Pop, country stars cover ‘Revamp’

Bentley wants to celebrate women at ACMs

VBy Pablo Gorondi

“Revamp” (Island “Restoration”

Records); (UMG Nashville)

Considering the quality of the songwriting partnership combining Elton John’s music with Bernie Taupin’s lyrics and that the song selection on these two tribute albums is, with some exceptions, a collection of fairly clearcut covers of their biggest hits, your level of enjoyment will depend mostly on your like, dislike, tolerance or rejection of the contributors.

Sir Elton curated “Revamp,” which gathers versions by inhabitants of the rock and pop worlds, from Lady Gaga and Mary J. Blige to Coldplay, Sam Smith and The Killers, and opens with Pink, Logic and a John cameo on “Bennie and the Jets.”

Highlights include Florence + The Machine’s take on “Tiny Dancer,” Queens of the Stone Age surprisingly contained “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and Sam Smith’s “Daniel.”

“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” by Mary J. Blige and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Q-Tip featuring Demi Lovato probably veer farthest from the originals but if the musical backing is a bit clouded, the passion of the vocals still shines through. Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran reclaims “Candle in the Wind” for Marilyn Monroe.

Taupin took “Restoration” under his wings and its versions by country artists is rooted in the fact that more than a handful of his and John’s songs shared a strong kinship with what’s now called Americana. It also results in the profounder album of the two.

Miranda Lambert carries with grace the emotions behind “My Father’s Gun,” about a Confederate soldier returning to battle after burying his dad, while Lee Ann Womack is an ideal choice for the groovy “Honky Cat.” Vince Gill and Don Henley polish “Sacrifice” and Rosanne Cash shares “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore” with Emmylou Harris.

Chris Stapleton sings “I Want Love” like it’s his own, Kacey Musgraves serenades late-night TV on “Roy Rogers” while Rhonda Vincent and Dolly Parton turn “Please” into fine bluegrass. It all ends with Willie Nelson

to personify logic... a scientist who is old, weak and ugly, and has severe anxiety. He was very real.” (AFP) sounding as timeworn and wise as Moses himself on “Border Song.”

Country star Dierks Bentley hopes that his new single reminds people that he’s not always singing about being … on a plane, or being a beach bum looking for a rebound.

Bentley’s new song, “Woman, Amen,” is a rousing, drum-driven celebration of the kind of women that aren’t typically profiled in country songs. And he’ll be using the song to highlight real women during his performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on April 15.

“I think it helps counter out some of the other songs I have had out there,” Bentley said recently as he was preparing to shoot the music video in Nashville, Tennessee.

Bentley is hardly the worst offender of lyrical stereotyping in Nashville, but he knows he’s got a bit of reputation for songs like “Somewhere on a Beach,” “… on a Plane,” and “Am I the Only One,” with the regrettable lyrics: “country cutie with a rock and roll bootie.”

“‘Woman, Amen’ is hopefully really tipping the scales back into more of a level playing field,” Bentley said. “I am definitely guilty of some songs just to party to.”

Bentley is asking fans to submit pictures and stories on social media with the tag #WomanAmenACM of exceptional women in their lives who deserve recognition, which will be part of the performance being aired on CBS. Bentley said his wife, Cassidy, has been looking at the submissions and getting emotional.

“It’s a song about celebrating a woman in my life and several women in my life,” Bentley said. “I love seeing a song that’s very personal to me, that’s concrete and identifiable be taken by fans and they can use it in a way that’s universal to them.”

This year Bentley won’t be cohosting the awards show, as he has for the past two years with Luke Bryan. Longtime host Reba McEntire has returned this year to host the show and Bentley is just fine with that, frankly.

LOS ANGELES:

Scales

Sundance Selects has acquired US rights to the music biopic “Blaze,” co-written, produced, and directed by Ethan Hawke.

“Speaking candidly, I don’t really see myself as a host,” Bentley said. “I am more of just an artist and performer and songwriter. That’s really what I like doing.”

He said he had fun doing the comedy and skits and working with Bryan, but he’s trying to focus his career on what’s really important to him.

“I just try to strip away stuff that’s not what I really love doing,” Bentley said. “I have tried to break my life down into either a huge yeah, like ‘Yes, I can’t wait to do that.’ Or no. And just make it easy.”

Eight months after the death of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, the group’s co-lead singer Mike Shinoda announced today that he will release a full-length solo album, “Post Traumatic,” on June 15 on Warner Bros. Records. Along with the album announcement, Shinoda released two new tracks — “Crossing a Line” and “Nothing Makes Sense Anymore,” as well as a video for “Crossing a Line.” The 16-track album is available to pre-order, and will include the two aforementioned new tracks alongside the three tracks from Shinoda’s “Post Traumatic” EP, released in January.

Shinoda will perform a handful of solo shows this summer, including the Identity LA in Los Angeles on May 12, Reading and Leeds Festival and the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan in August.

A press release reads, “In the months since the passing of Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington, Shinoda has immersed himself in art as a way of processing his grief. With no agenda, Shinoda hunkered down alone in his Los Angeles home and began writing, recording, and painting. In January, he released the Post Traumatic EP consisting of three deeply personal songs — each one a powerful, streamof-consciousness expression of unvarnished grief — accompanied by homemade visuals that Shinoda filmed, painted and edited himself.

Following the EP release, Shinoda continued to create, and the result is the upcoming ‘Post Traumatic,’ a transparent and intensely personal album that, despite its title, isn’t entirely about grief, though it does start there.” (Agencies)

The film held its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where newcomer Ben Dickey won the Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting for his portrayal of Blaze Foley. “Blaze” is inspired by the life of Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas outlaw music movement that spawned the likes of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. “Blaze” explores his love affair with Sybil Rosen; his final performance in a nearempty honky-tonk; his last, dark night on earth; and the impact that his songs and his death had on his fans, friends, and foes.

Rosen co-wrote the film with Hawke based on her memoir “Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley.” Jake Seal, John Sloss, and Ryan Hawke produced alongside Hawke. (RTRS)

LOS ANGELES:

Fox has cast “Riverdale” star K.J. Apa in its drama “The Hate U Give,” two months after the studio dropped Kian Lawley from the project over videos that surfaced in which he uttered racist slurs.

Fox 2000 has authorized more than a week of re-shoots in Atlanta. Lawley was set to play the boyfriend of the film’s star, Amandla Stenberg, in the movie based on Angela Thomas’ novel of the same name, which centers on race and police brutality. He was fired from the project on Feb 5. (RTRS)