On Tuesday night in Nashville, Brothers Osborne did what no major-label mainstream country artist has done this midterm season: publicly support a Democratic candidate. In this case, Tennessee gubernatorial hopeful Karl Dean. Playing an acoustic set at Dean’s fundraiser at Center 615 in East Nashville, TJ and John Osborne took …

The sugar-sharp melodies come in a spree during singer-guitarist Fred Thomas’ great new song “Altar,” a concise little shot of curt, catchy guitar scraping and amiable boy-girl vocals. But the scenes and feelings he rifles through in the song’s lyrics are hardly as easy or comforting: “You can’t feel the damage …

Over the past year, Lena Dunham has been through a lot: an elective hysterectomy following a decade of suffering from endometriosis, and two big breakups — one with longtime boyfriend Jack Antonoff, the other with Jenni Konner, her writing partner on Girls and the new HBO show Camping (October 14th). …

Trending Tropics, the duo made up of Calle 13 member Visitante and the Dominican singer Vicente Garcia, blitz through hard-headed merengue at around 195 beats per minute on their new single “Elintelné,” which also features rapping from Wiso G. “Elintelné” is a cautionary tale about human obsession with technology. “This …

As Hurricane Florence barrels toward the Carolinas and officials urge residents to get out while they can, incarcerated individuals in South Carolina don’t have that option. “We’re not going to gamble with the lives of the people of South Carolina. Not a one,” South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said at …

Matthew McConaughey, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots‘ Tariq Trotter squared off in a round of “True Confessions” on Tuesday’s Tonight Show, using detective-style interrogation to validate wild stories about mountain rams, ferry docking and Kanye West. Each player received two envelopes: one containing a real story, the other a lie. …

At his annual 4th of July Picnic near Austin earlier this summer, Willie Nelson welcomed Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke onstage to join him on guitar for set-closing renditions of “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” There’s a good chance that …

Nicki Minaj hangs with puppets and teases her fellow rappers in her new video for “Barbie Dreams,” the Notorious B.I.G.-sampling highlight off the rapper’s latest album Queen. The colorful, Hype Williams-directed video opens with a puppet nonchalantly introducing the proceedings before Minaj takes over, delivering a barrage of taunts and …

For hardworking bands like the Bottle Rockets, getting to the next gig often means fighting through one of life’s universal miseries: traffic. The group laments a strangled stretch of interstate on their new song, “Highway 70 Blues,” which makes its premiere on Rolling Stone Country today. The tune is the …

Troye Sivan‘s dramatic live version of “Animal” would have likely enraptured the Late Show audience – if only there’d been one. The pop singer presented a more band-oriented version of his dark Bloom ballad on Wednesday, relying on harmonized electric guitars, atmospheric synth-strings, soft piano flourishes and live drums.As the …