Dierks Bentley new album brings country fans "Home"

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - If the single "Home" is the cornerstone of Dierks Bentley's latest album of the same name, then the song "Thinking of You" is the CD's hearth because the fire within it warms both body and soul.

Bentley wrote the song for his 3-year-old daughter, Evie, who sings on the track of the new album that went on sale on Tuesday.

"I'm not someone to put their kid on their album," Bentley, the father of two daughters, told Reuters in an interview. "I got this email on my birthday when I was out on the road and it was Evie singing that song back to me. It just about broke my heart. It was the best and worst birthday present ever.

"It's so real and honest and I just couldn't take it off the track once I heard it. You know in country music there are sad songs about drinking and love gone wrong but there's another whole level of sad when you're missing your daughter. That's a whole range of emotion there I'd never felt before."

The 36-year-old Bentley's passion shows through whether he is singing about his daughter or a relationship ready to leap to the next level, or delivering fun-loving tunes like the new album's first single, "Am I The Only One?"

The singer's ninth album follows his highly successful offering "Up on the Ridge" that landed Bentley three Grammy nominations last year, including for Best Country Album. All told, Bentley has had eight No. 1 singles, including "Feel That Fire" and "Sideways."

He said "Up on the Ridge" gave him a chance to stretch out.

"My fans allowed me to experiment and do things a little different, and I still think the record opened the landscape creatively for me," Bentley said.

"With 'Home' I was trying to make a country record that was really representative of me, what I do in country music that is unique. There are certain things I'm known for, like the party songs and the fun songs, and there are songs on this record that are in the same vein, like 'Tip it on Back' and 'Come a Little Closer.' Then there is new ground for me, like 'Thinking of You' and 'When You Gonna Come Around.'"

The lyrics on the title tune can be interpreted in many ways, which is what the Arizona-born singer wanted.

COMING HOME

"Home for me can be coming back to Nashville after I've been on the road. But for soldiers it's seeing that shore for the first time after a year or more in a foreign country," he said.

"People who hear it will interpret it according to what is going on in their life at the moment. Some of the most touching stories I hear are from the soldiers who come up to me and talk about what it's like to be flying back to the States and seeing that piece of land for the first time."

Written with Dan Wilson and Brett Beavers, Bentley gave substantial credit to his co-writers.

As Bentley tells it, the three were working on a lyric when he was called away by his wife asking for help starting her car. When he returned, Wilson and Beavers had stopped working on the other song and come up with a melody for the verse of "Home," intending it to be about America or a place everyone calls home.

"When I'm on tour and hanging out with people I see that there is a lot more in common among us than we might think. So we thought we could write a song about that and that it might be a really interesting take on a patriotic song," Bentley said.

The album's first single, "Am I The Only One," about a guy ready to head out on a Friday night who cannot find any of his buddies to party with him, might be more typical for Bentley. But his duet with Karen Fairchild of the band Little Big Town on "When You Gonna Come Around," broke new ground.

The sexy tune pairs Bentley's rough edge with Fairchild's sultry vocals to convey the message that this is a relationship ready for the next step.

"I love Karen's voice," Bentley said. "Little Big Town is one of the most talented bands out there today. I saw her at a party in Nashville and asked if she'd come sing on this song and she said yes. A couple days later she came in and it turned out perfect."

Bentley is touring in the United States, then embarks on tours of Canada in late February and Australia in March. He resumes his "Country & Cold Cans" tour at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre on April 13.

(Reporting By Vernell Hackett; Editing by Andrew Stern and Bob Tourtellotte)

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The Fray display "Scars" with confidence on new album

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Of all the people impacted over the years by the lovable Muppets -- singing frog Kermit, sassy Miss Piggy and their friends -- perhaps the most unlikely is rock band, The Fray.

Following the success of their second album, 2009's self-titled "The Fray," the four members were on the verge of breaking up. Then, lead singer/pianist Isaac Slade and bassist Joe King were put together in one room in Las Vegas to record a cover of the classic Muppets song "Mahna Mahna" for the "Muppets: The Green Album" record released in August 2011.

"Something happened between the Muppets, the drunkenness and Las Vegas, and Joe and I maybe both remembered at the same time that we actually enjoy doing this," Slade told Reuters.

With the release of their third album, "Scars and Stories" on Tuesday, The Fray have finally moved past their internal differences and found new confidence that allowed them to lay bare their emotional wounds with pride.

The band -- comprised of Slade, King, guitarist Dave Welsh and drummer Ben Wysocki -- don't put on flashy concerts or wear elaborate costumes. They simply play music and sing lyrics with heart, and those songs have earned them fans worldwide.

"I don't have Lady Gaga's persona, I don't have Bono's sunglasses, I'm a bald 30-year-old man standing on stage singing songs about my life and I'm starting to be comfortable with that," said Slade.

The Denver, Colorado band shot to fame with their debut album "How to Save a Life" in 2005, earning two Grammy nominations for hit singles "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "How to Save a Life," which are examples of The Fray's trademark piano-driven ballads of melancholia fused with hope.

Their self-titled 2009 album met with similar success and earned the group two more Grammy nominations, but with fame came internal pressures and friction that threatened their longevity.

"All four of us were on our own trajectories and radically different places in regular life," said Slade.

HEALED WOUNDS, NEW MUSIC

With a little help from the perpetually upbeat Muppets, the band rediscovered the reasons they were together and went to work on "Scars and Stories," a record Slade described as "extroverted" when compared to the first two "introverted and introspective" albums.

"The second record was wounds, they were still bleeding," he explained. "With scars, they're permanent and they often remind us of the worst times of our life, but they're healed."

Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, "Scars and Stories" features The Fray's piano-rock ballads but adds new energy and hints of Southern rock. The band worked with Grammy-winning music producer Brendan O'Brien to create a sound as close as possible to the band's live shows.

The lead single, "Heartbeat," is an uptempo ode to love, with Slade belting lyrics such as "You gotta love somebody, love them all the same." Themes of loss, hope and freedom underlie tracks such as "48 To Go," a diary of a California roadtrip.

The single "Run For Your Life" holds the most significance for Slade, who said the album was incomplete without it.

"We had most of the record done but it felt like we had one song missing," said Slade about "Run For Your Life." "It feels different from the other songs, it feels really fresh, it feels like the song the record needed."

Whether the fans flock to the third album awaits weekly sales data, but Slade said critical and commercial validation is no longer a pressing concern for the band.

"I would love for everybody to connect to these songs as much as we do, but I don't need their response. I know this is the best record we've made and if we get smaller after this and fade off into our 40s and 50s, that's fine, because I know this is a real record and it's who we are," said Slade.

And he added that each song brings its own special reward. "How to Save a Life," for one, has become an anthem for some fans. On a recent tour stop in Chicago, Slade said one told him their music stopped her from killing herself and saved her life.

"I know what we do is real and it matters. Hearing that girl tell me her story was my paycheck," said Slade.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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New album Dierks Bentley brings fans of country "Home."

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - If the single "Home" is the cornerstone of Dierks Bentley's latest album of the same name, then the song "Thinking of You" is the CD's hearth because the fire within it warms both body and soul.

Bentley wrote the song for his 3-year-old daughter, Evie, who sings on the track of the new album that went on sale on Tuesday.

"I'm not someone to put their kid on their album," Bentley, the father of two daughters, told Reuters in an interview. "I got this email on my birthday when I was out on the road and it was Evie singing that song back to me. It just about broke my heart. It was the best and worst birthday present ever.

"It's so real and honest and I just couldn't take it off the track once I heard it. You know in country music there are sad songs about drinking and love gone wrong but there's another whole level of sad when you're missing your daughter. That's a whole range of emotion there I'd never felt before."

The 36-year-old Bentley's passion shows through whether he is singing about his daughter or a relationship ready to leap to the next level, or delivering fun-loving tunes like the new album's first single, "Am I The Only One?"

The singer's ninth album follows his highly successful offering "Up on the Ridge" that landed Bentley three Grammy nominations last year, including for Best Country Album. All told, Bentley has had eight No. 1 singles, including "Feel That Fire" and "Sideways."

He said "Up on the Ridge" gave him a chance to stretch out.

"My fans allowed me to experiment and do things a little different, and I still think the record opened the landscape creatively for me," Bentley said.

"With 'Home' I was trying to make a country record that was really representative of me, what I do in country music that is unique. There are certain things I'm known for, like the party songs and the fun songs, and there are songs on this record that are in the same vein, like 'Tip it on Back' and 'Come a Little Closer.' Then there is new ground for me, like 'Thinking of You' and 'When You Gonna Come Around.'"

The lyrics on the title tune can be interpreted in many ways, which is what the Arizona-born singer wanted.

COMING HOME

"Home for me can be coming back to Nashville after I've been on the road. But for soldiers it's seeing that shore for the first time after a year or more in a foreign country," he said.

"People who hear it will interpret it according to what is going on in their life at the moment. Some of the most touching stories I hear are from the soldiers who come up to me and talk about what it's like to be flying back to the States and seeing that piece of land for the first time."

Written with Dan Wilson and Brett Beavers, Bentley gave substantial credit to his co-writers.

As Bentley tells it, the three were working on a lyric when he was called away by his wife asking for help starting her car. When he returned, Wilson and Beavers had stopped working on the other song and come up with a melody for the verse of "Home," intending it to be about America or a place everyone calls home.

"When I'm on tour and hanging out with people I see that there is a lot more in common among us than we might think. So we thought we could write a song about that and that it might be a really interesting take on a patriotic song," Bentley said.

The album's first single, "Am I The Only One," about a guy ready to head out on a Friday night who cannot find any of his buddies to party with him, might be more typical for Bentley. But his duet with Karen Fairchild of the band Little Big Town on "When You Gonna Come Around," broke new ground.

The sexy tune pairs Bentley's rough edge with Fairchild's sultry vocals to convey the message that this is a relationship ready for the next step.

"I love Karen's voice," Bentley said. "Little Big Town is one of the most talented bands out there today. I saw her at a party in Nashville and asked if she'd come sing on this song and she said yes. A couple days later she came in and it turned out perfect."

Bentley is touring in the United States, then embarks on tours of Canada in late February and Australia in March. He resumes his "Country & Cold Cans" tour at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre on April 13.

(Reporting By Vernell Hackett; Editing by Andrew Stern and Bob Tourtellotte)

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Van Halen Gets a "jump" - start with Roth-serious album

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "A different type of truth" is a pretty heavy name for a very heavy album - Van Halen first for 28 years with David Lee Roth, as singer. If they were also mischievous mood he titration as they were in the registration, perhaps they could have with: "1985."

This is how directly this reunited range (give or take a bassist) picks up from there where he left to "1984", complete studio last of Roth, with the Van Halen brothers. It really takes place in another type of alternative reality where Act Sammy Hagar, Gary Cherone and Vegas of Diamond Dave show never happened.

There are two reasons for this find not listen enough happy. One is that if you were never a fan first - just enough. The other is if you resolutely coarse separately. Because property is not the classic song or three that could raise the album to the level of the gun, vintage, "Truth" concludes fiftysomethings, playing and singing as a child, well that children who already sounded extremely virtuoso and torrid/wise beyond their years as a garage teen-prodigy of the band in the mid - 1970s.

The opening piece, "Tattoo" - who met with mixed reactions as the first single - looks like an attempt to follow the lightest "Jump", largest and poppiest vintage hit the group. This is an already underrated song that combines the sides ridiculously funny and serious from the band, as Roth weaves a series of anecdotes related to the ink, the lag, ageing seeking to spice up his life with some self-illustration ("" Tramp stamp tat/Mousewife to momshell, in the time it takes to obtain this new tattoo"") for the young patriot who gets the number of military unit of his uncle of mark on his shoulder.

In any event, after "Tattoo", spent the rest of the album without the band showing any interest more mercenary in the development of a single, as the tracks especially locks in a blues-boogie hyperdrive to halfway between Black Oak Arkansas and speed-metal - liked, of course, with rapid bursts of harmonies voice hooky and constant overlay of the comedy shows of Roth Act. Roth continues to be Henny Youngman with a philosophical side and a way blow here, with a very good ratio of zingers ("Love em all, I said/Let Cupid em untangling";) ("suburban garage-a-three") of clinker ("my karma ran my dogma"?) Really, Dave?).

It can only be after three decades of criticism once noodle metal wary can fully appreciate just how travel a pleasure it is to hear Dave of consciousness complement Eddie Shredder streams. They were as always, the burns and Allen of the rock. Not that the right woman Grace has never out as a combination of skilled surgeon and piledriver, the way Eddie Van Halen when it accumulates more notes in solo than any man before him has always and even songs in to (mainly) of less than four minutes.

In "Chinatown", a fantasy impossibly fast on the imaginary gang wars and lust in the old city, the sounds of guitarist as he might try to make a sort of variation on an Asian riff. Or, it could just become crazy, he was simply too fast for us to be able to say.

We would like to say that fired bassist Michael Anthony is sorely missed, but the truth says, overlooks Member Wolfgang Van Halen, son of Eddie, who joined the meeting 2007-8 round - is a work of more than just replace original bassist harmonies high and entry-level responsibilities. Drummer Alex Van Halen did not lose a beat, literally, and feet do not fail him when the battery double bass kick in on the good-type-of-migraine-inducing "Bullethead."

Among the most memorable contributions of singer, Roth adds an "Ice Cream Man" - acoustic intro of style to its riffs extended on contemporary religion in "Stay Frosty" ("God is love but it is written"). He is not above paraphrase Dylan to laugh ("how many roads must a man walk down before that it recognizes, it is lost"), but his best set of cultural references comes with "You and your Blues," where Roth rejects the lines of standards different blues of nearly a dozen to the foul disposition of his wife.

"Selective amnesia is a heartbeat away", promises to Roth in "The Trouble With." never If you want to "Wish" a better and temporarily erase era MTV from your bank of memory, you really could not expect much better of an Eliminator of brain cells that it pleasantly tripping time resume form.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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Taylor Swift aims at Jake Gyllenhaal on new album?

(Reuters) - Taylor Swift says her new album will be about an "absolute crash-and-burn heartbreak," prompting speculation in the media that the latest subject of her songwriting skills may be her short-lived 2010 crush on Jake Gyllenhaal.

Swift, 22, whose "Dear John" song was seen as a bitter ode to ex-boyfriend John Mayer, told Vogue magazine that she was working on her fourth album, and is currently single.

The country-pop crossover artist, who famously wears her heart on her songwriter's sleeve, said that writing about past loves is a way to ease the pain.

"There's just been this earth-shattering, not recent, but absolute crash-and-burn heartbreak and that will turn out to be what the next album is about," she told Vogue in a cover story for its February edition.

"The only way that I can feel better about myself -- pull myself out of that awful pain of losing someone -- is writing songs about it to get some sort of clarity," she said.

Swift dated "Brokeback Mountain" star Gyllenhaal for about three months in late 2010 before their much-photographed relationship ended suddenly around the Christmas holidays that year. U.S. celebrity magazines claimed that Gyllenhaal had ended the relationship because he was unhappy at the attention the couple was generating.

Swift told Vogue she did not feel like dating at the moment. "I really have this great life right now, and I'm not sad and I'm not crying this Christmas, so I am really stoked about that."

Asked whether she was crying last Christmas, Swift replied, "I am not gonna go into it! It's a sad story!"

Swift gave no details, but media speculation over whom she was talking about quickly fell on Gyllenhaal, her last known relationship.

The Grammy-winning young singer's previous romances with "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner and singer Joe Jonas are widely thought to have inspired her songs "Back to December" and "Forever and Always".

"I think I am smart unless I am really, really in love, and then I am ridiculously stupid," she told Vogue. But she said she had learned some of the romantic pitfalls to avoid, including obsessive privacy.

"I can't deal with someone who's obsessed with privacy. People kind of care if there are two famous people dating. But no one cares that much. If you care about privacy to the point where we need to dig a tunnel under this restaurant so that we can leave? I can't do that," she said.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Robin Gibb in classical debut on "Titanic" album

LONDON (Reuters) - Bee Gees star Robin Gibb has recorded his first classical work with son Robin-John, a process he said helped him recover from serious illness.

The 62-year-old's "The Titanic Requiem," described as a "symphonic concept album," will be released by Warner Music Group's Rhino Entertainment on March 19, the label announced on Friday.

The concert performance premiere will take place in London on April 10, 100 years to the day after the ill-fated passenger liner set sail. It sank after striking an iceberg five days later in one of the most famous maritime disasters in history.

The album was recorded over the last year at Air Studios in London and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Included on the album is "Don't Cry Alone," featuring lead vocals from Robin Gibb in what has been billed as "the welcome return of one of music's truly unforgettable and distinctive voices."

Gibb said in November that he was recovering after being "very unwell." His representatives have declined to comment on British media reports that the singer was battling liver cancer.

"It has been an incredible experience working with my son RJ," Gibb said in a statement to announce the new album.

"There is a creative freedom and uninhibited state that comes from working with a family member. Working on this album and with RJ has been a driving force, and one that has helped me on the road to recovery."

In October, Gibb was hospitalized for abdominal pain and treated for colon inflammation. After being released by doctors, he issued a statement saying he planned to return to work, according to media reports at the time.

Gibb is one of the two surviving members of the Bee Gees, a band he formed with his twin brother Maurice and older brother Barry. Maurice died in 2003.

They achieved international success with disco hits such as "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Van Halen tour suddenly, album in February

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U.S. 2011 album sales up for first time since 2004

(Reuters) - U.S. album sales rose in 2011 for the first time since 2004, partly reflecting cheaper album prices and special offers as well as a booming vinyl market, music industry analysts said on Wednesday.

Album sales grew by 1.4 percent to 330.6 million units in 2011 according to figures published in Billboard magazine, up from 326.2 million in 2010.

The small increase in the world's biggest music market will be welcome news to the industry after years of declining revenues.

"This can partially be due to aggressive pricing of albums in the marketplace, which are being priced a lot more economical for consumers, addressing their concerns that $10 for an album may be too expensive," Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts at Billboard.com told Reuters.

U.S. physical CD sales fell six percent last year, but the 20 percent increase in digital album downloads to a record 103.1 million more than made up for the losses, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Digital song sales grew 8.5 percent in 2011 to a record 1.27 billion downloads, compared with 1.17 billion in 2010.

Vinyl album sales soared to 3.9 million copies, versus 2.8 million in 2010. Caulfield called the growth in vinyl albums "crazy," attributing it to an "untapped market."

"It's reaching two kinds of consumers -- the older consumers who remember vinyls fondly and may even have turntables, and the younger consumers who can have a physical copy in hand and have that artwork to look at," he said.

ADELE TOPS ALBUM, SINGLES SALES

As expected, British singer Adele's "21" was the top-selling album in the United States last year at 5.82 million copies, the highest annual tally since Usher's "Confessions" sold 7.98 million copies in 2004.

"21" outsold the second-best selling album, Michael Buble's "Christmas" ($2.45 million), by more than two to one. Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," rapper Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter IV" and country singer Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" rounded out the five top-selling albums.

Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" was also the best-selling U.S. single of 2011 at 5.81 million downloads, followed by LMFAO's dance track "Party Rock Anthem," which clocked in at 5.47 million. They were the only two digital tracks to cross the 5 million milestone in any calendar year.

Katy Perry's "E.T.," Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" and Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" rounded out the top five digital songs of the year.

Jim Donio, president of the U.S. National Association of Recording Merchandisers, said the increase in album sales was due to a variety of reasons "including more aggressive marketing efforts and offers, availability and consumer adoption of legitimate digital commerce models (and) the power of social media."

In Britain by contrast, album sales fell 5.6 percent to 113.2 million in 2011, according to figures from industry body BPI. Digital album sales rose 26.6 percent while CD sales slumped 12.6 percent to 86.2 million.

Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive, called on the British government to take tougher action against online piracy, the music industry's single biggest challenge.

"Unless decisive action is taken in 2012, investment in music could fall again -- a creative crunch that will destroy jobs and mean the next Adele may not get her chance to shine on the world stage," Taylor said.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White and Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant

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