid. The cause of death was not officially announced but the band said in a statement: “Sadly alcohol and mental illness took you away from us.”
John Hartman (March 18, 1950 – September 22, 2022)
The Doobie Brothers were known for employing a dual drumming attack but John Hartman was the sole sticksman when he put the nucleus of the band together with frontman Tom Johnston. He played on all their 70s hit before leaving the band, returning for a brace of reunion albums in 1989’s Cycles and 1991’s Brotherhood. His former bandmates called him “a wild spirit, great drummer, and showman during his time in the Doobies”.
Loretta Lynn (April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022)
Loretta Lynn was a country icon who recorded 60 albums in a career spanning almost as many years. She only ended 57 years of touring after she suffered a stroke in 2017 and broke her hip in 2018. She collaborated with Jack White on 2004 album Van Lear Rose when she was 72. She died at home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at the age of 90.
D.H. Peligro (July 9, 1959 – October 28, 2022)
Darren Eric Henley, better known by his stage name D.H. Peligro, was the drummer for San Francisco punk legends Dead Kennedys for most of their initial eight-year run. He didn’t play on 1980 debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables but made his debut on the In God We Trust, Inc EP the following year. He also played on the Red hot Chili Peppers’ 1989 album Mother’s Milk and fronted his own band Peligro in the 90s and 2000s. According to a post made by the Dead Kennedys, he died from head trauma resulting from a fall at his home.
Mimi Parker (September 15, 1967 – November 5, 2022)
Mimi Parker’s haunting vocals and sparse drumming helped define the minimalist sound of alt-rock trio Low, who were an influential act for nearly three decades. Her husband and bandmate Alan Sparhawk revealed that she died at home from ovarian cancer.
Dan McCafferty (October 14, 1946 – November 8, 2022)
William Daniel McCafferty fronted Scottish rock band Nazareth from their foundation in 1968 until he retired due to ill health in 2013, some 45 years later. He died at the age of 76, a little over three months after his former bandmate Manny Charlton.
Garry Roberts (June 16, 1950 – November 9, 2022)
Garry Roberts was the lead guitarist and a founder member of the Bob Geldof-fronted Irish punk/new wave band The Boomtown Rats. They originally went by the name The Nightlife Thugs but Roberts threatened to quit if they didn’t change it. In a statement the band said they were “driven by that sound of his, a storm of massive considered noise that punched out from his overtaxed amplifier”.
Nik Turner (August 26, 1940 – November 10, 2022)
Nik Turner was one of the founding members of space-rock legends Hawkwind and played alongside Lemmy in the band’s early years. He played saxophone and flute, sang and generally added to the weirdness with his wild costumes and jazz stylings. A statement posted on his Facebook page read: “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Nik Turner – the Mighty Thunder Rider, who passed away peacefully at home on Thursday evening.”
Keith Levene (July 18, 1957 – November 11, 2022)
Although he never recorded with them, Keith Levene was an original member of The Clash. It was as guitarist with the post-punk outfit Public Image Ltd (PiL) that he came to prominence however, teaming up with former Sex Pistol John Lydon. He passed away at 65, having reportedly battled with liver cancer.
Wilko Johnson (July 12, 1947 – November 21, 2022)
John Andrew Wilkinson, better known by his stage name Wilko Johnson, was the guitarist in Dr. Feelgood – the pub rock band who influenced many of the figures that would rise to prominence in the British punk rock explosion of the late 70s. He went on to form The Wilko Johnson Band and also appeared as the mute executioner Ser Ilyn Payne in the HBO series Game Of Thrones. The cause of death was not confirmed but Johnson had been battling cancer for several years.
I’m sad to hear today of the passing of Wilko Johnson, the Dr Feelgood guitarist and singer/songwriter.I saw Wilko perform at Koko in Camden in May 2013 and the atmosphere was electric. This show was originally billed as his farewell tour pic.twitter.com/M1sQIEe4mmNovember 23, 2022
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Christine McVie (12 July 12, 1943 – November 30, 2022)
When Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac as a full-time member in 1970 they were already four albums in, but their biggest triumphs were all still to come. McVie’s keyboards and vocals became an integral part of the band and she remained a constant through numerous line-up changes. After her passing the band said she was “truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure”. According to a statement on her Facebook page, she passed away peacefully in hospital following a short illness.
Jet Black (August 26, 1938 – December 6, 2022)
Before plunging into punk rock with The Stranglers, Brian John Duffy was a successful businessman who owned an off-licence and a fleet of ice cream vans (which were later pressed into touring duty!). Luckily, the band were hugely successful with hits including Peaches, No More Heroes and Golden Brown and an evolving sound that was hugely influential on post-punk. According to a rep he died “peacefully” following years of ill-health. Stranglers bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel said: “He was a force of nature. An inspiration. The Stranglers would not have been if it wasn’t for him. The most erudite of men. A rebel with many causes.”
FOR the past 147 years, the chilly nights at the Devi Talab temple in Jalandhar have been lit up by the devotional sounds of musicians paying homage to gods or merely celebrating music. As festivals, melas, fairs, musical congregations and even gharanas died down in Doaba and elsewhere in Punjab, the blessings of the saints who started the Harivallabh Sangeet Sameelan have kept the festival — the oldest unbroken tradition of Indian classical music — going.
Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Baba Harivallabh, the music doyen and saint after whom the festival is named, welcomed people of all religions and social strata for this winter celebration of music. This established Harivallabh as a champion of not just music, but also secularity and syncretic cultural diversity, early on.
This year is special, for, the festival is being held after two years of gloom, thanks to the pandemic. Prior to this, the break was only forced during Partition and the terrorism era. The last two years also brought grave losses to the music fraternity as stalwarts like Pt Rajan Mishra, Pt Debu Chaudhary and Pratik Chaudhary as well as Amit, who painted an array of classical greats every year, were lost to Covid-19.
Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar
Rakesh Dada, former treasurer of Harivallabh Mahasabha and author of ‘Harivallabh — A Rich Tradition of Musical Geniuses’, says the gathering at Harivallabh suffered a huge setback during Partition as most Muslim artistes left. “It was resurrected by Ashwini Kumar, who headed the Harivallabh Sangeet Mahasabha for decades,” he says. Kumar galvanised Harivallabh in the 1950s and the festival saw it peak under him.
The festival suffered a setback during Partition when most Muslim artistes left the country. When Punjab was in the throes of militancy, it was celebrated with just a havan and singing of bhajans. And then came the pandemic. The festival was still held, but amid Covid protocol
When Punjab was in the throes of militancy, Harivallabh was, for several years, celebrated with just a havan and singing of bhajans near Baba Harivallabh’s samadhi. “Back then, it was held on the then dry bed of Devi Talab, a shamiana (tent) set up on pillars. Stairs were laid over with soil to build a temporary ramp. Still, people would sit through chilly winds just to listen to artistes,” recalls Dada.
In 2020, the 145th Harivallabh sammelan had to be reduced to a one-day affair with a 6-foot distance protocol owing to Covid and barely 100 invitees. The 146th Harivallabh too was celebrated in the compact Harivallabh Bhawan amidst vaccine mandates.
Yet, even during the peak Covid years, artistes like Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra (145th), Pt Ronu Majumdar and Kaushiki Chakrabarty (146th) were invited to keep up the spirit of Hindustani classical music.
Celebrating the return to normalcy, the festival organisers are all set to offer a sterling line-up of artistes and a crafts mela from December 23-25. The artistes performing this year include stalwarts such as vocalist Pt Ajoy Chakrabarty, Mohan Veena virtuosos Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Pt Salil Bhatt, sarod exponent Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and flautist Shashank Subramanyam. Vocalists Mahesh Kale and Anjana Nath will also be performing.
Harivallabh Sangeet Committee president Purnima Beri says, “It surprises me to see that we have been able to sustain this century-and-a-half-old music tradition. Baba Harivallabh was himself a Dhrupad exponent. I believe his spirit blesses the festival.”
She says the Kapurthala royal family gave huge chunks of land to Baba Harivallabh and Ashwini Kumar took it to new heights. “Successive governments have supported it. The North Zone Cultural Centre and the Punjab Tourism Department have constantly offered support. The Prime Minister recently advocated restoration of old classical traditions. Last year, the Punjab Governor donated Rs 25 lakh and MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku gave Rs 5 lakh. All this goes into sustaining the tradition,” she says.
Dada says this is a moment to celebrate. “Everyone was eagerly waiting to return to the glamour of the pandal. That is the festival’s big charm.”
Heardle is a fun and relaxing musical puzzle that primarily caters to pop music lovers from various parts of the world. A spiritual homage to the popular browser-based game, Wordle, it gives a musical twist to the puzzle as it requires players to guess songs instead of words using a total of six attempts.
Every day, the app drops a new song that the player needs to listen to and guess. The goal is to avoid using up too many chances and figure out the track as quickly as possible since every failed attempt will lead to the length of the song increasing, which makes it easier to identify the song.
Heardle has garnered immense popularity among music lovers in recent times. Unsurprisingly, the entertaining game was acquired by Spotify earlier this year and has since become available in countries like the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Heardle clues and answer: Sunday, December 18, 2022
Heardle fans would be aware of the fact that the songs the app puts out every day are part of the most-streamed numbers of the last decade. So contemporary music lovers can breathe a sign of relief as they might be familiar with a lot of the songs featured in the daily challenges.
However, for casual listeners or classic rock lovers, the game isn’t as difficult as it may seem, considering the app often drops iconic songs composed by legendary rock/pop musicians from the 21st century.
If you’re not sure of the title for today’s Heardle song, then take a look at some of the below-mentioned clues shared by Fortnite Insider:
Hint 1: The song was released in 2017.
Hint 2: The song’s genre is pop rock, Arena rock.
Hint 3: Single by Imagine Dragons.
Hint 4: Length – 3:24.
Hint 5: One word in the song title.
Hint 6: Begins with the letter ”B.”
Hint 7: The song is in the album, Evolve.
Since the clues seem quite simple and straightforward, you should be able to guess the track by now. If not, better luck next time! Find out the answer below.
The answer to today’s Heardle challenge is Believer by Imagine Dragons.
More details about Believer by Imagine Dragons
Believer was released on February 1, 2017, as part of Imagine Dragons’ hit album, Evolve. The song has a refreshing and energetic tone as it talks about the various kinds of emotional pain that one suffers from and how one manages to get over it.
Believer was a huge commercial success and also received immense critical acclaim, with some critics and fans considering it to be one of the band’s greatest songs.
Imagine Dragons is a massively popular pop-rock band from Nevada that rose to mainstream popularity with the release of their hit song, It’s Time. Over the years, they’ve put out several acclaimed albums, including Night Visions, Evolve, and Smoke + Mirrors, to name a few.
Some of their most popular tracks include Believer, Thunder, Radioactive, Demons, and many more.The band’s music can be categorized as indie rock, pop rock, and electropop.
Margo Price: ‘We have to continue to stand up for what we believe in’ (Alysse Gafkjen)
Margo Price is one of country music’s great survivors. Stubborn as a wine stain, she’s gone so far as to pawn her engagement ring to pay for recording sessions (she got it back). Jack White’s Third Man Records signed her following the release of 2016’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, by which point she’d already dealt with the loss of her newborn son and spent time in jail after a few night of hard drinking.
She has a Dolly Parton lilt, a sweetness to temper the fire in her songwriting. “Soon I settled down with a married man/ We had a couple babies, started living off the land,” she laments on “Hands of Time”. “But my firstborn died and I cried out to God/ Is there anybody out there looking down on me at all?”
Nashville continues to overlook her, lassoed as it is by bitter gender stereotypes and a fear of the outspoken. It’s grist for the mill for Price, whose latest collection of songs, Strays, is out in January 2023. She also released a memoir, ‘Maybe We’ll Make It’, in October this year. She lives outside of Nashville with her husband and bandmate, Jeremy Ivey, and their two childen, Judah and Ramona.
I just got back from doing a hike with my dogs. I have two dogs – one of them is really old and so I have to lift her into my truck – two cats and two kids. We had some chickens for a while and then the coyotes had their way with them and so I gave the survivors to my neighbour. We had a rooster named Dolly Parton, but Dolly was tragically murdered [too]. It’s hard to take care of the chickens when you’re touring all the time. We just finished a tour and it was really incredible, and I was doing a book tour as well. So, yeah, I’ve been on the road pretty non-stop since October, and so I’m now just kind of able to settle down a little bit.
My new album Strays is out on 13 January. We had a really great time in the studio – we worked with Jonathan Wilson and went to Topanga Canyon, California, to record. It was just me and my band in the room playing live, but I really wanted to spread our wings and be able to venture a little bit out of our comfort zone, and not be limited to just making country albums. So this is definitely more of a psychedelic rock album, but when you take away all the instrumentation, what you still have at the end of the day is solid songwriting. I’m just trying to create a body of work that is meaningful to me. Sometimes I kind of take left turns and have not done things the easy way. It’s kept me creatively fulfilled and that is what I really want to continue to do. Because I think that it just doesn’t translate if people are on autopilot.
At times I feel that I’ve gone as far as I can in country music. As we know, there are gatekeepers and all sorts of unwritten rules and things that I wish I could change, but I’ll always have a love for country music. At this point in my career, though, I just really wanted to spread my wings and try to shatter some of the preconceived notions that people have of me, because my band and I we’ve studied all different kinds of music, we’ve played all different kinds of music. It’s about finally being able to share that we’re not just a country band.
[Me and my family] live outside of Nashville a bit, but still close enough to be there every day, in a little town kind of northwest of the city. We have about five acres. It’s a pretty country area with no neighbours and lots of farms, which is good and bad because we don’t have any good restaurants or anything, but also there are no chains. For Christmas, I’m going to visit my family up north in Illinois – it’s an eight-hour drive – to go see my surviving grandmother and my dad, my mom and probably a bunch of aunts and uncles and cousins as well. Both my mother and my father have five each in their family so there are lots and lots of cousins and lots of aunts and uncles. I have two sisters, one of them lives in California and the other lives in Illinois. I’m really excited to go see my nieces – I always buy them way too many presents and spoil them.
My daughter is three and my son is 12. I took them to this place in Nashville where we go almost every year – the Opryland Hotel – and they have fake snow and sledding and ice skating and all sorts of stuff, basically I pretend to be a tourist in my own town. I went sledding with the kids and I got to go for free because my daughter is so young I had to hold her, which was great, and we got hot cocoa too. Where I’m from in the Midwest it’s much colder around this time, but it hasn’t been snowing there like it used to. It used to snow from November all the way to February or March. It’s probably something to do with the Earth’s temperature [going up due to climate change]. Here in Nashville it will snow a couple times in winter. No one has proper sleds or anything there but we’d get trash can lids and go sledding in the street.
When I was a kid we lived out in the country, so we did a lot of sledding back then. We always got our own Christmas tree – we would go out and my dad would have his axe and we would go chop one down and bring it back home. Then there’d be lots of hot cocoa with marshmallows. We grew up in a drafty farm house – it was always really, really cold and me and my sisters would sleep together in one bed. I remember counting seven blankets on the bed because it was absolutely freezing!
We would do really big family Christmas with all of my cousins and my mom’s family. On my dad’s side, they would all be smoking cigarettes indoors and partying a bit. On my mom’s side it was a little more wholesome, they still partied a bit. My grandfather was second in the world at table tennis, so we would get the ping pong table out and have a big tournament.”
I tend to gravitate towards sad Christmas songs
I was just laughing at something I stumbled across on the internet, a parody of somebody doing John Lennon making a Christmas song, and he’s like, “Children are dying, a war is going on…” then it clipped to Paul. I was definitely was feeling more like the John in that situation when I wrote my new song “Lydia”, which has a line about Christmas lights but it’s a very dark song. I tend to gravitate towards the Christmas songs that are a bit more sad. I love Tom Waits’s “Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis”, and this old country song, “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas)”, and John Prine’s “Christmas in Prison”.
This is a good time to reflect. I’m very nostalgic, definitely, but I’ve never been really good on resolutions because I think you can set yourself up for failure or disappointment. I definitely ended up reevaluating my relationship with alcohol, though. It will be two years on 8 January [that I stopped drinking]. I also finally quit smoking cigarettes which was a big goal of mine for a long time.
The world [still] feels very divided. We’re at that place where it feels like we should be further than we are. I do think there’s hope and I think that people are starting to educate themselves more around issues like abortion rights and women’s healthcare in general. We have a long way to go, and of course it can be uncomfortable. I hope that people can calmly stop about issues that matter and stop arguing with each other and see that we are all being screwed by the government in many ways.
I think that now more than ever people are really aware of the problems that we face. Of course some people just believe that climate change is a whole facade, they aren’t able to see the bigger picture. You know, as John Lennon said back decades and decades ago, “Apathy isn’t it.” We have to continue to stand up for what we believe in and make positive change for our children and for the future.
