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      Mary Martin, Who Gave Many Music Stars Their Start, Dies at 85

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      Her loyalty to artists and her eye for talent made her a force in a male-dominated business. Among her accomplishments: introducing Bob Dylan to the Band.Mary Martin, a Grammy-winning talent scout, manager and record executive who helped start the careers of a long list of future legends, including Leonard Cohen, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell — and who introduced Bob Dylan to the Band — died on July 4 in Nashville. She was 85.Mikayla Lewis, a documentary filmmaker and close friend, said she died in a hospice from complications of cancer.Among the musicians whose work exists somewhere between rock, country, folk and Americana, Ms. Martin was a legend in her own right, widely respected for her fierce loyalty to artists and her keen eye for budding talent.“She saw the bumpkin in me, and she also saw something that was going to develop,” Mr. Crowell said in an interview. “She was one of those people who just said, ‘Shut up and let me show you something of the world that you may not have seen.’”Ms. Martin and Rodney Crowell in a scene from “Mary Martin: Music Maven,” a forthcoming documentary. Ms. Martin helped Mr. Crowell get his start. “She saw the bumpkin in me,” he said, “and she also saw something that was gonna develop.”Mikayla Lewis/ “Mary Martin: Music Maven”A chain smoker with a keen love of football, she seemed to know everyone, and she had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Joe Bonsall, Tenor Voice of the Oak Ridge Boys, Dies at 76

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      His vocals on songs like “Elvira” were a key to the evolution of the group, originally a Southern gospel quartet, into perennial country hitmakers.Joe Bonsall, who for more than 50 years was the tenor voice of the Oak Ridge Boys, one of the most popular and enduring vocal groups in the history of country music, died on Tuesday at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn. He was 76.His publicist, Jeremy Westby, said the cause was complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neuromuscular disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. (Mr. Bonsall issued a statement in January saying that he was retiring from touring with the Oak Ridge Boys but would remain a member of the group.)Originally a Southern gospel quartet, the Oak Ridge Boys had 17 Billboard No. 1 country singles, as well as 17 more that made the country Top 10, after reinventing themselves as a country act in the early 1970s. The group, which has sold more than 41 million records worldwide, was formed in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in the early 1940s, and disbanded and reformed twice before its lineup stabilized with Mr. Bonsall’s arrival in 1973.“Elvira” (1981) and “Bobbie Sue” (1982), two of the group’s best-known No. 1 hits, featured Mr. Bonsall on lead vocals in place of the regular lead singer, Duane Allen. William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban, who sang baritone and bass, rounded out the four-part harmony quartet during its heyday in the 1970s and ’80s.The Oak Ridge Boys in 1982 with the Grammy Award they won for “Elvira,” one of their 17 songs to reach No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. From left: Mr. Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban.Reed Saxon/Associated PressAmong the group’s other No. 1 hits were “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (1979), an early Rodney Crowell composition, and “American Made” (1983), a wry topical number that showcased Mr. Bonsall’s clean, resounding tenor. (“American Made” was later used in a television commercial for Miller Beer.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Megan Moroney Sings a Message About Messy 20-Something Life: It’s OK.

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      The rising country star writes about disastrous love and learning big lessons with charm, wit and solid hooks. Her new LP, “Am I Okay?,” is due Friday.The budding country star Megan Moroney was 36 stories above Times Square last month, waiting to meet some of her biggest fans, who were among the first invited to hear “Am I Okay?,” her eagerly anticipated second album.As she prepared to greet her guests in the glass aviary atop the Hard Rock Hotel, Moroney admitted she’d culled them via social media, group chats and meet and greets. “They don’t know I stalk them,” she said after slipping into a cobalt mini dress from Zara and a pair of metallic Balmain stiletto boots. Her hair teased into a butter-blond cloud, she joked, “It’s 20 pounds of hair and 10 pounds of makeup.” It’s a look her fans recreate to varying degrees, but they’re also drawn to the way Moroney embraces the moments most people airbrush out of their Instagram-perfect lives.One example is the closer of “Am I Okay?,” which is due on Friday: the spare, simple “Hell of a Show.” It’s just a verse and a chorus, a raw artist singing over an acoustic guitar about being jerked around by a self-absorbed boyfriend, pulling it together to slay a crowd of people who “love me better than you could’ve,” but still crying herself to sleep.It’s hard to believe there’s anyone who isn’t clamoring for the attention of this 26-year-old rising songwriter. Moroney was the leading female nominee at the Academy of Country Music Awards this spring, competing for top prizes alongside Kacey Musgraves and Lainey Wilson. Her rocket-ship trajectory began with “Tennessee Orange” in 2022, a Romeo and Juliet ballad for fans of SEC football, which earned her 18 record company offers and nominations for both the A.C.M.s’ and the Country Music Association Awards’ song of the year. (She ultimately signed with Sony’s Nashville and Columbia’s New York divisions.)Four years ago, when Moroney released her first EP, she seemed like just another attractive Nashville hopeful in a city overstocked with them. At least on paper. But she had ideas about how to become a star, and they started with her songwriting. Wry, vulnerable and a real reflection of how 20-somethings drink and wreck their hearts, Moroney’s songs are authentic in a way the Music Row system can rarely access.Moroney onstage during the CMA Fest in June.Amy Harris/Invision, via Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The 15 Songs That Hit No. 1 This Year (So Far)

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      Hear tracks by Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and more.Shaboozey reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 this week for the first time with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”Daniel PrakopcykDear listeners,It’s Caryn the editor here again, seizing control of the playlist one more time (don’t worry, you’ll have Lindsay back next week).On Monday, Shaboozey reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” making him the second Black artist to hit No. 1 on both the all-genre singles chart and Hot Country Songs. Somehow both milestones came this year: Beyoncé did it first with “Texas Hold ’Em.”The news got me scrolling through what’s topped the Hot 100 so far in 2024 — over the last 27 weeks, 15 songs have done it. And we’re going to listen to all of them in The Amplifier today.It’s always interesting to see how the official chart stacks up against cultural vibes. It may feel like the summer of “Espresso,” but Sabrina Carpenter’s Certified Bop hasn’t hit No. 1 in the United States (yet). It doesn’t just seem like Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” is dominating 2024: It is, with 11 straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. But only one of its songs — its opener, “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone — has spent any time atop the Hot 100. Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” has had two songs summit the singles chart; Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” had the one. Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan haven’t hit No. 1 yet this year, but I wouldn’t count them out.The longest run belongs to “I Had Some Help,” by Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen (six weeks, five of them consecutive). Two songs from the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef hit No. 1; perhaps unsurprisingly considering the outcome, they were both Lamar’s.So let’s take a trip through the recent past together — and for fun (or counterprogramming), see how the biggest songs of the year (so far) compare to our critics’ best songs of the year (so far).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      An All ‘Independence’ Playlist for the Fourth of July

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      Listen to songs by Martina McBride, Destiny’s Child, Kelly Clarkson and more.Martina McBridePaul Natkin/WireImage, via Getty ImagesDear listeners,Hello again from your guest playlister — Lindsay’s editor, Caryn — in this lead-up to the Fourth of July. Last year, Lindsay brought you a 16-song soundtrack for your holiday barbecues. I am not going to top that, so instead (inspired by my fave, Kelly Clarkson), I did a brief dive into songs that use independence as a thematic trope.While pop has turned to the independent woman many times, Independence Day has been a time for reflection on a variety of emotional topics: a painful breakup (Palehound), an escape from an abusive relationship (Martina McBride), a glimmer of hopefulness cracking through the melancholy (Elliott Smith). Bruce Springsteen’s song is a tad too dark even for this list, sorry, Jersey friends!All of these songs are sharply written, passionately sung and provide some form of release. And taken together, they make a pretty cohesive playlist. (If you did not yet know, I’m fanatical about sequencing.)Throw your hands up at me,CarynListen along while you read.1. Kelly Clarkson: “Miss Independent”Kelly Clarkson’s debut album, “Thankful” from 2003, featured this killer lead single: a genuine jam (with some genuinely dated production) about a strong woman who finds there’s also strength in letting love into her life. If it sounds a bit like a finger-wagging Christina Aguilera song, there’s good reason for that: She’s a writer on the track (along with Clarkson, Rhett Lawrence and Matt Morris), which was at one point destined for her own “Stripped.”▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTubeWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Shania Twain Is a Glastonbury ‘Legend’

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      The Glastonbury Festival’s coveted “Legend’s Slot,” at 3:45 p.m. Sunday, was hers and she said she was ready for the “most extraordinary party of my career.”On a recent Friday, Shania Twain rode a horse through rural terrain in Alberta, Canada, helping a neighbor relocate a herd of Angus cattle. As cows mooed loudly around her, the country-pop star multitasked, chatting on the phone about prepping for an appearance on a famous field an ocean away.Twain recalled how she started to perform at age 8 in smoky bars where drunk men would sometimes heckle her. As a result, she developed stage fright and hated being in the spotlight until she was about 50, she said, so the idea of performing for more than 200,000 revelers at Britain’s biggest music festival would have been anxiety inducing.Shania Twain answers questions for an interview with The Times on horseback while herding cattle.Courtesy of Shania TwainBut on Sunday afternoon, Twain, now 58, walked onstage at the Glastonbury Festival and did just that. Accompanied by a herd of equines (giant hobby horses, this time), Twain kicked off with “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” her 1998 megahit about dismissing romantic suitors. Within seconds, the vast crowd was singing along, dozens of women climbing up onto friends’ shoulders, their hands outstretched in front of them.She was occupying the most coveted slot at Britain’s largest and longest-running music event, the so-called Legend’s Slot, at 3:45 p.m. on the festival’s final day, an appearance she said she expected to be the “most extraordinary party of my career.”The musician who earns this prized booking — past performers have included Dolly Parton, Diana Ross and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys — not only gets to hear tens of thousands of fans singing their music back to them, but also secures a large live TV audience, which typically results in a boost in record sales and streams.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Kinky Friedman, Musician and Humorist Who Slew Sacred Cows, Dies at 79

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      He and his band, the Texas Jewboys, won acclaim for their satirical takes on American culture. He later wrote detective novels and ran for governor of Texas.Kinky Friedman, a singer, songwriter, humorist and sometime politician who with his band, the Texas Jewboys, developed an ardent following among alt-country music fans with songs like “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” — and whose biting cultural commentary earned him comparisons with Will Rogers and Mark Twain — died on Thursday at his ranch near Austin, Texas. He was 79.The writer Larry Sloman, a close friend, said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.Mr. Friedman occupied a singular spot on the fringes of American popular culture, alongside acts like Jello Biafra, the Dead Milkmen and Mojo Nixon. He leered back at the mainstream with songs that blended vaudeville, outlaw country and hokum, a bawdy style of novelty music typified by tracks like “Asshole From El Paso” and “We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You.”With a thick mustache, sideburns, a Honduran cigar and a broad-brimmed cowboy hat, he played his own version of Texas-inflected country music, poking provocative fun at Jewish culture, American politics and a wide range of sacred cows, including feminism — the National Organization for Women once gave him a “Male Chauvinist Pig Award.”Mr. Friedman in performance in 1975.Richard E. Aaron/Redferns, via Getty ImagesBehind the jokes, he had serious musical talent. He sang with a clear, deep voice, modulated with a gentle twang, and played guitar in a spare, straightforward style borrowed from one of his idols, Ernest Tubb.He toured widely in the 1970s, with his band and solo, including on the second leg of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in 1976. He performed on “Saturday Night Live” and at the Grand Ole Opry — Mr. Friedman claimed to be the first Jewish musician to do so (though in fact others, including the fiddler Gene Lowinger, had beat him to it).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Buzz Cason, Songwriter Best Known for ‘Everlasting Love,’ Dies at 84

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      As a performer, he was a leading figure in the early days of Nashville rock ’n’ roll. He later found success as a writer, producer and publisher.Buzz Cason, a guiding force in the early days of Nashville rock ’n’ roll and a writer of the pop standard “Everlasting Love,” a surging profession of undying devotion that reached the pop Top 40 in four consecutive decades, died on June 16 at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 84.His death was announced by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The announcement did not specify a cause.A pivotal figure in Nashville’s evolution as a recording hub, Mr. Cason had a hand in virtually every facet of the music industry. He sang, wrote and published songs, as well as producing records and operating his own recording studio.He had his biggest success as the writer, with Mac Gayden, of “Everlasting Love.” The R&B singers Robert Knight (1967) and Carl Carlton (1974) recorded hit versions of the song, as did Gloria Estefan (1995) and the ad hoc pop duo Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet (1981). U2 released a stripped-down take of “Everlasting Love” as one of two B-sides of the 1989 single “All I Want Is You.”“We didn’t know what we had,” Mr. Cason said of the song in an interview at an event held in his honor at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014. “It was a really great radio song.”“Everlasting Love,” in its many versions, has received more than 10 million plays to date, according to the music rights organization BMI. It is among the most successful songs in any genre to come from Nashville.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More