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Standing behind a camera atop a tripod onstage at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin, North Carolina, Lyle Lovett peers into the viewfinder and pauses for a moment before hitting the shutter button.

Lovett’s road manager yells loudly, “Fire in the hole,” as the room goes silent, the only subsequent sound being the click of the camera. The entire scene repeats itself a handful of times before Lovett is satisfied with how the empty venue, soon-to-be-packed with concertgoers, is portrayed.

“In terms of every type...

For the last several decades, Leo Kottke has perfected the way he likes to tour. Instead of using a tour bus, the guitarist drives himself, piling his guitars into the back of a rental car. He deals with venue staff directly, settling up on his own. And he doesn’t bring a band. “The promoters know that I have no logistics, no rider, no tour manager, and they get me in and out and be done with it,” says the guitarist, 74. “The crews are real happy to see me, because...

Ben Harper has announced his new album Winter Is for Lovers, a solo effort that features Harper and his Monteleone lap steel guitar across 15 original instrumental compositions.

As a preview for the album, Harper released a performance of the song “Inland Empire” in his home studio, surrounded by his collection of other instruments. The musical arrangement highlights the lap steel’s versatility and range of musical stylings, all compacted into three minutes. According to Harper, the album explores the American Primitive movement pioneered by Leo Kottke and John Fahey and...

“If you scroll through all the movies I’ve worked on, you can understand how I was a specialist in westerns, love stories, political movies, action thrillers, horror movies and so on,” said Ennio Morricone. “So in other words, I’m no specialist, because I’ve done everything. I’m a specialist in music.”

The specialist and legendary maestro has passed away at the age of 91, leaving behind an incredibly prolific body of work that included over 400 scores made for movies and television as well as classic work and many journeys across the world performing his music. While it’s impossible to encapsulate such a towering career––considering he began writing his first compositions at the age of six––if you’re looking to revisit or discover some of his finest scores in remembrance, we’ve gathered our twenty favorites below.

The round-up includes some of his most iconic scores,...

In our new series, we look at eight cities where live music has exploded — from legendary hubs like Chicago and Nashville, to rising hot spots like Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Raleigh, North Carolina. The latest is a left-field surprise: Portland, Maine, which is drawing promoters from major cities and ambitious young songwriters.

Every November, more than a dozen top musicians from Portland, Maine, take over the local State Theatre for an ambitious trip back in time: They play a Beatles album in full. This year, it was the White Album; bandleader...

The best of your comments on the latest films and music

When Bands Attack Bands sounds like such a natural TV show for the outer edges of the cableverse that it's a miracle no one has yet made it. If any programmers are reading, might I suggest you take a look at the thread beneath Bob Stanley's article last week, in which he mulled over musicians rowing over who owns the band's name. Honestly, you'll find enough material for a whole series.

An award for conspicuous devotion to duty in the face of multiple groups all claiming to be the real thing (not the Real Thing) goes to Kalyr: "There are currently two Wishbone Ashes and two Barclay James Harvests on the live circuit, each with one surviving original member. Having seen all four live, I would say the better live bands are versions that aren't the legal owners...

To remind us that director Terrence Malick’s work has always been divisive, along comes a BFI reissue of his 1978 film, Days Of Heaven. Michael takes a look back...

As Terrence Malick enjoys what could be the most attention he’s attracted in three decades (or, by his measure, three films) with this year’s divisive art flick Tree Of Life, the BFI are releasing a restoration of Days Of Heaven, one of the two films that made his reputation in the 1970s, before his two-decade hiatus from the industry that lasted until 1998’s The Thin Red Line.

In Days Of Heaven, a too-brooding, too-handsome Richard Gere stars as Bill, a young worker who, after a fatal tussle with a steel mill foreman, gathers up his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) and his sister Linda (Linda Manz) and abandons 1916 Chicago to harvest crops out West. Posing as siblings, the trio work for a rich,...

This past week, Film Score Monthly has released a new soundtrack album for Terrence Malick’s 1978 drama Days of Heaven. The film’s Academy Award-nominated score is composed by Ennio Morricone. The album comes in a 2Cd set and includes the 1978 soundtrack album including most of Morricone’s major themes and some music not heard in the picture, as well as the composer’s cues as heard in the final film on one disc. The second disc presents an extended, freestanding program of most of Morricone’s score as recorded. For audio clips and more information, visit Film Score Monthly’s album page. Days of Heaven starring Richard Gere, Sam Shepard and Brooke Adams centers on a hot-tempered farm laborer who convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune. The movie was nominated for four Academy...

Sept. 6: Comedian JoAnne Worley is 72. Country singer David Allan Coe is 70. Country singer Mel McDaniel is 67. Singer-bassist Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 66. Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 65. Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 62. Country singer Buddy Miller is 57. Country drummer Joe Smyth of Sawyer Brown is 52. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 51. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow ("Police Academy") is 51. Guitarist Pal Waaktaar of A-ha is 48. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 46. Actress Rosie Perez is 45. Singer Macy Gray is 42. Singer CeCe Peniston is 40. Singer Darryl Anthony (Az Yet) is 40. Singer Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) is 38. Actor Dylan Bruno ("Numb3ers") is 37. Actress Anika Noni Rose ("Dreamgirls") is 37. Actor Justin Whalin ("Lois and Clark") is 35. Singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 35. Actress Naomie Harris ("Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest") is 33. Rapper Noreaga is 32. Rapper Foxy Brown is 31.Sept. 7: Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins is 79. Singer...