Fleetwood, 75, Crow, 60, and Raitt, 73, took the stage Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles for a performance in honor of McVie, who died in November at age 79.
Their choice of song was the 1977 Fleetwood Mac hit, “Songbird,” a tune that was composed solely by McVie. Crow and Raitt sang alternating verses, while Fleetwood played a talking drum.
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Both Fleetwood and Crow were among the dozens of musicians who shared their memories of McVie on social media following her sudden death on Nov. 30 after a brief illness.
Fleetwood, who was the star’s bandmate for more than 50 years, shared an emotional Instagram message upon her death, writing that “part of my heart has flown away today.”
“I will miss everything about you Christine McVie,” he wrote, in part. “Memories abound…They fly to me.”
Later, the rocker and his surviving bandmates — including McVie’s ex-husband John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks — paid tribute to the star at a Celebration of Life event in Malibu on Jan. 9.
Days later, Fleetwood shared a copy of the remarks he gave at the event along with a recent photo of him and McVie on an airplane.
“When we first learned that we might be losing Christine, there was an immediate coming together of everything in the band and the Fleetwood Mac family with the hope and possibility that we would not lose Chris,” he said. “And NOW since the loss of Christine, we all are still trying to come to terms with the fact she has really flown away.”
Fleetwood said he’d recently reflected to John McVie that the pain came in “the enormity of it all—the enormity of our loss, the enormity of her passion, the enormity of her talents and her unbreakable sense of grace in the way she handled life’s challenges.”
“We all miss her as a family member, as a friend: an artist, a performer and God knows a writer of excellence,” he said. “And those years sharing life together will always be remembered.”
Crow, meanwhile, who in the early 2000s was rumored to possibly be replacing McVie in the band after her temporary departure, remembered the “Everywhere” singer as “a legend and an icon and amazing human being.”
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“I am so sad to hear of Christine McVie going on to heaven,” Crow wrote on Twitter. “The world feels weird without her here. What a legend and an icon and an amazing human being. RIP.”
McVie and Raitt collaborated on the latter’s 1986 album Nine Lives, with McVie contributing background vocals.
The 2023 Grammy Awards are airing live on CBS and Paramount+ Sunday night from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Rachel DeSantis has seven years of experience as an entertainment reporter, and has worked at PEOPLE since 2019.
Rachel got her start as an editorial intern at Entertainment Weekly and worked on the entertainment desk at the New York Daily News before joining PEOPLE as a news writer in 2019. After spending two years on the human interest team as a writer/reporter, she joined the music team in 2021. As a staff writer, Rachel interviews everyone from rock-and-roll legends to up-and-coming stars for magazine feature stories and digital news stories.
She is based in New York City, and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.
It’s not a surprise that Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon, which aired (recorded April 6, 2022) on CBS on Wednesday Dec. 21, was so satisfying.
Paul Simon has long been regarded as one of our top songwriters. He won the 1970 Grammy for song of the year for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and was nominated in that category for “Mrs. Robinson” and “Graceland.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1998. In 2007, he became the inaugural recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
Many of the participants on the two-hour special spoke warmly about Simon’s songs. Elton John Elton John called him “one of the greatest songwriters of all time” and recalled early days when he and Bernie Taupin would sit “on the floor with our headphones listening to [Simon & Garfunkel’s] Bookends just in complete awe of the songs – the way you wrote the songs and the sounds. As a songwriter, you are the bees’ knees.”
Remembering his childhood home, Garth Brooks said “When your stuff was playing, our house was a sweet place to be in.” Herbie Hancock said, “Paul Simon is a truly global citizen of this musical world – a daring and visionary artist who is open to our entire musical universe.” Dustin Hoffman said, “Quite simply, The Graduate would not be The Graduate” without Simon’s songs. Sting, Oprah Winfrey, Sofia Carson and actor Woody Harrelson also paid tribute to the master songwriter.
The special included performances of 10 of Simon’s 14 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (combining Simon & Garfunkel and solo releases). At the end of the evening, Simon said “It’s been a night of extraordinary and many unexpected pleasures. I’d really like to thank all of these artists. It’s really amazing if you’re a writer to hear another artist perform your song well. It really makes a songwriter feel good. It makes you feel like you wrote a good song.”
Simon’s first major hit, “The Sound of Silence,” includes a lyric, “People writing songs that voices never shared/And no one dared/Disturb the sound of silence.” As a songwriter, Simon has never known that feeling and never will.
Ken Ehrlich, who was the producer or executive producer of the annual Grammy telecast for four decades from 1980-2020, executive produced this special (and co-wrote it with David Wild). Ehrlich’s talent, taste and connections are a big reason the show was so compelling.
Here are nine of the most memorable performances from the special, which is available to stream on demand on Paramount+.
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Billy Porter with Take 6, “Loves Me Like a Rock”
Song history: This was the second single from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. The song, on which Simon was backed by The Dixie Hummingbirds, reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in October 1973.
Notes: Porter sang the song with evangelical fervor. He explained that as a gay kid who was raised in the Pentecostal church, he could relate powerfully to the song’s twin images of “a consecrated boy” and “a consummated man.” Porter said to him the song is fundamentally about a mother’s love. Indeed, many of Simon’s songs explore the theme of the parent/child relationship, including “Mother and Child Reunion” (which was performed on the show by Jimmy Cliff and Shaggy) and “Slip Slidin’ Away” (performed by Little Big Town).
Bonnie Raitt With Brad Paisley, “Something So Right”
Song history: This was also from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. It was never released as a single for Simon, though it showed up as the B side of his 1977 hit “Slip Slidin’ Away.” Barbra Streisand recorded it on The Way We Were, which topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks in March 1974. Other artists who have recorded the song include Phoebe Snow, Annie Lennox and Yearwood.
Notes: Paisley (who had opened the show with a solid performance of “Kodachrome”) played bluesy guitar behind Raitt as she sang an exquisite version of this song. Raitt noted that “this song wasn’t a big hit single. It was just stunning and deep and true.” The song includes one of the most eloquent lyrical passages of any song in modern times: “Some people never say the words ‘I love you’/It’s not their style to be so bold/Some people never say those words ‘I love you’/But like a child, they’re longing to be told.”
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Rhiannon Giddens With Paul Simon, “American Tune”
Song history: This was the third single from Simon’s second solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. It failed to match the commercial success of the album’s first two singles, “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock,” both of which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100. “American Tune” peaked at No. 35 in January 1974.
Notes: “American Tune” is a hymn, really, and one of Simon’s finest songs. On the special, Simon noted that Giddens wasn’t even born when he wrote the song. But she related all the meaning of such lines as “And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered/I don’t have a friend who feels at ease.” The song resonated amid the Vietnam/Watergate agonies of the early ‘70s and it resonates even more today after years of COVID and political turmoil. “It seems right to sing it today,” Simon said.
Garth Brooks With Trisha Yearwood, “The Boxer”
Song history: This was initially a one-off single for Simon & Garfunkel. It reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 in May 1969 and was included on Bridge Over Troubled Water the following year.
Notes: Brooks took the lead on this faithful performance of the song, with Yearwood offering expert harmony vocals.
Sting, “America”
Song history: This ballad appeared on S&G’s 1968 album Bookends, but it wasn’t released as an S&G single until 1972, when the success of Simon & Garfunkel’sGreatest Hits (top five on the Billboard 200 in July of that year) reminded the industry of their potency. Prog-rock giants Yes had the biggest hit version of the song (No. 46 on the Hot 100 in September 1972).
Notes: It’s interesting that an Englishman chose to perform this song about searching for the soul of America, a song that was first released in one of the most turbulent years in American history. But Sting has a strong affinity for the song. ““God bless you, Paul for writing this great song,” he said. “I love it.”
Stevie Wonder With Ledisi, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Song history: This power ballad topped the Hot 100 for six weeks from February to April 1970. It was both S&G’s biggest hit and the year’s biggest hit. It swept Grammys for record and song of the year. Aretha Franklin’s classic soul version reached No. 6 the following year – and also won a Grammy. Other artists who have charted with the song include disco star Linda Clifford in 1979 and Mary J. Blige & Andrea Bocelli in 2010.
Notes: Wonder and Ledisi built on Franklin’s classic soul cover version for this duet. Wonder introduced the song by calling it “one of the most beautiful songs ever written.” Wonder and Ledisi also performed S&G’s 1968 classic “Mrs. Robinson,” joined by the Jonas Brothers and Sheila E. Wonder and Simon have long shown mutual respect for each other. Wonder beat Simon for album of the year at the 1974 Grammy ceremony. When Simon won two years later for Still Crazy After All These Years, he famously remarked, “Most of all, I’d like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn’t make an album this year.”
Paul Simon, “The Sound of Silence”
Song history: This tender ballad was Simon & Garfunkel’s first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. It logged two weeks at No. 1 in January 1966. Disturbed’s crunching hard-rock version of the song reached No. 42 in 2016.
Notes: This was one of three songs that Simon performed to close the show, along with “Graceland” and “American Tune.” The song’s theme of disconnection is, sadly, timeless – “People talking without speaking/People hearing without listening.” The only thing that would have made this closing number it better is if Art Garfunkel had walked on stage to join his old partner.
Eric Church, “Homeward Bound”
Song history: This was Simon & Garfunkel’s second top five single on the Hot 100. It reached No. 5 in March 1966. Many artists have covered it, including Glen Campbell, who included it on By the Time I Get to Phoenix, which won the 1968 Grammy for album of the year (beating Bookends, as it happens). Simon performed “Homeward Bound” with George Harrison on Saturday Night Live in 1976.
Notes: Church offered a fine version of this ballad, which lends itself to a country spin (though it has never been a major country hit). He prefaced it by saying, “Paul Simon is a Mt. Rushmore songwriter and artist in my career – in my life, actually which makes this…terrifying.” The camera cut to Simon laughing at Church’s self-effacing remark.
Dave Matthews With Angélique Kidjo and Take 6, “You Can Call Me Al”
Song history: This zesty song was the biggest hit from Simon’s Graceland album, which won a Grammy for album of the year and subsequently rose to No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The song reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 in May 1987 — Simon’s most recent top 40 hit.
Notes: Matthews, who as the announcer reminded us, was born in South Africa, sang the song on the special, backed by Angélique Kidjo and Take 6. The performers also delivered two other songs from Graceland, “Homeless” and “Under African Skies.”
Paul Grein, Billboard’s awards editor, began writing for the magazine as a freelancer in 1975, when he was a junior at the University of California, Los Angeles. He graduated in 1976 with a degree in communication studies and joined the Billboard staff the following year. He created the Chartbeat column in 1981, for which he won a Donaldson Award (named after Billboard co-founder William Donaldson) in 1984 as the best column in the magazine (there was no Billboard.com in those days). Over the years, he has also covered popular music for such outlets as the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Music and Hits. Grein rejoined Billboard in 2019, with the goal of covering the awards beat with the same authority and obsessive zeal that Billboard has long brought to its chart coverage. Grein’s hobbies include listening to music, following the charts and watching award shows, which means his job is a perfect fit. Grein believes that music and staying on top of the ever-changing music scene keeps him young.
TO LIVE IN Nashville is to love John Prine, so it never sat right how quarantine robbed the late singer, songwriter, and hometown hero of a proper in-person memorial when he died of Covid complications in April of 2020. Prine finally got the wake he deserved this week in Nashville with a string of celebratory concerts titled “You Got Gold,” which featured an all-star, cross-generational casts of admirers covering songs and exchanging anecdotes about the man.
On Sunday, performers and presenters remembered Prine’s generous spirit and the way he modeled being a decent human on top of his talents. “This is the type of songwriter you should be — this is the type of man you should be,” John Paul White recalled of his encounters with Prine, before turning in a solo acoustic rendition of “Far From Me.”
Elsewhere, Steve Earle offered a rowdy take on “That’s the Way the World Goes Round,” Lucius captivated with sublime harmonies on “You Got Gold,” Gillian Welch and David Rawlings chilled with “Hello in There,” and the inspired pairing of Valerie June and Nathaniel Rateliff rollicked their way through “In Spite of Ourselves.” Later in the night, R&B cult figure Swamp Dogg gave a sprawling, impassioned take on “Sam Stone” that included a spiel on homeless veterans, further driving home Prine’s original point about the vulnerability of those returning from war.
On Monday — what would have been Prine’s 75th birthday — standards like “Angel From Montgomery” off Prine’s eponymous 1971 debut (covered first by Bonnie Raitt on her 1974 LP Streetlights and performed again, with Brandi Carlile, to Monday night’s reverent standing-room audience) spoke to his music’s timelessness, while material from his 2018 sign-off Tree of Forgivenessevidenced its cross generational reach. “I Have Met My Love Today” was rendered as a duet between veteran crooner Chris Isaak and younger counterpart Nicole Atkins, and “Summer’s End” was tackled with aplomb by gifted New Orleanian singer and multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla.
One of Prine’s oldest friends and colleagues to perform was Bonnie Raitt, whom he had known since 1971. They both released their debut albums that year and Raitt has been performing “Angel From Montgomery” live ever since, calling it “a cornerstone of emotion for the audience and for me.”
'We started out together in the early '70s, Becky (Thatcher) and Tom Sawyer and Steve Goodman (singer-songwriter and longtime Prine collaborator) was Huck Finn,' Bonnie Raitt said before earning an ovation for 'Angel From Montgomery' with Carlile on harmonies. 'We tore it up all through the '70s. And we were just about to tear it up in our 70s.'
“For us all to come together in honor of him this week is so healing for us as well as for the Prine family,” Raitt said of the concerts. “It’s really the wake and the celebration we didn’t get to have yet.”
The amount of talent and heart gathered Monday at the Mother Church was, honestly, staggering. Upstarts included the charismatic Nashville staple Margo Price, red-hot Bluegrass Stater Tyler Childers, and pop-country maven Kacey Musgraves — an avowed super-fan who, early in her career, titled a song “Burn One With John Prine” and eventually got to perform said tune with its namesake — plus, from the West Coast, Milk Carton Kids, a duo whose harmonies on their rendition of Prine’s 1980 track “Storm Windows” induced goosebumps.
Heavier in nature were performances by Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, and others whose relationships with the revered songwriter were more peer-to-peer than teacher-and-understudy.
Yet as gifted as Prine proved himself to be at boiling down universal truths into pithy tunes over his long, fruitful career, it was the between-song anecdotes shared by Sunday and Monday’s performers — firsthand reflections of both his big heart, and subtle-yet-wicked sense of humor — that made his loss feel most pronounced and proved that Prine was a man not only gifted in writing about the human experience, but living it too.
The “You Got Gold” concerts wrap up Wednesday night with one last show at the Basement East in East Nashville.
Bandana Blues is and will always be a labor of love. Please help Spinner deal with the costs of hosting & bandwidth. Visit www.bandanablues.com and hit the tipjar. Any amount is much appreciated, no matter how small. Thank you.
Bonnie has contributed a new recording of "Prison Bound Blues" written by Leroy Carr to a project called Better Than Jail, an extraordinary new album benefiting Free Hearts and Equal Justice USA. Better Than Jail is available everywhere today and features covers of iconic prison songs from Steve Earle, Taj Mahal,Margo Price, The War and Treaty and many more. The album seeks to raise awareness and support for the urgent need to reduce the harm of the criminal justice system. https://found.ee/BetterThanJail.
I'm so proud to have joined in with so many illustrious artists in creating this very special album in support of rural prison reform. Overlooked for far too long, this issue cuts across all cultural and political divides and deserves all our focused attention to finally bring about some swift and meaningful action. Better Than Jail is one of the most inspired and heartfelt albums I've been blessed to be a part of and I hope it sets a fire in hearts far and wide to join in our efforts." ~ Bonnie Raitt
Released on: 2024-10-04 Executive Producer: Brian Hunt Producer: Kenny Greenberg Producer: Wally Wilson Producer: Bonnie Raitt Recording Engineer: Jason Lehning at Sound Emporium Mastering Engineer: Alex McCollough at True East Mastering Production Assistant: Shannon Finnegan Mixer: Justin Niebank at Hounds Ear Music Publisher: Universal Music Corp. Composer, Lyricist: Leroy Carr ℗ Believe Entertainment Group and Wyatt Road Records
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The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Nothing in Rambling Ft. Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo' & Mick Fleetwood
In celebration of the band’s 50th Anniversary, The Fabulous Thunderbirds have just released Struck Down, their first studio album in eight years on Stony Plain Records. The ten-track album includes a wonderful cover of Memphis Minnie’s “Nothing in Rambling,” featuring longtime friends, T-Birds founding member Kim Wilson, along with Bonnie, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal and Mick Fleetwood. — BRHQ
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Little Feat - Long Distance Call
“I’ve always loved Little Feat and this new incarnation of the band is bringing some serious heat, cred and new blood to their enduring legacy. Every Feat fan loves us some Sam. I’m so glad he’s now gotten a chance to step out front and center and put his spin on these wonderful blues songs. I loved singing "Long Distance Call" with him, always one of my favorites, and Scott slayed on slide. Know you’ll enjoy hanging out with us at Sam’s Place!" -- Bonnie Raitt
“Long Distance Call” was written by blues legend, Muddy Waters. It has Sam Clayton and Bonnie Raitt on vocals, Scott Sharrard on Dobro, Fred Tackett on acoustic guitar, Tony Leone on drums, and Michael “The Bull” LoBue on harmonica. The album also features Bill Payne on piano and Kenny Gradney on bass.
Little Feat have composed an album that’s their love letter to the blues entitled, ‘Sam’s Place.’ “Long Distance Call” plus many other blues classics are on this album. You can stream and order ‘Sam’s Place’ here: https://orcd.co/samsplace
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2, the anticipated new John Prine tribute record from Oh Boy Records, is out today. Stream/purchase HERE.
Created as a celebration of Prine’s life and career, the album features new renditions of some of Prine’s most beloved songs performed by Brandi Carlile (“I Remember Everything”), Tyler Childers (“Yes I Guess They Oughta Name A Drink After You”), Iris DeMent (“One Red Rose”), Emmylou Harris (“Hello In There”), Jason Isbell (“Souvenirs”), Valerie June (“Summer’s End”), Margo Price (“Sweet Revenge”), Bonnie Raitt (“Angel From Montgomery”), Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (“Pretty Good”), Amanda Shires (“Saddle in the Rain”), Sturgill Simpson(“Paradise”) and John Paul White (“Sam Stone”). Proceeds from the album will benefit twelve different non-profit organizations, one selected by each of the featured artists.
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Bonnie Raitt - Write Me a Few of Your Lines/Kokomo Blues
60 years anniversary celebration of Arhoolie
December 10, 2020
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Arhoolie Foundation celebrates it's 60th anniversary (1960-2020) with an online broadcast.
Bonnie Raitt - Shadow of Doubt
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
October 3, 2020
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass celebrates it's 20th anniversary with an online broadcast titled “Let The Music Play On”.
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Bonnie Raitt & Boz Scaggs - You Don't Know Like I Know
Farm Aid 2020 On the Road
Sam & Dave classic written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
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Sheryl Crow & Bonnie Raitt - Everything Is Broken
[Eric Clapton’s Crossroads 2019]
Eric Clapton, one of the world’s pre-eminent blues/rock guitarists, once again summoned an all-star team of six-string heroes for his fifth Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2019. Held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, the two-day concert event raised funds for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, the chemical dependency treatment and education facility that Clapton founded in 1998.
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'A Tribute To Mose Allison'
Celebrates The Music Of An Exciting Jazz Master
Raitt contributed to a new album, If You're Going To The City: A Tribute To Mose Allison, which celebrates the late singer and pianist, who famously blended the rough-edged blues of the Mississippi Delta with the 1950s jazz of New York City.
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Bonnie Raitt about her friendship with the Mose Allison. They're also joined by Amy Allison — his daughter, who executive produced the album — about selecting an unexpected list of artists to contribute songs to the album.
Recorded on tour June 3, 2017 - Centennial Hall, London - Ontario Canada