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Higher Ground

Gillian Welch, David Rawlings

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_ $59 Advance | $65 Day of Show

Gillian Welch’s rich and remarkable career spans over twenty-five years, and she and her musical partner David Rawlings are a pillar of the modern acoustic music world. They have been hailed by Pitchfork as “modern masters of American folk” and “protectors of the American folk song” by Rolling Stone.

After moving to Nashville in the early 1990s, Welch was launched into the public consciousness when Emmylou Harris recorded a cover of Welch’s “Orphan Girl.” Her career continued to flourish as her 1996 debut Revival, produced by T Bone Burnett, was released to critical acclaim. Firmly on the roots music map following the release, Welch followed up that GRAMMY nominated album release with 1998’s Hell Among The Yearlings, a stark duet record with Rawlings, further solidifying the duo as a force in the folk music scene.

For her work as executive producer as well as a performer and songwriter on the eight times platinum O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Welch was awarded the Album of the Year GRAMMY, and was simultaneously nominated for her own Time (The Revelator) which Rolling Stone called one of the best albums of the 2000s and is widely considered by critics to be one of the best albums of all time. This release was Welch-Rawlings’ first on their own record label, Acony Records, helping to establish the duo’s fierce commitment to independent music.

2003’s Soul Journey was the pair’s first experimentation with a fuller, electric sound, which paved the way for the Dave Rawlings Machine project, and their first release under Rawlings’ name (A Friend of A Friend, 2009), which was accompanied by a time period of heavy touring and headlining major festivals while biding their time to return to the duet sound the two were traditionally known for. 2011’s The Harrow and The Harvest was nominated for for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Engineered Album at the GRAMMYs, and won Artist of the Year (Welch) and was nominated for Instrumentalist of the Year (Rawlings) at the Americana Honors & Awards. The album garnered glowing reviews and topped multiple year end “Best Of” lists.

In celebration of the twenty year anniversary of the Welch-Rawlings partnership, the two launched an archival branch of Acony Records, entitled Boots, dedicated to releasing outtakes, demos, bootlegs, and live recordings from their copious vault. Thus far they have released five album’s worth of music with more on the way.

In 2018, Welch was the first musician to receive the Thomas Wolfe Prize for Literature. The award is bestowed by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Department of English & Comparative Literature and recognizes contemporary writers with a distinguished body of work. 2019 saw Welch and Rawlings nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” where they performed their singing cowboy duet, written for the most recent Coen brothers’ film, live on the show. In 2020 the duo released All the Good Times, the first album under both their names, and won the GRAMMY for the Best Folk Album.

Recently, they were crowned with the Berklee American Masters Award and honored by Americana Music Association with a Lifetime Achievement for Songwriting.

Welch and Rawlings continue to tour the world in support of their music while simultaneously writing and lending their talents to countless fellow artists’ projects. They are continuously working to release their acclaimed catalog on phonograph records of the highest possible fidelity.

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Acclaimed songwriter and guitarist David Rawlings will release his freshly pressed third album, Poor David’s Almanack, on August 11th via Acony Records. For Poor David’s Almanack, Rawlings leaves the Dave Rawlings Machine moniker behind and serves up a wry mixture of acoustic and electric music rich in ageless American vernacular. The album of ten new songs was crafted by studio wizards Ken Scott (Beatles, David Bowie) and Matt Andrews on analog tape during a week of sessions at legendary Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Rawlings and longtime compatriot Gillian Welch joined together with Willie Watson, Paul Kowert, Brittany Haas, Ketch Secor, and Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes to produce an album for all seasons.

The touring iteration of Rawlings’ band, the all-star Dave Rawlings Machine, will embark on the first leg of a national tour this August to support Poor David’s Almanack, as well as perform favorites from the first two Dave Rawlings Machine records, A Friend of A Friend and Nashville Obsolete.

This release marks the 8 th studio collaboration between Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Their creative partnership spans over two decades and includes the GRAMMY-nominated The Harrow and the Harvest (2011), the much lauded and latest Rawlings release, Nashville Obsolete, which landed on numerous 2015 year-end best‐of lists, and the 2001 GRAMMY-nominated masterpiece Time (The Revelator). All releases are available on Acony Records, the independent label they founded in 2001. In recognition of their remarkable career, Welch and Rawlings were honored with the Americana Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting in 2015 and the Berklee American Masters Award in 2016.

David Rawlings: An Evening With

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Acclaimed songwriter and guitarist David Rawlings will release his freshly pressed third album, Poor David’s Al

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Dave Rawlings Machine

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Though relatively unknown, David Rawlings made a name for himself behind the scenes in the music industry as a producer for bands like Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes and singer Gillian Welch. In recent years he has teamed up with musical partner Gillian Welch along with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Willie Watson, and Paul Kowert to form the Dave Rawlings Machine, a bluegrass folk band. They debuted their first album 'A Friend of A Friend' in 2009 and have played recently this month at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. Blue denim, cowboy hats, and string instruments in hand, the Dave Rawlings Machine takes you away from the city and the present and to the rural south of yesteryear. Banjos, guitars, and bass blend harmoniously in a battle of strings accompanied by Rawlings husky accented vocals. So far, the band is most known for cover songs like Ryan Adam’s “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)” a number that will have you tapping your toes and nodding your head. As a California girl myself, another favorite of mine is the Led Zeppelin cover “Going to California” which features the original band’s own John Paul Jones. This catchy, fast-paced rendition of the song will have you longing for a road trip to the Golden State. The beauty of watching bluegrass bands like the Dave Rawlings Machine is to enjoy the pure talent of all musicians involved. Rawlings’ connections within the music industry and his band’s simple yet arousing folky sound will definitely to lead to more success of the ‘Machine’ in the future.

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How Gillian Welch, David Rawlings Turned Prolific After Nearly Losing Their Life’s Work

By Jonathan Bernstein

Jonathan Bernstein

The first catastrophe of 2020 came slightly earlier than most for Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. On a stormy evening in early March, the couple found themselves racing around Woodland Studios — the historic East Nashville recording facility that’s served as the duo’s home base since 2001 — trying to rescue their life’s work after a direct hit from a tornado. Their master recordings, instruments, and gear were all threatened by the rain pouring into the building for the past four hours.

“Everything got wet,” Welch says. “You wouldn’t want to see the tape boxes. They’re a horror.” 

Welch and Rawlings were able to salvage mostly everything from their damaged studio, but the deadly Nashville tornado, as well as the coronavirus pandemic that it preceded by little more than a week, has instilled in the pair a renewed sense of urgency to release music both new and old. On Friday, the duo unveils Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs, Vol. 1 , the first installment of a batch of 48 demos that Welch and Rawlings recorded during one unimaginably productive weekend in late December 2002. That release comes two weeks after All The Good Times , a surprise collection of homespun folk covers cut over the past few months in quarantine. 

“Dave and I are working as hard as we can to put as much music into the world as we can,” says Welch. “That’s basically our modus operandi right now.”

As Welch and Rawlings explain in an interview with Rolling Stone , part of that dedicated, urgent approach comes from the experience of nearly losing their master recordings in the storm. Part of it also comes from the more practical financial concerns of needing to repair their damaged studio, as well as being small-label owners and artists who earn an income primarily on the road. “It’s kind of madness, honestly,” says Rawlings of the pandemic’s disastrous effect on their livelihood.

And finally, part of their release-as-much-music-as-possible mindset stems from what Welch and Rawlings both describe as an intensified emotional draw toward the folk songs they’ve spent their whole lives playing.

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“Music has some things that only music can do in a time like this,” Rawlings says. “With folk songs, every person has put a little bit of their DNA into what becomes the bloodstream of that song, and the culture and time period they came out of usually did also. It’s what keeps songs and melodies [alive]. They put some of themselves and their own experiences into the song. [Playing these songs] in a time of isolation and reflection, it’s almost like all those people are there.”

You’re releasing the first 18 of 48 demo recordings that you made between 2001’s Time (The Revelator) and 2003’s Soul Journey . That’s a lot of music to write in just a few years. Welch: It wasn’t even a couple years, it was just a weekend. But they weren’t written from scratch. I have workbooks of song ideas and unfinished songs, lots of them, somewhere between 100 and 200 notebooks. So it’s not like we thought of all these songs in one weekend, but we finished them and recorded them in that time. 

When was this weekend? Were you starting work on Soul Journey? Welch: This was earlier. It was in December 2002. My publishing deal was going to renew automatically on January 1st. I owed them songs. I’d been a writer tied to a publishing deal since January 1st, 1994. We had become this touring act, and I don’t write on the road, so I owed them all these songs.  Dave said, “What if we catch you up? What if we turn in all the songs?” He started pulling notebooks out and we started finishing songs. I’d finish one, he’d look in the notebooks for another song, I’d finish another, and when he’d come back with the next song, he’d turn the tape machine on and I would sing it once and we wouldn’t listen to the performance. That’s what happened. The songs fulfilled my requirement, and then I was no longer a staff writer. 

What do you hear when you listen back to these nearly 20-year-old demos? Welch: It’s not our normal process by any stretch. Dave and I, we’ve always been album-oriented artists. These were very different. These were recorded very un-self-consciously. These songs have this weird immediacy, and I hear this complete lack of filter. I can hear that I’m not judging myself. It was just: “We wrote this song, now we need to record it.” There are things you think about when you know you’re making a record: “Is this the best version of the song? This is the version people are going to hear.” There was none of that with this. 

How long had it been since you revisited those tapes? Welch: Every now and then there’d be a reason. Buddy Miller called us up at one point. He was making a record with Solomon Burke and wanted to see if we had any country-R&B songs. That’s how Solomon ended up doing “Valley of Tears.” Alison Krauss, same thing. She was looking for some songs and she ended up doing “Wouldn’t Be So Bad.” But to be perfectly frank, this record is definitely a response to what’s been happening, in that we decided to put it out now.

Gillian Welch, David Rawlings Cover Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan on New Album

Gillian welch will be releasing 48 unheard recordings.

How so? Welch: The tornado was a big reason. Having all the tapes almost destroyed really makes you think. All of our masters were in the tape vaults at Woodland, and when the roof got peeled off like a sardine can and then it rained for four hours and then the ceilings all collapsed, basically everything we have was almost destroyed. … It made us think about our whole archive. It’s one thing to know in your mind that you have these tapes, and it’s another thing to run through the dark with them in your arms, rescuing them from destruction. Once we rescued them at great peril, you think, “Why did I rescue this?” And then you find yourself thinking, “Well, I guess because it means something.”

What compelled you to record an album of cover songs in your living room during quarantine? Welch: A lot of artists I know are struggling with the feeling of futility. I know I myself was feeling really non -essential. The artists I know, we had really gone into a post-traumatic survival mode. But I actually was hearing from quite a few people that the only bright spot was music. So for me, that really helped me focus. Dave and I, in all the disarray, what did we do? We sat and played folk songs every night. That was our response to this moment. 

Rawlings: I wouldn’t say that we played more music [than normal], but I might say that the music meant more . It did feel good to capture a few things, wherein in the past we might play a song sometimes and I’d think, “I wish we weren’t the only two people in the world who’d ever hear that performance, because that sounded like it had something.”It’s not like that happens every song, it certainly doesn’t. But maybe once a night or once a couple nights you play something, and you go, “Jeez…”

Whose idea was it to actually record the folk songs you were playing each night? Welch: I largely live in my head most times, and the past few months, I’ve just been completely unmoored from the world. Would I have had the wherewithal to set up a microphone and put tape on the machine? No. But Dave does. Likewise, with the 48 lost songs, those notebooks don’t get pulled out, those songs don’t get finished, without Dave saying: “I think we can do this.” This is why we’re still partners, because we both recognized, long ago, that we make better art working together. Those 48 songs would have gone into the ether. Same with “Miss Ohio.” I was singing and he heard me through the door. I thought it was just this silly rhyme, like a nursery rhyme. And Dave said, “What was that one?” I was like, “Which one?”

Rawlings: I overheard her running through stuff, and then I remember we were talking about some other song we were trying to write, and I was like, “What was that other catchy thing you were humming?” She was like, “Oh, I don’t know, it’s just this little ditty.” And it was the top of that chorus [to “Look at Miss Ohio.”] It’s funny how songs have that kind of elemental power in retrospect but they can seem so small upon first hearing. You almost think: “Oh, well that’s been done.” Or you think, “That’s just an earworm.” And then the song starts running around. 

The image you both conjure is of two people who perpetually spend their time playing folk songs for themselves. Have you found any time to relax during the past five months? Do you watch Netflix, like the rest of us? Are you writing new music? Rawlings: I’m not much of a relaxer. I mean, 14-hour days are pretty normal. But it has to be at this point, with everything that’s going on here. There’s been a lot of technical work. You have to keep the music rolling. I look at the arc of our career, and we caught the very end of what we’d consider to be the music industry, pre-collapse. Pre-pandemic. And the only way forward was to do things yourself, to be an independent label. I don’t always know that it’s for the best, but it is what it is.

Welch: Most of the writers I know, particularly the top-shelf ones, things are pretty quiet right now. Everybody is still reeling from this cataclysmic sea change. My writer friends, my artist friends, we’re keeping each other close right now. After the, “How are you doing’s?” it’s always, “Are you writing?” We’re always like, “No man, not a chance. Nothing.” There’s comfort in that. So we’ve been focusing on playing, just playing and singing and diving into the canon of folk songs and really connecting with them. Finding something in them, possibly more than ever. Because they’re diamonds. They’re indestructible.

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Gillian Welch and David Rawlings

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David Rawlings To Hit The Road On Headlining Tour

GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter puts his 'Poor David's Almanack' to the test with 33-date U.S. tour

Americana superhero David Rawlings returns with his trusty sidekick Gillian Welch for a new tour in support of Rawlings' recently released solo album, Poor David's Almanack . The duo and their band skip town to kick off a tour in late November that will make its way west in the months that follow, wrapping up on the west coast in March 2018.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST ANNOUNCED! Winter/Spring headline tour all across the United States. David, Gillian and the band will be play… <a href="https://t.co/sxHITxejJT">https://t.co/sxHITxejJT</a> <a href="https://t.co/ThcmqGrJD3">pic.twitter.com/ThcmqGrJD3</a></p>&mdash; David Rawlings (@TheDaveRawlings) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDaveRawlings/status/911291447944663040">September 22, 2017</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Known for their masterful vocal harmonies and intrinsic chemistry, Rawlings and Welch have a storied musical partnership.  Since they founded a Acony Records together in 2001, the duo has collaborated on eight studio albums in various iterations, now including both their solo work and together as Dave Rawlings Machine.

No strangers to critical acclaim, Rawlings and Welch received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting in 2015 from Americana Music Association and the American Masters Award from Berklee College Of Music , Rawlings' alma mater, in 2016. Welch is a GRAMMY winner for her work on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which took home Album Of The Year for the 44th GRAMMY Awards in 2001, and Rawlings is a GRAMMY nominee for his part in Welch's 2011 album, The Harrow & The Harvest .

Accolades aside, it's quite evident that Rawlings and Welch love to play. Fans can look forward to two full sets each night of the tour from Rawlings, Welch and their band, according to Rolling Stone . Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 29. A full list of dates and additional information can be found on Rawlings' website .

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Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

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He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown . The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton , who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic , psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic . Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis , Silk Sonic , and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar , Flying Lotus , and Thundercat , respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels , while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa , Doja Cat , and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic . There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin ’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music , Amazon Music and Pandora .

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism . Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and " Norma " is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers , from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea 's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’ s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight ’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat .

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo , is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody 's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether .

The Rise Of Underground House: How Artists Like Fisher & Acraze Have Taken Tech House, Other Electronic Genres From Indie To EDC

Photo: Steven Sebring

Living Legends: Billy Idol On Survival, Revival & Breaking Out Of The Cage

"One foot in the past and one foot into the future," Billy Idol says, describing his decade-spanning career in rock. "We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol."

Living Legends is a series that spotlights icons in music still going strong today. This week, GRAMMY.com spoke with Billy Idol about his latest EP,   Cage , and continuing to rock through decades of changing tastes.

Billy Idol is a true rock 'n' roll survivor who has persevered through cultural shifts and personal struggles. While some may think of Idol solely for "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding," the singer's musical influences span genres and many of his tunes are less turbo-charged than his '80s hits would belie.  

Idol first made a splash in the latter half of the '70s with the British punk band Generation X. In the '80s, he went on to a solo career combining rock, pop, and punk into a distinct sound that transformed him and his musical partner, guitarist Steve Stevens, into icons. They have racked up multiple GRAMMY nominations, in addition to one gold, one double platinum, and four platinum albums thanks to hits like "Cradle Of Love," "Flesh For Fantasy," and "Eyes Without A Face." 

But, unlike many legacy artists, Idol is anything but a relic. Billy continues to produce vital Idol music by collaborating with producers and songwriters — including Miley Cyrus — who share his forward-thinking vision. He will play a five-show Vegas residency in November, and filmmaker Jonas Akerlund is working on a documentary about Idol’s life. 

His latest release is Cage , the second in a trilogy of annual four-song EPs. The title track is a classic Billy Idol banger expressing the desire to free himself from personal constraints and live a better life. Other tracks on Cage incorporate metallic riffing and funky R&B grooves. 

Idol continues to reckon with his demons — they both grappled with addiction during the '80s — and the singer is open about those struggles on the record and the page. (Idol's 2014 memoir Dancing With Myself , details a 1990 motorcycle accident that nearly claimed a leg, and how becoming a father steered him to reject hard drugs. "Bitter Taste," from his last EP, The Roadside , reflects on surviving the accident.)

Although Idol and Stevens split in the late '80s — the skilled guitarist fronted Steve Stevens & The Atomic Playboys, and collaborated with Michael Jackson, Rick Ocasek, Vince Neil, and Harold Faltermeyer (on the GRAMMY-winning "Top Gun Anthem") —  their common history and shared musical bond has been undeniable. The duo reunited in 2001 for an episode of " VH1 Storytellers " and have been back in the saddle for two decades. Their union remains one of the strongest collaborations in rock 'n roll history.

While there is recognizable personnel and a distinguishable sound throughout a lot of his work, Billy Idol has always pushed himself to try different things. Idol discusses his musical journey, his desire to constantly move forward, and the strong connection that he shares with Stevens. 

Steve has said that you like to mix up a variety of styles, yet everyone assumes you're the "Rebel Yell"/"White Wedding" guy. But if they really listen to your catalog, it's vastly different.

Yeah, that's right. With someone like Steve Stevens, and then back in the day Keith Forsey producing... [Before that] Generation X actually did move around inside punk rock. We didn't stay doing just the Ramones two-minute music. We actually did a seven-minute song. [ Laughs ]. We did always mix things up. 

Then when I got into my solo career, that was the fun of it. With someone like Steve, I knew what he could do. I could see whatever we needed to do, we could nail it. The world was my oyster musically. 

"Cage" is a classic-sounding Billy Idol rocker, then "Running From The Ghost" is almost metal, like what the Devil's Playground album was like back in the mid-2000s. "Miss Nobody" comes out of nowhere with this pop/R&B flavor. What inspired that?

We really hadn't done anything like that since something like "Flesh For Fantasy" [which] had a bit of an R&B thing about it. Back in the early days of Billy Idol, "Hot In The City" and "Mony Mony" had girls [singing] on the backgrounds. 

We always had a bit of R&B really, so it was actually fun to revisit that. We just hadn't done anything really quite like that for a long time. That was one of the reasons to work with someone like Sam Hollander [for the song "Rita Hayworth"] on The Roadside . We knew we could go [with him] into an R&B world, and he's a great songwriter and producer. That's the fun of music really, trying out these things and seeing if you can make them stick. 

I listen to new music by veteran artists and debate that with some people. I'm sure you have those fans that want their nostalgia, and then there are some people who will embrace the newer stuff. Do you find it’s a challenge to reach people with new songs?

Obviously, what we're looking for is, how do we somehow have one foot in the past and one foot into the future? We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol. 

You want to do things that are true to you, and you don't just want to try and do things that you're seeing there in the charts today. I think that we're achieving it with things like "Running From The Ghost" and "Cage" on this new EP. I think we’re managing to do both in a way. 

** Obviously, "Running From The Ghost" is about addiction, all the stuff that you went through, and in "Cage" you’re talking about  freeing yourself from a lot of personal shackles. Was there any one moment in your life that made you really thought I have to not let this weigh me down anymore ? **

I mean, things like the motorcycle accident I had, that was a bit of a wake up call way back. It was 32 years ago. But there were things like that, years ago, that gradually made me think about what I was doing with my life. I didn't want to ruin it, really. I didn't want to throw it away, and it made [me] be less cavalier. 

I had to say to myself, about the drugs and stuff, that I've been there and I've done it. There’s no point in carrying on doing it. You couldn't get any higher. You didn't want to throw your life away casually, and I was close to doing that. It took me a bit of time, but then gradually I was able to get control of myself to a certain extent [with] drugs and everything. And I think Steve's done the same thing. We're on a similar path really, which has been great because we're in the same boat in terms of lyrics and stuff. 

So a lot of things like that were wake up calls. Even having grandchildren and just watching my daughter enlarging her family and everything; it just makes you really positive about things and want to show a positive side to how you're feeling, about where you're going. We've lived with the demons so long, we've found a way to live with them. We found a way to be at peace with our demons, in a way. Maybe not completely, but certainly to where we’re enjoying what we do and excited about it.

[When writing] "Running From The Ghost" it was easy to go, what was the ghost for us? At one point, we were very drug addicted in the '80s. And Steve in particular is super sober [now]. I mean, I still vape pot and stuff. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but it’s incredible. All I want to be able to do is have a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant or something. I can do that now.

I think working with people that are super talented, you just feel confident. That is a big reason why you open up and express yourself more because you feel comfortable with what's around you.

Did you watch Danny Boyle's recent Sex Pistols mini-series?

I did, yes.

You had a couple of cameos; well, an actor who portrayed you did. How did you react to it? How accurate do you think it was in portraying that particular time period?

I love Jonesy’s book, I thought his book was incredible. It's probably one of the best bio books really. It was incredible and so open. I was looking forward to that a lot.

It was as if [the show] kind of stayed with Steve [Jones’ memoir] about halfway through, and then departed from it. [John] Lydon, for instance, was never someone I ever saw acting out; he's more like that today. I never saw him do something like jump up in the room and run around going crazy. The only time I saw him ever do that was when they signed the recording deal with Virgin in front of Buckingham Palace. Whereas Sid Vicious was always acting out; he was always doing something in a horrible way or shouting at someone. I don't remember John being like that. I remember him being much more introverted.

But then I watched interviews with some of the actors about coming to grips with the parts they were playing. And they were saying, we knew punk rock happened but just didn't know any of the details. So I thought well, there you go . If ["Pistol" is]  informing a lot of people who wouldn't know anything about punk rock, maybe that's what's good about it.

Maybe down the road John Lydon will get the chance to do John's version of the Pistols story. Maybe someone will go a lot deeper into it and it won't be so surface. But maybe you needed this just to get people back in the flow.

We had punk and metal over here in the States, but it feels like England it was legitimately more dangerous. British society was much more rigid.

It never went [as] mega in America. It went big in England. It exploded when the Pistols did that interview with [TV host Bill] Grundy, that lorry truck driver put his boot through his own TV, and all the national papers had "the filth and the fury" [headlines].

We went from being unknown to being known overnight. We waited a year, Generation X. We even told them [record labels] no for nine months to a year. Every record company wanted their own punk rock group. So it went really mega in England, and it affected the whole country – the style, the fashions, everything. I mean, the Ramones were massive in England. Devo had a No. 1 song [in England] with "Satisfaction" in '77. Actually, Devo was as big as or bigger than the Pistols.

You were ahead of the pop-punk thing that happened in the late '90s, and a lot of it became tongue-in-cheek by then. It didn't have the same sense of rebelliousness as the original movement. It was more pop.

It had become a style. There was a famous book in England called Revolt Into Style — and that's what had happened, a revolt that turned into style which then they were able to duplicate in their own way. Even recently, Billie Joe [Armstrong] did his own version of "Gimme Some Truth," the Lennon song we covered way back in 1977.

When we initially were making [punk] music, it hadn't become accepted yet. It was still dangerous and turned into a style that people were used to. We were still breaking barriers.

You have a band called Generation Sex with Steve Jones and Paul Cook. I assume you all have an easier time playing Pistols and Gen X songs together now and not worrying about getting spit on like back in the '70s?

Yeah, definitely. When I got to America I told the group I was putting it together, "No one spits at the audience."

We had five years of being spat on [in the UK], and it was revolting. And they spat at you if they liked you. If they didn't like it they smashed your gear up. One night, I remember I saw blood on my T-shirt, and I think Joe Strummer got meningitis when spit went in his mouth.

You had to go through a lot to become successful, it wasn't like you just kind of got up there and did a couple of gigs. I don't think some young rock bands really get that today.

With punk going so mega in England, we definitely got a leg up. We still had a lot of work to get where we got to, and rightly so because you find out that you need to do that. A lot of groups in the old days would be together three to five years before they ever made a record, and that time is really important. In a way, what was great about punk rock for me was it was very much a learning period. I really learned a lot [about] recording music and being in a group and even writing songs.

Then when I came to America, it was a flow, really. I also really started to know what I wanted Billy Idol to be. It took me a little bit, but I kind of knew what I wanted Billy Idol to be. And even that took a while to let it marinate.

You and Miley Cyrus have developed a good working relationship in the last several years. How do you think her fans have responded to you, and your fans have responded to her?

I think they're into it. It's more the record company that she had didn't really get "Night Crawling"— it was one of the best songs on Plastic Hearts , and I don't think they understood that. They wanted to go with Dua Lipa, they wanted to go with the modern, young acts, and I don't think they realized that that song was resonating with her fans. Which is a shame really because, with Andrew Watt producing, it's a hit song.

But at the same time, I enjoyed doing it. It came out really good and it's very Billy Idol. In fact, I think it’s more Billy Idol than Miley Cyrus. I think it shows you where Andrew Watt was. He was excited about doing a Billy Idol track. She's fun to work with. She’s a really great person and she works at her singing — I watched her rehearsing for the Super Bowl performance she gave. She rehearsed all Saturday morning, all Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning and it was that afternoon. I have to admire her fortitude. She really cares.

I remember when you went on " Viva La Bam "  back in 2005 and decided to give Bam Margera’s Lamborghini a new sunroof by taking a power saw to it. Did he own that car? Was that a rental?

I think it was his car.

Did he get over it later on?

He loved it. [ Laughs ] He’s got a wacky sense of humor. He’s fantastic, actually. I’m really sorry to see what he's been going through just lately. He's going through a lot, and I wish him the best. He's a fantastic person, and it's a shame that he's struggling so much with his addictions. I know what it's like. It's not easy.

Musically, what is the synergy like with you guys during the past 10 years, doing Kings and Queens of the Underground and this new stuff? What is your working relationship like now in this more sober, older, mature version of you two as opposed to what it was like back in the '80s?

In lots of ways it’s not so different because we always wrote the songs together, we always talked about what we're going to do together. It was just that we were getting high at the same time.We're just not getting [that way now] but we're doing all the same things.

We're still talking about things, still [planning] things:What are we going to do next? How are we going to find new people to work with? We want to find new producers. Let's be a little bit more timely about putting stuff out.That part of our relationship is the same, you know what I mean? That never got affected. We just happened to be overloading in the '80s.

The relationship’s… matured and it's carrying on being fruitful, and I think that's pretty amazing. Really, most people don't get to this place. Usually, they hate each other by now. [ Laughs ] We also give each other space. We're not stopping each other doing things outside of what we’re working on together. All of that enables us to carry on working together. I love and admire him. I respect him. He's been fantastic. I mean, just standing there on stage with him is always a treat. And he’s got an immensely great sense of humor. I think that's another reason why we can hang together after all this time because we've got the sense of humor to enable us to go forward.

There's a lot of fan reaction videos online, and I noticed a lot of younger women like "Rebel Yell" because, unlike a lot of other '80s alpha male rock tunes, you're talking about satisfying your lover.

It was about my girlfriend at the time, Perri Lister. It was about how great I thought she was, how much I was in love with her, and how great women are, how powerful they are.

It was a bit of a feminist anthem in a weird way. It was all about how relationships can free you and add a lot to your life. It was a cry of love, nothing to do with the Civil War or anything like that. Perri was a big part of my life, a big part of being Billy Idol. I wanted to write about it. I'm glad that's the effect.

Is there something you hope people get out of the songs you've been doing over the last 10 years? Do you find yourself putting out a message that keeps repeating?

Well, I suppose, if anything, is that you can come to terms with your life, you can keep a hold of it. You can work your dreams into reality in a way and, look, a million years later, still be enjoying it.

The only reason I'm singing about getting out of the cage is because I kicked out of the cage years ago. I joined Generation X when I said to my parents, "I'm leaving university, and I'm joining a punk rock group." And they didn't even know what a punk rock group was. Years ago, I’d write things for myself that put me on this path, so that maybe in 2022 I could sing something like "Cage" and be owning this territory and really having a good time. This is the life I wanted.

The original UK punk movement challenged societal norms. Despite all the craziness going on throughout the world, it seems like a lot of modern rock bands are afraid to do what you guys were doing. Do you think we'll see a shift in that?

Yeah.  Art usually reacts to things, so I would think eventually there will be a massive reaction to the pop music that’s taken over — the middle of the road music, and then this kind of right wing politics. There will be a massive reaction if there's not already one. I don’t know where it will come from exactly. You never know who's gonna do [it].

Living Legends: Nancy Sinatra Reflects On Creating "Power And Magic" In Studio, Developing A Legacy Beyond "Boots" & The Pop Stars She Wants To Work With

Graphic: The Recording Academy

Hear All Of The Best Country Solo Performance Nominees For The 2023 GRAMMY Awards

The 2023 GRAMMY Award nominees for Best Country Solo Performance highlight country music's newcomers and veterans, featuring hits from Kelsea Ballerini, Zach Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Willie Nelson.

Country music's evolution is well represented in the 2023 GRAMMY nominees for Best Country Solo Performance. From crossover pop hooks to red-dirt outlaw roots, the genre's most celebrated elements are on full display — thanks to rising stars, leading ladies and country icons.

Longtime hitmaker Miranda Lambert delivered a soulful performance on the rootsy ballad "In His Arms," an arrangement as sparing as the windswept west Texas highlands where she co-wrote the song. Viral newcomer Zach Bryan dug into similar organic territory on the Oklahoma side of the Red River for "Something in the Orange," his voice accompanied with little more than an acoustic guitar.

Two of country's 2010s breakout stars are clearly still shining, too, as Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini both received Best Country Solo Performance GRAMMY nods. Morris channeled the determination that drove her leap-of-faith move from Texas to Nashville for the playful clap-along "Circles Around This Town," while Ballerini brought poppy hooks with a country edge on the infectiously upbeat "HEARTFIRST."

Rounding out the category is the one and only Willie Nelson, who paid tribute to his late friend Billy Joe Shaver with a cover of "Live Forever" — a fitting sentiment for the 89-year-old legend, who is approaching his eighth decade in the business. 

As the excitement builds for the 2023 GRAMMYs on Feb. 5, 2023, let's take a closer look at this year's nominees for Best Country Solo Performance.

Kelsea Ballerini — "HEARTFIRST"

In the tradition of Shania Twain , Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood , Kelsea Ballerini represents Nashville's sunnier side — and her single "HEARTFIRST" is a slice of bright, uptempo, confectionary country-pop for the ages.

Ballerini sings about leaning into a carefree crush with her heart on her sleeve, pushing aside her reservations and taking a risk on love at first sight. The scene plays out in a bar room and a back seat, as she sweeps nimbly through the verses and into a shimmering chorus, when the narrator decides she's ready to "wake up in your T-shirt." 

There are enough steel guitar licks to let you know you're listening to a country song, but the story and melody are universal. "HEARTFIRST" is Ballerini's third GRAMMY nod, but first in the Best Country Solo Performance category.

Zach Bryan — "Something In The Orange"

Zach Bryan blew into Music City seemingly from nowhere in 2017, when his original song "Heading South" — recorded on an iPhone — went viral. Then an active officer in the U.S. Navy, the Oklahoma native chased his muse through music during his downtime, striking a chord with country music fans on stark songs led by his acoustic guitar and affecting vocals.

After his honorable discharge in 2021, Bryan began his music career in earnest, and in 2022 released "Something in the Orange," a haunting ballad that stakes a convincing claim to the territory between Tyler Childers and Jason Isbell in both sonics and songwriting. Slashing slide guitar drives home the song's heartbreak, as Bryan pines for a lover whose tail lights have long since vanished over the horizon. 

"Something In The Orange" marks Bryan's first-ever GRAMMY nomination.

Miranda Lambert — "In His Arms"

Miranda Lambert is the rare, chart-topping contemporary country artist who does more than pay lip service to the genre's rural American roots. "In His Arms" originally surfaced on 2021's The Marfa Tapes , a casual recording Lambert made with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall in Marfa, Texas — a tiny arts enclave in the middle of the west Texas high desert.

In this proper studio version — recorded for her 2022 album, Palomino — Lambert retains the structure and organic feel of the mostly acoustic song; light percussion and soothing atmospherics keep her emotive vocals front and center. A native Texan herself, Lambert sounds fully at home on "In His Arms."

Lambert is the only Best Country Solo Performance nominee who is nominated in all four Country Field categories in 2023. To date, Miranda Lambert has won 3 GRAMMYs and received 27 nominations overall. 

Maren Morris — "Circles Around This Town"

When Maren Morris found herself uninspired and dealing with writer's block, she went back to what inspired her to move to Nashville nearly a decade ago — and out came "Circles Around This Town," the lead single from her 2022 album Humble Quest .

Written in one of her first in-person songwriting sessions since the pandemic, Morris has called "Circles Around This Town" her "most autobiographical song" to date; she even recreated her own teenage bedroom for the song's video. As she looks back to her Texas beginnings and the life she left for Nashville, Morris' voice soars over anthemic, yet easygoing production. 

Morris last won a GRAMMY for Best Country Solo Performance in 2017, when her song "My Church" earned the singer her first GRAMMY. To date, Maren Morris has won one GRAMMY and received 17 nominations overall.

Willie Nelson — "Live Forever"

Country music icon Willie Nelson is no stranger to the GRAMMYs, and this year he aims to add to his collection of 10 gramophones. He earned another three nominations for 2023 — bringing his career total to 56 — including a Best Country Solo Performance nod for "Live Forever."

Nelson's performance of "Live Forever," the lead track of the 2022 tribute album Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver , is a faithful rendition of Shaver's signature song. Still, Nelson puts his own twist on the tune, recruiting Lucinda Williams for backing vocals and echoing the melody with the inimitable tone of his nylon-string Martin guitar. 

Shaver, an outlaw country pioneer who passed in 2020 at 81 years old, never had any hits of his own during his lifetime. But plenty of his songs were still heard, thanks to stars like Elvis Presley , Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings . Nelson was a longtime friend and frequent collaborator of Shaver's — and now has a GRAMMY nom to show for it.

2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List

• 1 David Rawlings To Hit The Road On Headlining Tour
• 2 GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
• 3 A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea
• 4 Living Legends: Billy Idol On Survival, Revival & Breaking Out Of The Cage
• 5 Hear All Of The Best Country Solo Performance Nominees For The 2023 GRAMMY Awards

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Dave Rawlings Machine Announces Tour Dates

by John Connor Coulston September 14, 2015, 12:39 pm 1 Comment

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With their new album Nashville Obsolete coming out on Friday, Dave Rawlings Machine has announced a North American tour starting in October.

The tour will run through January 2016 with stops in along the West Coast and the Northeast before heading down south for multiples stops in Tennessee and Texas.

Additionally, Rawlings and his musical partner Gillian Welch are set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association at the association’s 2015 Honors & Awards ceremony on Wednesday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Check out the group’s full tour docket below.

Dave Rawlings Machine tour dates:

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A Q&A with Sam Jones, director of Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued

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‘Chappelle’s Show’ alum Donnell Rawlings is all right with being called mild

This year has been one of the most triumphant for comedian and Chappelle’s Show alum Donnell Rawlings.

Back in February, 30 years into his career, the D.C. comedian delivered his first comedy special, Chappelle’s Home Team - Donnell Rawlings: A New Day , in collaboration with friend Dave Chappelle.

“I think every time I did [the routine] I was the funniest I could be in the moment,” Rawlings said. “But [Chappelle] being so critical and understanding, this was a big deal. He thought a little deeper than I did.”

Chappelle, whose own Netflix show has been criticized for jokes perceived to be transphobic , scrapped the show’s initial version, claiming it was too outdated for a post-COVID release. The second attempt was marred by production issues. But after shooting the final iteration in November 2023, Rawlings said it was worth the wait.

But not everyone was pleased. Fellow comic Corey Holcomb called A New Day “mild” on his podcast, 5150 .

Inspired by the discourse, Rawlings named his new comedy tour “Black and Mild.”

“People try to use the word ‘mild’ as an insult. But I’m over 50 years old, I don’t even like hot sauce. I get heartburn,” Rawlings joked. “There’s nothing wrong with walking the line, but not pushing it. That’s where my comedy is.”

Before the comedian takes the stage at Helium Comedy Club this weekend, we talked to Rawlings about hot sauce, his famous phrase “I’m rich b—” , and the makings of a successful comedian in the social media age.

The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

You’re a bigger star than you’ve ever been before. How’s life been for you lately?

It’s good and it’s going to continue. The only thing that we can do is try to evolve, especially as a standup and artist. We have to be the best we can and give the people what they want. And I don’t think I’ll ever hit the max. I’m always going to try to go to the next level.

How has life in Springfield, Ohio, been?

It’s just like my special, A New Day . Like the Nina Simone song “Feeling Good,” I came out to in the special. As long as you can get up, you have the opportunity to be a better person. I have been doing it for 30 years, and it just feels like I’m constantly evolving and testing myself to be good.

It seems like you’ve been on a constant path of growth. Have you taken notes from Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock on the process?

The notes that I’ve taken from Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are that anything is possible. And if you work hard enough, you can be in a situation where you can say, “I’m rich, b—!” and fill arenas.

That phrase, “I’m rich, b—!” has to be one of the most recognizable quotes from ‘Chappelle’s Show.’

There’s been some good and some bad. The good is people recognize my voice from that phrase, but the bad is when I go with my friends to dinner, they don’t even open their wallets. They look at me like, “I thought you were rich, b—.”

How was it to have your first special, especially with Dave Chappelle attached to it?

If it happened 20 years ago with me not having a name and trying to introduce myself to the world as a good standup, it would have been like a calling card. But [this time] it felt more like a reward for the people who felt like I deserved [a special]. One of those people is [Chappelle]. Of course, I’ll reap the benefits of the special, but I felt it was more for my fans and my people.

You filmed the special three times. What was missing in the first two?

I don’t think anything was missing. I think every time I did it I was the funniest I could be in the moment. But [Chappelle] being so critical, and understanding this was a big deal, he thought a little deeper than I did. The first time I did it I knew it was funny, but [Chapelle] told me, “Donnell, you’re one of the funniest guys I know. You’d rip any room, but it doesn’t make it a great special.” The second time we did it, I took his notes. But then we had issues with the production of it. But there was never a high level of frustration. I knew as long as I stayed in the game, I had an opportunity. A lot of times people don’t get multiple opportunities to do that, but [Chappelle] believed in me enough and the product I could produce. And we got it together. I have no regrets.

Have you and Corey Holcomb patched things up since your brief feud?

The last time I was in L.A., I went to this club and [Holcomb] was there. The first thing I asked him was how I could be on his podcast. He said, “Yo D, why do you have something against me?” I said, “Bro, you can’t say that. I have always shown you love.” My only issue was why he felt the need to put down some of the people who are moving the culture of comedy. He agreed with me, so I’m going to do his show.

What do you think about the current state of comedy? There is a lot of tension among comedians today.

It’s unfortunate because a lot of this discourse is in the Black community. For some reason, the Black comedy community thinks [only] one comic can make it at a time. And a lot of times they don’t support each other. There’s room for everybody. There are different styles and genres of comedy.

One of the hottest things now is social media influencers transitioning to stand-up. They have the platform because people want to see them. Then you have [their] crowd work, which I’m not a huge fan of. It’s a muscle in itself, but it was shunned back when I was coming up because it usually meant a comic didn’t have an act. But I don’t knock it.

How can Black comedians rally together versus going against each other?

We can try to save the world and save the hood all we want, [but] you’re not going to do it. Take care of yourself and take care of your family. There’s nothing you can do to change the mentality. It’s always going to be there. All you can do is not let it affect you and to do what you feel is right for you.

How has stand-up changed since you started?

A lot of people my age think, “These young guns coming up don’t respect the art.” But when I started, if you wanted to be rich or famous off of this, you had to be good. That was the only way you could get noticed. But nowadays, these kids are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, and have no incentive to be good. You can’t tell them to work on that joke. They are like, “I heard what you said. But I just made one click and made $10,000.” But if you’re a real comic, you can protect the craft by being good and evolving.

In some way, could that also help draw more eyes to the comedy world?

It all depends. One of the comedians that I came up with hated shows when a YouTube guy would come on behind him. He wouldn’t go to these shows. But I told him, “Get your money, go to the show, and teach him a lesson.” Things change.

What’s it like doing comedy in Philly?

It’s a little rougher. This is a tough city. And one thing about a tough city is they give you a hard time. But when they love you, they love you. I give them every reason to love me. I have always performed well in Philly. Philly has always been a great audience for me. I’m a tough comic who’s built for a tough city.

Donnell Rawlings at Helium Comedy Club, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., Phila. https://philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com/events/90605

©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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General city information.

Tyumen is located on the Tura River 2,144 km east of Moscow. With the population of 511000 this is the administrative center of Tyumen Oblast in the Federal District of Urals.

Tyumen was the first Russian town in Siberia. Feodor I of Russia has founded it in 1586 on the site of the Siberian Tartar town of Chimgi-Tura. Yermak Timofeyevich annexed the region of Tyumen part of Siberia Khanate to Russia in 1585. The following year the town of Tyumen was founded as a Russian fort post. In the 17 th –18 th centuries, Tyumen became an important trade center on the routes to Central Asia, China and Persia as well as the place that produced leather and handcrafted goods. In 1836, the first steamboat of Siberia was built in Tyumen and in 1885 the Trans-Siberian railway has reached the town.

During the 1930s Tyumen became a major Siberian industrial city of the Soviet Union. Steamboats, cargo ships, furniture, fur and leather clothing—all were produced in Tyumen. During The World War II (aka the Great Patriotic War in Russia), Lenin’s body was moved from Moscow to a disguised tomb at the Tyumen Agriculture Institute. Also during the war numerous factories were evacuated to Tyumen from the European part of the Soviet Union. Many kinds of military equipment were produced in the city.

In 1948, oil was discovered in Tyumen region, and in the 1960s and 1970s the oil industry became a vital component of the city’s economy. Today Tyumen is an important center for the gas and oil industries in Russia. The living standards of Tyumen residents are only second to those of Moscow in Russia. Companies such as Gazprom, LUKoil and Yukos have much of their activities centered in Tyumen.

The Museum of local history is one a very few in the world that boast a complete mammoth skeleton.

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• Hotels in Tyumen Here you will find a list of hotels in Tyumen with a reservation option. You may book any of the listed hotels via our agency and get a reduced price. If you book your hotel with us, your visa support (letter of invitation for a Russian visa) will be free of charge. If you are interested in booking a different hotel in Tyumen, please, contact us .
• Sightseeing in Tyumen Tyumen is on of the richest cities of Russia so there are a lot of exciting things a tourist might do. Here you will find a list of excursions and day trips we recommend. On request, extra excursions can be organised. If you are interested in this option, please, contact us
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The bourgeois charm of Siberia's oil capital

If you’re driving west across Russia from the Pacific Ocean, the first thing that you notice upon entering the city of Tyumen is the McDonalds. Tyumen has long been one of the only Siberian cities with a McDonalds restaurant. Although the fast-food giant has plans to open locations in nearby Novosibirsk and other regional cities, Siberia still contains one of the longest distances on earth outside of Africa where you can remain on a major highway and not see a McDonalds. Until you reach Tyumen, that is.

A stop in Tyumen provides an interesting glimpse into how modern Russia’s oil revenue has influenced Siberia’s oldest Russian city. Tyumen is a great stopover point on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and a short ride from Yekaterinburg (five hours) or Tobolsk (four hours).

In the 16th century, Russia started expanding eastward into parts of Central Asia ruled by the Tatars, an Islamic people who still live thoughout Russia. A band of Cossacks wrested control of Tyumen from the Tatars in 1580. Six years later, Russians established a fort in Tyumen on the Tura River.

For centuries, Tyumen vied with the nearby city of Tobolsk—once the official capital of Siberia—for the prestige of the region’s most important city. Tyumen won in the end, when the Trans-Siberian Railroad bypassed Tobolsk and was routed through this now oil-rich city.

Tyumen played an important role in Russian history during times of war. At the beginning of the Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik Red Army slowly pushed the White Army, commanded by Admiral Alexander Kolchak, into Siberia. Kolchak and his anti-Bolshevik forces holed up in Tyumen until the Red Army overtook them in January of 1918.

During the Second World War, many Russian industries were moved away from the front to Siberian cities. Tyumen had already become an industrial capital during the early Soviet era, and the city became an ideal spot to relocate Russia’s western factories. As Nazi forces approached Russia in 1941, the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin was sent from the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square by train to the Tyumen State Agricultural Academy for safekeeping. In 1945, Lenin’s body was shipped back to Moscow.

Some of the factories relocated to Tyumen during wartime remained in the city. The discovery of oil in the region catapulted Siberia’s oldest Russian settlement to further prosperity. Modern Tyumen is a vibrant city with a number of universities and a revamped center well-suited for exploration by foot.

Start your walking tour around central Tyumen on Ulitsa Respubliki. The city’s main drag has fine pedestrian walkways and leads wanderers past an impressive collection of tsarist-era buildings that recall Tyumen’s importance in the beginning of Russia’s colonization of Siberia.

From the southeastern end of Ul. Respubliki, head north toward the Tura River and take a brief side trip onto Ul. Ordzhonikidze to visit the Fine Arts Museum (47 Ul. Ordzhonikidze) which houses exhibits of classical Russian and Soviet art as well as traditional bone carving and works produced by the native people who live in the far north of Tyumen Oblast.

Back on Ul. Respubliki, you’ll soon see the city’s requisite Lenin statue by the local government buildings. A block away, opposite Lenin, is Tyumen’s city park, a delightful place to walk or hop on one of its amusement rides.

Most Siberian cities developed under the watchful eyes of the atheist Soviet regime and churches are usually not Siberia’s strongpoint. But this isn’t true in four-centuries-old Tyumen. Strolling up Ul. Respubliki, you’ll soon come to the Church of the Saviour (41 Ul. Lenina) and the Znamensky Cathedral (13 Ul. Semakova). Each of these stunning Baroque-influenced churches are located right off Ul. Respubliki and were built in the late 18th century.

Tyumen is also famous for its historic wooden houses. Heading further up Ul. Respubliki, stop to wander around some of the side streets and snap photos of these ornate wooden structures which provide a glimpse back in time. Near the Tura River, you’ll pass a civil war monument in remembrance of the Tyumen natives who died fighting the White Army and the Tyumen State Agricultural Academy (7 Ul. Respubliki) an impressive building in its own right where Lenin was stored during the Second World War.

Near the end of Ul. Respubliki, take a walk over the Tura River on the Lover’s Bridge, a suspension bridge open to foot traffic only that has become one of Tyumen’s iconic sights. The other side of the river is a great place to see more of Tyumen’s signature wooden houses as well as take in the churches scattered around the city center.

Save the best for last and visit the Trinity Monastery (10 Ul. Kommunisticheskaya) at the end of Ul. Respubliki. A white wall surrounds the monastery, giving it the appearance of a mini-kremlin, and the golden onion domes of the 18th century churches within should not be missed.

Although navigating Tyumen is straightforward enough, the St. Petersburg-based travel company OSTWEST can arrange a city tour in Tyumen and the surrounding countryside.

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