Music News 7.20.17

Kenny Rogers to Play His Final Hand

Kenny Rogers is retiring, and he’s going out in style. Rogers has had his thumb in the music pie since the 50s, charting over 120 hit singles across a spectrum of genres with a musical career spanning even more including rock n roll, pop, jazz, and, of course, country.

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, crossover duet mega hit was their country cover of the Bee Gee’s “Islands in the Stream,” with the one and only Dolly Parton. Rogers and Parton have given the world several gifts of their duetted magnificence but have performed live together only twice over the last decades.

The two are coming together for the first time in twelve years to perform together one final time as just one incredible part of the lineup for Rogers’s farewell concert All In for the Gambler happening in Nashville on October 25th. The concert will also feature performances by Little Big Town, Alison Krauss, Elle King, Idina Menzel, and the Flaming Lips. As these things tend to go, the audience can expect several special unnamed guests to grace the stage as well.

In an interview with Rolling Stone discussing his retirement, Rogers had a lot of warm words for those he’s influenced including those who have in turn played with Rogers on stage or in the studio. Reflecting on his career, he said, “I’ve had a great life, I can’t complain, but it’s time for me to hang it up.” Tickets for All In for the Gambler go on sale tomorrow morning at 10.

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Joe Walsh Launches VetsAid

After years of assisting numerous veterans’ charities, Eagles guitarist and vocalist Joe Walsh is launching his own veterans’ aid charity. VetsAid is a non-profit that will raise money to fund several veterans-based charities all across the country that provide mental, emotional, and physical care to veterans and their families.

Walsh’s own father was killed while stationed and serving active duty in Okinawa during World War II when Walsh was only 20 months old and in an interview with Rolling Stone, Walsh reflects, “I stopped counting the number of friends I lost in the Vietnam War or that came home forever scarred mentally or physically or both.”

To kick-off the charity, Walsh has organized a huge fundraiser show slated to take place on September 20th in Fairfax, Virginia with a line-up studded with Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band, and Austin’s own Gary Clark, Jr..

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-Taylor Wallace

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