Touring awards show, concert marathon to visit BR
The O Music Awards, a production of the Viacom Music Group, which includes MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo, is coming to Baton Rouge.
Both a touring awards show and concert marathon, the O Music Awards invades the Varsity Theatre on Thursday, June 28, for an awards presentation and performances by the Flaming Lips and Lafayette’s Givers.
O Music Awards headliners the Flaming Lips are seeking to win the Guinness world record title for the most concerts performed within 24 hours in multiple cities. The Oklahoma alt-rock band will travel in a vintage bus called Endeavor, traveling across Mississippi and Louisiana in a quest to take the record currently held by Jay-Z.
Simultaneously, the O Music Awards is a 24-hour awards show event, streamed across Viacom’s screens and linear networks. The awards honor artists, fans and innovators who have impacted “digital music culture.”
The O Music Awards tour begins Wednesday, June 27, in Memphis, and includes Clarksdale, Oxford, Jackson, Hattiesburg and Biloxi, Miss., Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The concerts feature various opening acts, including Gary Clark Jr., Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Lafayette’s Hunter Hayes.
Neville signs
with Blue Note
New Orleans singer Aaron Neville has signed a recording contract with EMI’s Blue Note Records. The label will release his new album, a collection of classics from the doo-wop era, this fall. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones co-produced the album with Don Was.
Neville, famous for solo hits such as “Tell It Like It Is,” duets with Linda Ronstadt and membership in the Neville Brothers, has always loved the music of ’50s vocal groups.
“When I was a kid, doo-wop was like medicine to me,” Neville said in a Blue Note press release. “I didn’t care what else was going on in the world as long as I could sing along with Pookie Hudson and The Spaniels, The Flamingos, The Clovers, Sonny Til and The Orioles, Clyde McPhatter — I was like a kid in a candy store.”
Richards described the making of the album as a dream session.
“The band fell right into the groove and Aaron sang like an angel,” he said. “It was an honor!”
Hudson, Fogerty
record in N.O.
Singing star Jennifer Hudson joined classic rocker John Fogerty at a New Orleans recording studio recently. Hudson sang for a remake of Fogerty’s Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, “Proud Mary.” The song will be featured on his upcoming album, Wrote a Song for Everyone, to be released Oct. 9.
Fogerty’s new rendition of “Proud Mary” also features New Orleans musicians Allen Toussaint and the Rebirth Brass Band as well as zydeco musicians Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and Anthony “Dopsie” Rubin. Other guest artists contributing to Wrote a Song for Everyone include Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Bob Seger, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, My Morning Jacket, Alan Jackson, Miranda Lambert and Dawes.