Headquartered in the country music capital, American Addiction Centers (AAC) announced today its donation of 30 free days of inpatient treatment to 12 musicians who seek assistance through MusiCares® in 2018. MusiCares, an affiliated charity of the Recording Academy™, provides resources for struggling musicians, including those battling drug and/or alcohol addiction.
While the public often hears about famous musicians who have battled addiction, the free care will go to those in the music industry who are uninsured and can’t afford treatment.
“Music is an integral part of the culture of Nashville and it seemed only fitting that we should reach out to those in our own backyard who may be struggling with the disease of addiction,” said Michael Cartwright, CEO of American Addiction Centers. “As one of the nation’s leading treatment providers, we have seen firsthand how treatment can transform lives.”
Earlier this year, AAC released the results of its patient outcome studies. The studies showed that not only does treatment work to reduce substance use, but it also has significant benefits across many important areas of life, including family dynamics and mental health.
AAC is also supporting the 2018 MusiCares Concert for Recovery scheduled on May 10, 2018. The concert will also help raise funds for the nonprofit to give even more musicians access to treatment.
About American Addiction Centers American Addiction Centers (NYSE: AAC) is a leading provider of inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment services. We treat clients who are struggling with drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and co-occurring mental/behavioral health issues. We currently operate substance abuse treatment facilities located throughout the United States. These facilities are focused on delivering effective clinical care and treatment solutions. For more information, please find us at AmericanAddictionCenters.org or follow us on Twitter @AAC_Tweet.
About MusiCares A friend and ally of the music community, MusiCares was established by the Recording Academy to safeguard the health and well-being of all music people. A four-star charity and safety net in times of need, MusiCares offers confidential preventative, recovery, and emergency programs to address financial, medical, and personal health issues. Through the generosity of our donors and volunteer professionals, our dedicated team works across the country to ensure the music community has the resources and support it needs.
SoundExchange Urges Support of New Music Modernization Act
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and 28 original cosponsors today introduced sweeping bipartisan legislation to overhaul the nation’s antiquated music licensing laws, including providing federal copyright protection for sound recordings made prior to February 15, 1972.
The Music Modernization Act (H.R. 5447) is consensus legislation that packages together several music licensing reform bills that have wide-ranging bipartisan support. The package includes the CLASSICS Act, the AMP Act, elements of the previously introduced Music Modernization Act and the rate standard parity provisions from the Fair Play Fair Pay Act. The legislation comes after a comprehensive review of copyright law in the Committee during Goodlatte’s chairmanship.
The new Music Modernization Act contains many important changes in music licensing laws including:
Closing the pre-72 loophole by establishing federal copyright protection that will guarantee compensation for artists who recorded music before February 15, 1972;
Establishing a “willing buyer, willing seller” rate standard requiring all digital platforms to pay fair market value for music;
Codifying SoundExchange’s longtime practice of honoring “Letters of Direction” from artists who want to share royalties with studio producers and other creative participants who work with them and;
Creating a new process that will allow eligible participants in recordings made before the digital performance right was enacted in 1995 to share in digital royalties for those recordings
The bill also includes the language of the original Music Modernization Act, including the creation of a single licensing entity to administer mechanical rights for musical works.
“We applaud Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Nadler for their willingness to address many of the ancient inequities in our copyright laws that stand between music creators and fair compensation,” SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe said. “We urge the House Judiciary Committee to move swiftly in its consideration of this comprehensive music licensing reform package. Music creators have waited long enough.”
Inclusion of the CLASSICS Act (H.R.3301/S.2393) in the new reform package represents a major victory for legacy artists. It’s been 46 years since Congress decided to leave sound recordings made before February 15, 1972, under a patchwork of state laws, rather than providing federal copyright protection to those sound recordings.
“This legislation is moving forward because Congress has heard the voices of music creators asking for copyright laws that reflect the realities of today’s music marketplace. The modernization outlined in this bill is long overdue, and with the momentum created by its introduction, it’s critical that music creators continue reaching out to their representative to urge swift consideration of this legislation,” Huppe said.
About SoundExchange
SoundExchange manages sound recording and music works rights across the entire music industry. The organization collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of more than 155,000 recording artists and master rights owners accounts and administers direct agreements on behalf of rights owners and licensees. To date, SoundExchange has paid out more than $5 billion in royalties. SXWorks, a SoundExchange subsidiary created with the acquisition of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA), provides global administration and support services to music publishers. For more information, visit www.SoundExchange.com or http://sx-works.com.
Millions know Audrey DuBois Harris for singing for President Barack Obama and the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Now Harris has released her new CD, “God Bless America,” with longtime collaborator and music maestro, Damien Sneed. The five-song EP features the title track along with classics and contemporary compositions: “Amazing Grace,” “God Can Do Anything But Fail,” “Give Me Jesus,” and “Precious Lord Take My Hand,” recorded with Jerroll Lehman. “God Bless America,” released March 6, is available at digital retail outlets everywhere.
“‘God Bless America’ is a prayer for God’s blessings and peace for the nation,” said Harris. “Each song offers a message intended to unite our humanity through faith and love.”
The critically-acclaimed artist has graced world stages with her extraordinary vocal abilities in opera, classical, jazz, sacred, gospel and inspirational music. Recently, the Reverend Jesse Jackson invited Harris to perform in a series of MLK50 events commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. Harris sang an inspirational rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the Mason Temple COGIC service, where Dr. King delivered his historic “Mountaintop” speech, the night before his death. Harris also participated in “A Day of Remembrance” event at the National Civil Rights Museum.
“To listen to Audrey is to hear the soul and science of music,” said Rev. Jackson. “Her singing, interpretation and presentation is what music looks and sounds like.”
Jackson also invited Harris to perform at the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee service in remembrance of “Bloody Sunday” on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, where Jackson and U.S. Representatives John Lewis and Terri Sewell led this year’s march.
This summer, Harris will record a new CD project with Sneed and conductor and arranger Dr. Lloyd Mallory. The album is scheduled for release in fall of 2018.
“I’m excited about my next multi-genre recording,” Harris concludes. “I believe it will uplift, encourage, and stir the soul.”
Harris and Sneed will perform a series of upcoming concert dates to promote “God Bless America.” And in 2019, Harris will join Sneed on select dates for his 36-city tour, “Damien Sneed: We Shall Overcome,” a tribute concert to Dr. King.
As The Godmother of Rock & Roll Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s highly-anticipated induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Early Influences wing approaches on April 14, Verve/UMe is bringing the trailblazer’s vaunted catalog into the digital age, making more than 200 songs available for download and streaming, most for the first time ever. (PRNewsfoto/Verve/UMe)
As The Godmother of Rock & Roll Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s highly-anticipated induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Early Influences wing approaches, Verve/UMe is bringing the trailblazer’s vaunted catalog into the digital age, making more than 200 songs available for download and streaming, most for the first time ever. The initiative, which includes seven long out-of-print albums and all 130 singles she recorded for Decca between 1938 and 1956, began on March 30 with the release of three albums: 1951’s gospel hymns LP Blessed Assurance, originally on a Decca 10-inch LP and now expanded with three rare bonus tracks; an expanded edition of her acclaimed 1958 Decca collection, Gospel Train, with two rare bonus tracks; and her spirited 1960 self-titled album Sister Rosetta Tharpe, originally issued on MGM Records.
Over these next two weeks leading up to her induction on April 14, four additional essential Tharpe recordings and her Decca singles, divided into five volumes, will be released. The albums include expanded editions of her pioneering 1956 album Gospel Train (not to be confused with the 1958 Decca album of the same name), expanded with five bonus tracks including the non-LP single “When The Saints Go Marching In” and two previously unreleased performances, and her riveting 1959 live concert LP The Gospel Truth, bolstered by two unreleased tracks and two non-LP singles from the era, as well as the similarly named 1962 The Gospel Truth: All New! Her Greatest Gospel Hits, featuring brand new recordings of many of her best-known songs, and 1961’s Sister On Tour; the latter two were recorded for Verve. All albums, except the original Gospel Train (1956), are making their digital debut.
Following years of performing in churches across the country, first with her mother as traveling, singing missionaries when young Rosetta was a six-year-old guitar prodigy billed as a “singing and guitar playing miracle,” and later on her own as the star attraction, Tharpe’s recording career began in 1938 when she signed to Decca at age 23. Throughout the next two decades, the singer, songwriter and electrifying guitarist was incredibly prolific, touring incessantly and releasing a steady stream of 78s and 45s consisting of some of her most immensely popular and influential songs. While some of these songs have ended up on various CDs over the years, both official and unofficial, the majority of them have never been released digitally. The Complete Decca Singles Volumes 1-5 collects all of Tharpe’s singles together for the first time and presents them in chronological order by release date with the corresponding B-side. An incredible 90% of these songs will be available digitally for the first time while only 13 of them overlap with the album releases.
Vol. 1, featuring tracks from 1938-1941, includes Tharpe’s earliest recordings including “The Lonesome Road” and Thomas Dorsey’s“Rock Me,” which established her as an overnight sensation and one of the first commercially successful gospel recording artists. Rolling Stone describes the song as a “transformed spiritual…recorded with her soaring held notes and sexy growls back in 1938 – when the latter-day King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley, was still a toddler.” Other songs include the well-known “This Train” and “That’s All” and several featuring Tharpe performing with big band leader Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra on such secular songs as “Shout, Sister, Shout.”
Vol. 2, with tracks from 1942-1946, includes her 1945 hit collaboration with boogie-woogie pianist Sam Price, “Strange Things Happening Every Day,” the first gospel record to cross over and become a hit, peaking at #2 on Billboard’s “race chart,” now known as R&B. The song has been cited as an important precursor to rock and roll. Other sides include the jazzy “Two Little Fishes And Five Loaves of Bread,” “Jonah” and the evangelical early blues of “Singing In My Soul,” all with the Sam Price Trio. Vol. 3, covering 1947-1949,collects a number of bluesy spirituals made with Tharpe’s contemporary Marie Knight and the Sam Price Trio such as “Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air,” “Didn’t It Rain” and “My Journey To The Sky.” Tharpe is joined by her mother Katie Bell Nubin on the gospel rave up “Ninety-Nine And A Half Won’t Do.”Vol. 4, featuring her Decca singles from 1949-1953and Vol. 5, from 1954-1956,includes more collaboration with Marie Knight and The Sam Price Trio as well as vocal group The Anita Kerr Singers, quartet The Southwinds and country singer Red Foley, showcasing her eclectic career.
In his own Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, Johnny Cash called Tharpe one of his earliest heroes. Elvis Presley named her one of his favorite singers and guitar players, and Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards all cited seeing her European tour with Muddy Waters in 1963 as a profound moment in their lives. And, well, she originated the windmill guitar stroke associated with Pete Townsend. Yet Tharpe is not a household name like those men. That’s slowly changing and, over the years, as more has been discovered and written about her, she has been solidified as one of the early architects of rock and roll. Her long overdue induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will put her side by side in the Early Influences wing with fellow luminaries Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Bessie Smith and Howlin’ Wolf. The 33rd Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place April 14 at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Upon the news of Tharpe’s induction, Rolling Stone wrote, “No artist has been more overdue for recognition than Sister Rosetta Tharpe,” adding, “A queer black woman from Arkansas who shredded on electric guitar, belted praises both to God and secular pleasures, and broke the color line touring with white singers, she was gospel’s first superstar, and she most assuredly rocked.” Born March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Tharpe defied expectations from an early age as a guitar prodigy. At six years old, her mother left her father to be a traveling evangelist and together they joined the exodus of poor black southerners heading north. They settled in Chicago where young Rosetta encountered the music that migrants had brought with them – blues from the Mississippi delta and jazz from New Orleans. She began performing gospel music as Little Rosetta Nubin with her mother at churches as part of a traveling Baptist roadshow. By the time she was in her 20s, she was a seasoned performer whose distinctive voice and unconventional style, filled with her signature feverish electric guitar playing, attracted many fans.
“She was there before Elvis, Little Richard and Johnny Cash swiveled their hips and strummed their guitars,” NPR proclaimed in their feature of Tharpe. “It was Tharpe, the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll, who turned this burgeoning musical style into an international sensation… Through her unforgettable voice and gospel swing crossover style, Tharpe influenced a generation of musicians including Aretha Franklin, Chuck Berry and countless others.” Without Sister Rosetta Tharpe, rock and roll would not be the same. As the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame said, “She is the founding mother who gave rock’s founding fathers the idea,” declaring, “No one deserves more to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.“
Special Edition 180-Gram LP on Opaque Blue with Black Swirls Vinyl Limited to 1000 Copies Worldwide
On March 9, John Coltranes transcendent ‘Blue Train’ album will be released in a limited 60th Anniversary color vinyl LP edition by Blue Note/UMe. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide and available exclusively from The Sound of Vinyl, the collectible special edition presents the classic albums stereo mix on a 180-gram LP pressed on opaque blue with black swirls vinyl. http://thesoundofvinyl.us (PRNewsfoto/Blue Note/UMe)
On March 9, John Coltrane’s transcendent Blue Train album will be released in a limited 60th Anniversary color vinyl LP edition by Blue Note/UMe. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide and available exclusively from The Sound of Vinyl, the collectible special edition presents the classic album’s stereo mix on a 180-gram LP pressed on opaque blue with black swirls vinyl.
This Thursday, March 8, members of The Sound of Vinyl Text Message service will receive early access to purchase the limited edition Blue Train color vinyl LP, one day before it is available for purchase on The Sound of Vinyl website. Sign up for The Sound of Vinyl Text Message service here: https://thesoundofvinyl.us/access/sov-signup-coltrane-blue-train.html
This Friday, March 9, the limited edition Blue Train color vinyl LP will be available for purchase on The Sound of Vinyl website: http://thesoundofvinyl.us
In 1957, while still discovering his own voice on the tenor saxophone in bands led by Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane enlisted a band of peers to record a new album at Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack, NJ studio. With a new spirit rising, Coltrane was joined by trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Kenny Drew, and the rhythm section from Davis’s classic ’50s quintet — bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones — to create Blue Train, a 40-minute-plus masterwork that stands as one of the greatest jazz records of all time. Released in December 1957, Blue Train was Coltrane’s second album as leader and his sole recording under his own name for Blue Note Records.
Coltrane went on to launch new rockets of interstellar music, including 1959’s groundbreaking Giant Steps, 1964’s sublime jazz prayer A Love Supreme, and 1966’s large ensemble expedition Ascension, which sparked the burgeoning free jazz movement. But it all started for Coltrane with Blue Train, a pioneering five-song, blues-steeped, post-bop outing that exhilarates with pockets of brawn and poetry, excursions of ferocity and finesse, stretches of blazing velocity and soulful tenderness. By all measures it began as an organic session with four spirited Trane originals and a gorgeous rendition of the Jerome Kern-Johnny Mercer ballad, “I’m Old Fashioned.” Graced by the incantations of inspired improvisation, Blue Train yielded a transcendence that few recordings achieve. Coltrane himself recognized the consummate character of Blue Train, referring to it later in his career as one of his favorite recordings.
About The Sound of Vinyl The Sound of Vinyl (http://thesoundofvinyl.us) is a first-of-its-kind music service, providing a personalized and curated platform for discovering and buying vinyl records. Launched in the U.S. in October 2017, The Sound of Vinyl offers new and classic albums from a vast catalog of more than 20,000 titles from all major labels and dozens of indie labels, and is the exclusive retailer for a variety of special, limited edition vinyl releases for key titles spanning rock, jazz and classical to R&B, rap, and hip-hop. Previous Sound of Vinyl-exclusive releases include legendary titles by The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, Interpol, and the Allman Brothers, among others.
In addition to a full-service online store, The Sound of Vinyl features exclusive editorial content and album suggestions from top music experts, and provides an innovative recommendation engine that suggests albums based on a user’s personal tastes. The Sound of Vinyl’s recommendation service uses cutting-edge technology to send personalized album picks by text message. When a user enters their mobile phone number and creates a taste profile, The Sound of Vinyl begins sending daily texts with album recommendations that feature album artwork, information and price. Users can reply LIKE or DISLIKE to improve future picks, or simply reply YES to instantly purchase an album, creating a seamless shopping experience.
Sum Of My Music Showcases The Empire Star As An Independent Singer/Songwriter/Producer
(PRNewsfoto/Music Of Sound)
Today, singer/songwriter/actor/director/producer/activist Jussie Smollett announces the release of his debut full-length studio album, Sum Of My Music.An offering from his own Music Of Sound company, it also marks his debut as an independent artist and executive producer.
Steeped in soulful R&B, pop and hip-hop, and seasoned beautifully with Jussie’s soaring vocals, Sum Of My Music represents a body of work he has been preparing for his entire life.
Known around the world as one of the stars of the television cultural phenomenon, Empire, for his role as the tortured son, Jamal Lyon, a singer muddled in and by his family’s drama surrounding their music empire, Jussie Smollett quite literally took every moment away from the set and his many acting roles to concentrate on his first love; music.
He explains that no matter what he was doing, he was drawn to make music and to make it his way and on his terms.
“Music has always been my heart. Something I can always and will always create,” he says. “When I was working day jobs in offices, as a waiter, in retail or even as a clown at children’s parties, music was the thing that I could always do at night, on weekends, in the morning time; I could create music around anything I was doing. There’s never an excuse to not create.”
Fans have been privy to what Jussie can do musically when the Empire soundtrack, for which Smollett was both a writer and vocalist, went to number one on the Billboard charts, was nominated for a Grammy, Billboard and American Music Award.
He combined musicality with activism on March 17, 2017 with the release of “F.U.W.” (F** Up World), a smoldering song and visual that took a hard stand against the current administration’s policies by highlighting injustices around racial prejudice and the fight for religious, human and LGBTQ rights.
Fans and critics were moved by the song and the video’s honest depiction of a society gone awry, and dutifully impressed with his role as director, which he has now taken to the set of Empire. It was a glance into what was to come musically from Jussie Smollett; to make music that stir, provoke and move audiences. It was time to get to work in earnest on Sum Of My Music.
The first music from the upcoming album was released this January, the song “Freedom.” The accompanying video is a beautiful visual that is an unapologetic celebration of love. Jussie explains, “I wanted to show love in its most honest and pure form. A couple doing what every couple does…just living their lives. It’s a song about complete bliss, not the fantasy or some false sense of security, but love in its most honest and pure form. Whether it’s love for your partner, your family, your people or yourself, when Love is true, there’s a feeling that you can literally fly. That’s what I want for myself and every creature on this planet. To me that’s true Freedom.” The video stars award winning actress Tika Sumpter (Southside With You, Ride Along) and Tony and Grammy award winner, Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple).
Most recently, Jussie released “Catch Your Eye” featuring Swizz Beatz. Fader Magazine declared the music video for “Catch Your Eye,” as “mesmerizing.” In the neon-lit backdrop, covered in paintings from artists all over the world, including Nigerian visual artist Laolu Senbanjo and acclaimed Opera singer, Lauren Michelle, Jussie makes an impassioned appeal in this head bop tune.
“To have one of the true Kings of Hip Hop like Swizz leading this with me is just bananas,” says Jussie. With the visual, I wanted to take it even further. I was inspired by Hype Williams’ film BELLY and really just Hype in general. But I also wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t some stream of consciousness in there.”
In mid-March the third single and visual, “Hurt People,” will be released. Filmed entirely on location in South Africa, the video pays homage to all that is beautiful and historic about Mama Africa. Inspired by the late Nelson Mandela, the video was filmed with an all-black South African labor force, including cast, crew and fashion designers, to live the reality of Africa Rising.
For Jussie Smollett it is matching his heart with his music to produce a body of work that is unmistakably him.
“I’m releasing just a piece of who I am with this project and I just want people to hear it, feel it and vibe with it. All I want them to feel is the love put into this. Anything else is just gravy,” he states.
