Ballads

If some Americans somehow are untouched by "The Bridges" phenomenon, it won't be because Time Warner isn't trying. Speaking about the book/record promotion strategy involving Warner Books and Atlantic Records, co-chairman Doug Morris of the Atlantic Group boasted, "We look forward to breaking new marketing ground in the service of such a terrific and exciting project."Here's the cross-marketing campaign, according to a spokeswoman for Atlantic Records:"The Bridges of Madison County" book and "The Ballads of Madison County" record will be packaged together on a home shopping channel to be determined.

Rob Zombie — death metal heavy, horror movie director — is a tease. When asked about his Sunday show with Alice Cooper at Merriweather Post Pavilion , he brags: "Expect, without a doubt, the greatest spectacle you'll ever see. " But asked for specifics, he gave away few details. "We'll do every possible gag, gimmick imaginable. Giant robots and everything," he said. "But I don't like to give it all away. " All right, Zombie, have it your way. He doesn't need to promote the show much.

Vince Gill had an easily answered question for his audience Saturday night at the Baltimore Arena."Isn't it nice that country is hip now?" he asked teasingly at the end of one song. The sellout crowd roared back affirmatively.And if country is hip, then Vince Gill is probably its biggest star. Recently named the male vocalist of the year and entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association, Mr. Gill is perhaps Nashville's most talented artist.He is known mostly for having a gorgeous tenor, one of the most striking voices in pop music.

A documentary that doesn't bother to explain anything; a concert film with interpretive dance; MTV for world-music fans: Director Carlos Saura's Fados is all those things, but above all it's a tribute to fado, the traditional Portuguese ballad form that allows singers to pour their hearts out to the accompaniment of rich, warm guitar. The movie, set entirely on a beautifully lit soundstage filled with musicians, dancers, mirrors and projection screens, presents some of Portugal's most acclaimed fadoistas, singing tributes to the art form and some of its greatest legends.

Shirley Horn, Washington native and Grammy-winning jazz pianist and vocalist known for her exquisitely slow ballad style, died Thursday night from complications of diabetes at Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center in Cheverly. She was 71. In a career of more than 50 years, Ms. Horn, who was honored last year at a Kennedy Center tribute concert, became famous for her impressionistic piano playing and the meditative way she rendered ballads. But she was also known for her swinging, rhythmic gait on faster pieces.

The "Ruler of the Queen's Navee" comes clean, or at least clear, in "Innocent Merriment, or Gilbert without Sullivan," a one-man rendition of the works of William S. Gilbert that opens tomorrow at Theatre Outback at Howard County Community College in Columbia.Walt Witcover, the play's creator and sole performer, said he does not mean to ignore Sir Arthur Sullivan, the other member of the Gilbert and Sullivan team, but wants to draw attention to Gilbert's lyrics and lesser-known ballads -- by speaking them, not singing them.

Augusta White, 91, who with her husband wrote the classic cowboy ballad "Get Along, Little Dogie," died Thursday of natural causes at the Garden Terrace Nursing Home in Chatham, N.J.She and her husband, John I. White, wrote the western song and other ballads published in "Songs and Songmakers of the American West" in 1976.They married in 1930 and became a symbol of cowboy lore, even though they lived most of their lives in New Jersey. John White, who died two years ago, played the "Lonesome Cowboy" on the NBC radio program, "Death Valley Days."

Thanks to the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, Nick Lachey has become a guy you want to like. His role as the harried, good-natured husband of Jessica Simpson practically earns him sainthood status, not just because of his patience but also because he transmits a persona that is hard-working and genuine. His solo debut, the irksomely titled SoulO, is much like the man on TV: uncomplicated but likable -- characteristics, unfortunately, that don't play as well on disc as they do on TV. SoulO lacks the kind of fire that makes you crave the sound of it again and again.

Rob Zombie — death metal heavy, horror movie director — is a tease. When asked about his Sunday show with Alice Cooper at Merriweather Post Pavilion , he brags: "Expect, without a doubt, the greatest spectacle you'll ever see. " But asked for specifics, he gave away few details. "We'll do every possible gag, gimmick imaginable. Giant robots and everything," he said. "But I don't like to give it all away. " All right, Zombie, have it your way. He doesn't need to promote the show much.

Country music fans lucky enough to get tickets were treated to a double bill of top-flight talent as two of Nashville's most revered recording artists, Vince Gill and Mary Chapin Carpenter, pTC performed for a sellout crowd of 4,100 at the Naval Academy's Alumni Hall in Annapolis Friday night.Gill, a 36-year-old veteran who has broken into the record charts in a big way in the past few years with hits like "When I Call Your Name" and "Cinderella," is one of country's most gifted and distinctive vocalists.

Phillips Foods World Headquarters was bustling with activity long after work hours on a Friday evening. The activity was also of the after-work sort - drinking, eating and listening to good music - all in the name of raising money for Sail Baltimore. This was the organization's fourth annual "Beer, Boats & Ballads" celebration, already a tradition for some of the guests. And everyone had his or her favorite part. "Raw oysters. Cold and salty," said Jim Stevens, a University of Maryland accountant.

As she sang about sleeping with somebody else's husband, Shirley Murdock's heart was in the church. In 1986, the roof-raising soul singer scored her biggest hit with "As We Lay," a tormented, passion-drenched ballad that flew into the Top 10 on the R&B charts and pushed sales of her self-titled debut to gold. "There was so much controversy about that song," Murdock says 21 years later. "It didn't celebrate infidelity. That song was about two people making a bad decision, dealing with the regret.

Lionel Richie wanted to get closer to his fans - literally. After nearly a decade away from the stage, he has embarked on a national tour of medium-sized venues. During Sunday night's stop at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the pop-soul legend said he wanted to know whether he's still "got it." "I've missed you," the Alabama native told the full house of mostly baby boomers. And it felt genuine. For nearly two hours, the 57-year-old singer-songwriter - looking trim, well-groomed and stylish in all-black attire - oozed warmth and charisma.

With a teal electric bass, a keyboard that mostly emitted sounds of an accordion, and a drum set, a homegrown grupera-style band - Herencia de Mexico - lured mainly Hispanic residents to Westminster City Park. Suavely dressed in salmon and black shirts, black cowboy hats and jeans, offset by cream ostrich-leather belts and boots from their native Toluca, the state capital just west of Mexico City, band members headlined at a minority health fair on a recent Saturday, crooning Spanish ballads heavy on romance.

Shirley Horn, Washington native and Grammy-winning jazz pianist and vocalist known for her exquisitely slow ballad style, died Thursday night from complications of diabetes at Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center in Cheverly. She was 71. In a career of more than 50 years, Ms. Horn, who was honored last year at a Kennedy Center tribute concert, became famous for her impressionistic piano playing and the meditative way she rendered ballads. But she was also known for her swinging, rhythmic gait on faster pieces.

It's hard to consider any musician lazy who has batted out 21 albums of original material, plus a dozen live releases. But Richard Thompson somehow manages to see himself that way. "If you're going to be any kind of artist you have to be on the case 24 hours a day," he says. "Sometimes I have to pull myself up short and remind myself of my obligations." Thompson even thinks it "neglectful" of his muse that he never before recorded an album like his new one, Front Parlour Ballads. The disc, out Aug. 9, is the first studio work in Thompson's illustrious 38-year career that comprises entirely original songs on which he manned every instrument himself.

AMERICA was born singing. The first settlers brought their songs with them, like their language and faith, the clothes they liked and the diet they preferred, the plans for their own style of home. They sang as they prayed. They sang as they worked. And they went on singing in play and courtship, in joyful reunion and in sad isolation.The songs and melodies of old were a comfort to new arrivals in a strange and new world. Each group clung to its traditional music like a security blanket. Only PeterKumpaafter a time were there adaptations and changes, and not until the approach of the Revolutionary War was there a need for new and original American songs.

Lionel Richie wanted to get closer to his fans - literally. After nearly a decade away from the stage, he has embarked on a national tour of medium-sized venues. During Sunday night's stop at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the pop-soul legend said he wanted to know whether he's still "got it." "I've missed you," the Alabama native told the full house of mostly baby boomers. And it felt genuine. For nearly two hours, the 57-year-old singer-songwriter - looking trim, well-groomed and stylish in all-black attire - oozed warmth and charisma.

During his rare hours of relaxation, Blake Shelton wanted something real and earthy to play. "Drinking a beer and kicking back -- that's how I unwind," says the country star, who's calling from a tour stop in Fresno, Calif. "I wanted to make a record that you can play on a jukebox somewhere in a friendly bar or something." He's talking about his latest album, Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill. The gold-selling disc, his third release overall, is the singer-songwriter's most fully realized set to date.

One wonders why she even wants to go back there. Ten years ago, Alanis Morissette was the angriest woman in rock. Her seminal album, Jagged Little Pill, netted millions of listeners around the world who could identify with the singer's naked, bitter lyrics. Morissette was thoroughly disgusted with love, enraged at the selfish dude who kicked her heart around like an empty soda can. And she never apologized for or tried to sweeten the anguish. Her lyrics were unabashedly salty as the electric guitars echoed her sentiments.