Grammy nominations 2017: Chance the Rapper, Beyonce lead the way
Chance the Rapper is helping change the rules of the music business and the industry professionals who dish out the Grammy awards are finally paying attention. In his first year...
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Dawn Richard delivers protest music with a dance beat on ‘Redemption’
With a gleaming head piece falling past her shoulders like some futuristic deity, Dawn Richard could pass for Sun Ra's spiritual cousin on the cover of her latest album, "Redemption"...
Latest Grateful Dead spinoff to play Wrigley Field
In the lucrative business of rock touring, farewell shows are rarely as advertised. The latest evidence of that arrived Thursday, when the latest incarnation of the Grateful Dead — billing...
Greg Kot’s top albums of 2016
Don't kid yourself. There are tens of thousands of albums released each year and nobody can listen to them all. So all these year-end "best of" lists are really just...
Rolling Stones pay tribute to their Chicago blues school on ‘Blue & Lonesome’
As the final song on the new Rolling Stones album ends, an escalating slow-burn on Willie Dixon's "I Can't Quit You Baby," Charlie Watts' drums rumble amid the buzz and...
Chicago septet Whitney is riding the whirlwind
It's an if-this-is-Friday-this-must-be-Oslo kind of life. The co-founders of Chicago septet Whitney, Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, can be forgiven for being a little disoriented given the whirlwind their career...
Split Single is more than just a pair of sexy elbows in ‘Metal Frames’
Jason Narducy is developing a reputation as the sideman everyone wants. In recent years, he has done serious time playing with Bob Mould, Robert Pollard, Telekinesis and Superchunk. The celebrities...
Lydia Loveless at Metro: A mess of emotions, far-reaching music
Lydia Loveless has spent most of her short but incandescent career upending tables. Just when you think you have her figured out, she comes at her music from new angles....
Metallica loses way in revisiting past on ‘Hardwired … to Self-Destruct’
With "Hardwired ... to Self-Destruct" (Blackened), Metallica issues its once-a-decade reminder that it's time to hit the stadium-rock circuit and make millions on tour. It's more an act of commerce...
Alejandro Escovedo: Rock bottom, then rebirth
Alejandro Escovedo had hit something close to rock bottom. He was struggling with hepatitis C and had barely survived a life-threatening hurricane on his honeymoon in Mexico, only to spend...