Allen Toussaint To Be Inducted Into The Songwriters Hall of Fame June 16th

The legendary Allen Toussaint will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a ceremony June 16th, 2011 in New York City. The Hall of Fame honors Allen's stature as one of the most influential figures in New Orleans music, the composer of classic songs such as "Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky (From Now On)," "Fortune Teller," "Get Out of My Life Woman," "Mother in Law," "On Your Way Down," "Sneakin Sally Through the Alley," "Southern Nights," "Sweet Touch of Love," "Working in the Coal Mine" and "Yes We Can Can," to name just a few.

In addition to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, his Grammy Trustees Award, his induction into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and his GRAMMY nominations, Allen has produced, written for, arranged, had his songs covered and performed on songs by scores of musicians. This list includes Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Band, Paul Simon, Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, LaBelle, Albert King, Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey, Etta James, Solomon Burke, The Pointer Sisters, Booker T. & the MG's, The Ohio Players, Harry Connick, Jr., fellow Rosebud artists the late Albert Collins, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Mavis Staples, Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty and (for international booking outside North America) Dr. John, as well as countless others. 

Also joining Allen in the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year are John Bettis, Garth Brooks, Leon Russell and co-writers Billy Steinberg & Tom Kelly. Established in 1969, the Songwriters Hall of Fame is an elite family that includes Bob Dylan, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Paul Simon, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Burt Bacharach, John Fogerty, Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Carole King, Billy Joel, Curtis Mayfield, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Phil Collins and Loretta Lynn among many others. Congratulations Allen!

Catch Allen performing live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

Marcia Ball releases her new album, Roadside Attractions, on March 29, 2011. The album was produced by songwriter, musician, producer Gary Nicholson (Delbert McClinton, Wynonna Judd, T. Graham Brown) and was recorded in Austin and Nashville. Marcia is a four time GRAMMY Nominee, including her last three albums: Peace, Love & BBQ (2008), Live! Down The Road (2005) and So Many Rivers (2003), plus an earlier nomination for Sing It! (1998), a collaboration with Tracy Nelson and fellow Rosebud artist Irma Thomas.

Marcia has been honored with eight Blues Music Awards, four in the last five years alone for Best Piano Player of the Year and she has received an addition 32 nominations over the years. She is the winner of two 2009 Living Blues Readers' Poll Awards for Blues Artist of the Year (Female) and Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard), adding to her wins in the category in 2007 and 2008. In addition, last year Marcia was inducted into the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame. As USA Today explained, "Based in Austin and steeped in New Orleans, Marcia Ball plumbs the richness of both musical meccas. From rootsy swamp pop and blues-drenched boogie woogie to languid ballads, Ball is equally comfortable with brash roadhouse romps and caressing love songs."

Catch Marcia performing live on stage during her extensive Spring Tour, please see Tour Dates >>

2011 GRAMMY Winner Mavis Staples To Perform on Conan on the TBS Network March 2nd

2011 GRAMMY Winner Mavis Staples will be featured on Conan O'Brien's show "Conan" on the TBS network Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011. Last season, Mavis performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Colbert Report, as well as being a featured performer at the Jon Stewart / Stephen Colbert Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear in Washington, DC.

Mavis was recently honored with the GRAMMY Award for Best Americana Album for her latest CD, You Are Not Alone, which was produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Some of Mavis' previous honors include induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame; a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award; five Blues Music Awards; a National Heritage Fellowship Award presented by The National Endowment for the Arts; a First Amendment Center / Americana Music Association Spirit of Americana Free Speech Award; inclusion on both Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll; and by recently having "Mavis Staples Day" proclaimed by both the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois.

Catch Mavis performing live on stage, including select Northeast dates with Billy Bragg, "The Hope, Love & Justice Tour," at the very beginning of Spring. Please see Tour Dates >>

Thanks To Mountain Stage (NPR) Encores For Loudon Wainwright III, Pieta Brown, David Lindley, John Hammond, Mavis Staples, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Thank you to Mountain Stage, who are re-broadcasting six Rosebud artists' performances, from mid-February through the beginning of April. Loudon Wainwright III and Pieta Brown are both featured in an episode airing the week after February 18th (the "week after" runs from Friday to the following Friday). David Lindley and John Hammond are both featured in a program airing the week after March 11th and 2011 GRAMMY Winner Mavis Staples is featured in the show airing the week after April 1st. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue's performance was recently re-broadcast in an episode which aired after February 11th.

Mountain Stage is broadcast on over 170 NPR stations and has been an exceptional supporter of Rosebud artists. We truly appreciate our ongoing relationship with such a top quality program. Over the years, the show has featured performances by fellow Rosebud artists The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Charlie Musselwhite, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Bettye LaVette, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Marcia Ball, Duke Robillard, Ruthie Foster, Carrie Rodriguez and The Weepies.

Visit the show's archives to listen to some of these past performances and click here to find a station in your area that broadcasts Mountain Stage: Mountain Stage Archives >> NPR MUSIC: Mountain Stage >>. Check out all of these artists on a stage near you, please see Tour Dates >>

A 4 CD / 1 DVD box set celebrating the career of GRAMMY winner Loudon Wainwright III, entitled 40 Odd Years, will be released on May 3, 2011. The set was produced by Loudon and celebrated writer/director/producer Judd Apatow, who has featured Loudon in his films Knocked Up (for which Loudon also recorded the soundtrack) and The 40 Year Old Virgin, as well as on his TV show Undeclared (which also featured Seth Rogen). Judd Apatow writes in his introduction to the set, "I wanted to do what he has always done: to be brutally honest, emotional, hilarious and sweet all at the same time. Whenever I wonder what my tone might be, if I am confused, I just listen to a Loudon Wainwright song."

40 Odd Years is a career-spanning collection chronicling the wealth of Loudon's work, including his early hit "Dead Skunk" (which hit #16 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1973) and 1973's "The Man Who Couldn't Cry" (covered by Johnny Cash on his 1994 GRAMMY winning album American Recordings); through his two GRAMMY nominated albums (I'm Alright and More Love Songs); to his 2010 GRAMMY winning album High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. The first 3 discs chronicle the years 1969-1983; 1984-1995 and 1996-2010; while disc 4 contains rare and unreleased material. The 3+ hour DVD includes an extremely rare documentary made for Dutch television entitled One Man Guy, TV appearances on the BBC, Saturday Night Live, and Austin City Limits, as well as several unreleased concert performances. Check out the full track listing here.

According to Loudon, "I'm lucky - it still feels like there's work to do, and I'm doing it. I hate the travel, the airports, the hotels, but I love the job itself, which is writing the songs and doing the shows. As a kid I had a dream of being a performer, and lo and behold it came true... So now the plan is to keep performing and writing for as long as possible."

Check out Loudon performing live on stage, including select Northeast dates in March co-headlining with Shawn Colvin, please see Tour Dates >>

David Lindley's Collaboration with Jackson Browne: Love Is Strange - En Vivo Con Tino Nominated for Independent Music Award

David Lindley's collaboration with Jackson Browne, Love Is Strange - En Vivo Con Tino, having already earned a 2011 Grammy nomination, has now been nominated for an Independent Music Award in the Live Performance Album category. The 2-CD live set captures a tour of Spain that David and Jackson did in 2006. Winners of the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards will be announced in March 2011 and are determined by a panel of 62 influential artist and industry judges including fellow Rosebud artist Bettye LaVette, Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Arturo Sandoval, Ozzy Osbourne, Suzanne Vega, Aimee Mann, Pete Wentz, and Seal among others. Good luck to all the nominees! Catch David performing live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

John Hammond To Be Inducted Into Blues Hall of Fame on Wednesday May 4th, 2011

The legendary John Hammond will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Memphis, TN on Wednesday May 4th, 2011, the night before the 32nd Blues Music Awards. John is also nominated at this year's Awards for Acoustic Artist of the Year, a category he was won 5 times, as well as being featured in The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert, nominated for DVD of the Year.　To date, John has been honored with a total of 7 Blues Music Awards and an additional 10 nominations. John is also a Grammy winner and 6 time nominee (Rosebud founder, Mike Kappus, having executive produced or co-produced four of his Grammy nominated CDs.) John has the distinction of having played well over 4,000 shows on five continents since signing to Rosebud in 1977 and has shared the stage with basically every post-war blues legend one can think of including Muddy Waters, BB King, John Lee Hooker and all the rest, while in recent years he has collaborated with artists from G Love to Tom Waits who produced John's Wicked Grin CD. Among his many career highlights, Jimi Hendrix's solo career was sparked in 1966 when he was discovered while sitting in with John Hammond's band in New York - also sitting in with John and Jimi that week was Eric Clapton, making for an amazing supergroup. John has also recorded with The Band (prior to their joining Bob Dylan and assuming that name), Bill Wyman (in the first instance of a Rolling Stone guesting on another artist's CD), JJ Cale (who also produced 4 of Hammond's Grammy nominated CDs), Duane Allman, and with Dr John and Michael Bloomfield for John's Triumvirate CD on Columbia Records. John also performed the soundtrack for Dustin Hoffman's classic film, Little Big Man.

Following the election of his father, the late John Henry Hammond (who, in his role at Columbia Records, famously helped introduce to the world Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Bruce Springsteen among others) to the Blues Hall of Fame in 2008, the Hammonds become the Blues Hall of Fame's first father and son inductees. Congratulations John! Catch John live on stage as he performs across the U.S, please see Tour Dates >>

Trombone Shorty is featured in Jeff Beck's Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul, which will be released on both CD and DVD February 22, 2011. The live set was filmed and recorded on June 9, 2010 at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, where the legendary Les Paul performed every Monday for over 12 years until his passing August 12, 2009. Jeff Beck celebrates the innovative musician with a selection of Les Paul's songs and other rock 'n' roll tracks on what would have been Les Paul's 95th birthday. In addition to Trombone Shorty, Jeff's special guests include Brian Setzer, Imelda May and her band and Gary US Bonds. Check out the track listing here.

At the end of 2010, Jeff Beck commented in Mojo magazine's feature, The Best Thing I've Heard All Year: "This year I had the great privilege to hear for the first time Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews play at an after-show for the New Orleans Jazz Festival. I was completely blown away. Troy and his band have just supported me on some UK dates. A sensational group of musicians. Trombone Shorty is one to watch!"

Catch Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue live on stage in the U.S. until mid-March (including 2 co-headline shows with Galactic and the conclusion of their cross country tour with Los Amigos Invisibles), when the band departs for a 10-date European tour touching down in Germany, France and Spain, please see Tour Dates >>

The legendary Mavis Staples has won her first GRAMMY for her album You Are Not Alone in the Best Americana Album category. The album has become the most successful of Mavis' solo career. Upon receiving her GRAMMY, the clearly amazed and grateful Mavis delivered a moving, heartfelt speech. "Oh my God, that was the shock of my life," she said. "My goodness. It's been a long time, a long time coming," and pledging, "I'm going to be around a while. You have not seen the last of me. God is not through with me."

Shortly before her victory, Mavis performed "Wang Dang Doodle" at the GRAMMY Awards Pre-Telecast Ceremony, singing alongside Cyndi Lauper, Betty Wright and Maria Muldaur with both Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd featured on guitars.

While this is Mavis' first Grammy win for a CD, she was awarded the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, in recognition of her earlier work with her family, The Staple Singers. She was also nominated last year for her album Live: Hope At The Hideout (Best Contemporary Blues Album); nominated in 2005 for her collaboration with fellow Rosebud artist (for international representation outside North America) Dr. John on "Lay My Burden Down" (Best Gospel Performance) and nominated in 2003 with Bob Dylan (Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals) for their duet "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking."

Congratulations Mavis! Check out Mavis performing live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

Bill Frisell is featured on a new project, Buddy Miller's Majestic Silver Strings, to be released on CD, with a bonus DVD, March 1, 2011. Also featured are fellow guitarists Marc Ribot and Greg Leisz. Together, Bill, Buddy, Marc and Greg are the Majestic Silver Strings. Rounding out the band are Dennis Crouch (bass) and Jay Bellerose (drums). Guest vocalists on the album include Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Lee Ann Womack, Chocolate Genius and Julie Miller. Produced by Buddy, the project is his re-imagination of country songs. A bonus DVD with concert footage of the first and only performance to date with Bill, Buddy, Marc, and Greg playing the tracks selected for this project, will be included with the CD.

Always a prolific musician in the studio (lauded by Downbeat as having "the best recorded output of the decade"), Bill has just released an album collaboration with Brazilian singer-songwriter / guitarist / percussionist Vinicius Cantuária titled Lagrimas Mexicanas. The duo will tour together for select dates in February, before Bill embarks on a European tour in March with his Disfarmer Project, featuring Greg Leisz, Viktor Krauss and fellow Rosebud artist, Carrie Rodriquez. Catch Bill live on stage, in all of his various, distinctive band configurations, please see Tour Dates >>

The 5-time GRAMMY winning Blind Boys of Alabama were recently (February 7, 2011) featured on 700 Club, with both a profile piece and a performance. The show is seen daily by over 1 million viewers and airs on ABC Family, TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Cable) and Family Net (satellite). The Blind Boys have recently returned from touring Europe, including shows in Greece, Sweden, Poland, Norway, Finland, Scotland, The Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. Catch them performing live on a stage near you, please see Tour Dates >>

Charlie Musselwhite and Ruthie Foster are featured on a new album entitled 100 Years of Robert Johnson, credited to Big Head Blues Club and due out March 1, 2011. The band is comprised of Big Head Todd & the Monsters with guests including, in addition to Charlie and Ruthie, B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin (legendary former Guitarist with Howlin' Wolf), David "Honeyboy" Edwards (legendary former Johnson collaborator), Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm. The album is produced by Chris Goldsmith, who has produced GRAMMY winning albums for The Blind Boys of Alabama, Charlie's latest GRAMMY nominated album, The Well and Ruthie's 2010 GRAMMY nominated album, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster. Chris is also a former Rosebud Agent. 100 Years of Robert Johnson is a tribute to the late blues legend, in celebration of the Centennial of his birth, May 8, 1911. According to Chris, "We wanted to go back and get into the soul of Robert Johnson... We wanted to figure out what Johnson's intent was and to see what kind of music came out of the band after exploring the intent of the lyrics and the emotion of the songs. So we paid attention to the form of the music and to the unique chord structures and time changes he did. I pitched them on the idea of getting in touch with the dark side of Johnson, not the Disneyland version, and maybe working in some African beats and a heavier approach." Nearly all of the album was recorded at the famed Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN in less than 36 hours. "It flowed beautifully," Chris said, "Everybody clicked. It was one of the smoothest recording sessions I've ever been part of."

Check out both Charlie and Ruthie live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

GRAMMY nominees Mavis Staples and Trombone Shorty will each perform at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards Pre-Telecast Ceremony, taking place on Sunday, February 13th from 1 - 4pm (PST) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Mavis and Trombone Shorty will be joining fellow GRAMMY nominees performing at the event including including Buddy Guy, Cyndi Lauper and Kenny Wayne Shepherd among others. Mavis is nominated for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone, while Trombone Shorty's Backatown is nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. The event will be streamed live internationally on grammy.com/live and youtube.com/thegrammys beginning at 1 pm (PST) and will remain on GRAMMY.com as video on demand for 30 days following the event. Best of luck to the nominees! Check out both Mavis and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

Trombone Shorty Named in NBC News' The Grio's 100: History Makers in the Making

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews has been recognized among NBC News' The Grio's 100: History Makers in the Making, a list of the top 100 African-American men and women who are writing the next chapter of American history. Trombone Shorty joins First Lady Michelle Obama, singer and education advocate Jill Scott, actress Viola Davis, Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones and NBA star Kevin Durant, among others. In honor of Black History Month, TheGrio.com, a division of NBC News, announced the list, nominated by a team of experts, affiliates, and contributors from across the country, and members of TheGrio.com and NBC News editorial teams. The Grio's 100 shines a spotlight on African-American history makers and industry leaders from 10 fields, including business, education, sports, science and the environment, media, service and activism, politics, health, pop culture and the arts.

Stay tuned for the results of the GRAMMYs on February 13, where Trombone Shorty's Backatown is nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and check out the band live on stage as they tour across the country, please see Tour Dates >>