John Anderson, country music singer-songwriter who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024, passed away on October 21 at the age of 71. Although classic country fans knew him for songs like his first No. 1 hit, "Swingin" and "Seminole Wind," his songwriting prowess earned him contemporary fans like Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys, Easy Eye Sound). In 2020, Auerbach helped shepherd Anderson back to the studio and the spotlight with Years, which frequent contributor and The Reading Room columnist Henry Carrigan compared to, "hearing an old friend tell you stories and sing you songs about the lessons he’s learned in life" (ND review) Two years later, Auerbach gathered some of the biggest names in roots music, including Gillian Welch and David Rawling, Sturgill Simpson, Sierra Ferrell, and John Prine to record a tribute record to Anderson, titled Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson (ND review). Check out a number of tributes below and read more at Rolling Stone.
Additionally RIP to Dallas' last theater used as a music venue, the Granada Theater, which was sold this week to the New York-based wellness company, Bathhouse. Shows booked at the theater will carry on as scheduled until April 17, 2027. As the owners wrote in a statement posted to their Facebook page:
For 22 years at Granada...we've poured our hearts into these places, the music, the people, and the thousands of unforgettable nights and memories made within their walls. Walking away isn't easy. But sometimes knowing when to turn the page is as important as knowing when to start the story.
Read more about the history of the Granada Theater at NBC DFW and the state of live music venues in an op-ed in The Dallas Morning News.
Kevin Morby and Lonnie Holley teamed up for a powerful, visceral one-off single to benefit Everytown For Gun Safety and raise funds for charity working to prevent gun violence in America. As Morby wrote on his Bandcamp:
But writing "Nursery Rhyme" has provided a space for my anger to temporarily live. Maybe you can put some of your collective anger into listening to the song and maybe it can also provide you with a bit of catharsis. I hope so.
It’s hard to know what else to do in a country where the powers-that-be worship inside the church of weapons of mass destruction and value profits over the lives of our children. Sometimes you just gotta scream.
Following up on last week's book news, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James announced the upcoming release of his debut memoir. One Wonders is due out April 13, 2027 via Simon and Schuster. Read more at Rolling Stone.
Additionally, Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series announced its upcoming releases. Roots releases include Allison C. Meier on Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads, Garnette Cadogan and Erin MacLeod on Bob Marley's Legend, Mike Miley on Wilco's Sky Blue Sky, Elizabeth M. Weinstein on Brandi Carlile’s The Story, and Katie Thornton on X's Under the Big Black Sun.
WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO
Teenage Fanclub - "Day In The Sun" (from their new album, Do Not Dare To Dream, released October 9 via Merge Records)
The Tallest Man On Earth - Just Beyond Endless Mountain
Mary Bragg - Secrets To Strangers
Misha Panfilov - Where the Birds Fly
Brian Fallon - Not Bad for New Jersey
Brown Horse - Total Dive
Jens Lekman - "The Cold Swedish Winter"
Rodney Crowell - "Pancho & Lefty" (live Townes Van Zandt cover)
MJ Lenderman - "Weakened" (from Lambchop's forthcoming covers EP, Demoed, due out November 20 via City Slang/Merge Records)
Glen Hansard - "Bottle of Smoke" (from the forthcoming tribute album album, 20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan, due out November 13 via Rubyworks)
Keith Secola - "Broken Down Hero"
NEW RELEASES - 10/30/26
Sam Burton - Fairweather Friend
Kaitlin Butts - Hello, Honky Tonk
Making Movies - Una Vida
Miko Marks - Hell or High Water
Lydia Loveless - Accolades [EP]
COMING SOON - 11/6/26
Eliot Bronson - Arrive
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday At Devil Dirt [Reissue]
Neil Casal - Book Of Stories (Home Recordings 1998-2003)
Bob Dylan - The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings
Catherine Elicson - River of Fat
Lacy Green, Adam Wright, and Thomm Jutz - Shakespeare's Bones
Michael Hurley - First Songs [Reissue]
Tennyson King - 100 Cities 百城
Jelly Roll Morton - New Orleans Joys : The Earliest Recordings, 1923-1926
Jenny Scheinman - One Hundred Years Today
Sylvie - New Season
Twisted Teens - The Holy Cross Tigers
Various Artists - Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young - Volumes 2: Out of the Blue and Volume 3: Into The Black
Various Artists - Where the Soul Never Dies
Sheila Vee - Ride
Willi Carlisle - The Universal Bubba
Eddie 9V - Down Here
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