Rolling Stone November 2018

“I’m afraid of lots of things. But when it comes to actually being really scared, I have a strange bravery.”—FLORENCE WELCH ROLLING STONE’S first serious venture into national politics was a bold one: sending Hunter S. Thompson to cover the rancorous 1972 presidential race between a deeply flawed Republican incumbent with sinking approval ratings, Richard Nixon, and a left-wing Democrat, George McGovern, whom the magazine energetically endorsed but who never had much of a chance. In one of his scathing dispatches, Thompson wrote, “The whole framework of the presidency is getting out of hand. It’s come to the point where you almost can’t run unless you can cause people to salivate and whip on each other with big sticks. You almost have to be a rock star to get the kind of…

“Legendary, inspirational and one of a kind. These are the three things that come to mind when I think of Aretha Franklin.”—Jeff Swanson, Everett, WA Honoring the Queen When Aretha Franklin passed away in August, after battling pancreatic cancer, contributing editor Mikal Gilmore wrote a definitive tribute to Franklin that spanned her life, from her traumatic formative years to her reign as the greatest singer of all time [“The Queen,” RS 1320]. Veteran critic and Paul Simon biographer Robert Hilburn tweeted in praise of Gilmore’s work, saying, “Mikal Gilmore’s series of appreciations in ROLLING STONE about the importance of various legendary artists represents some of the finest writing ever about pop music. . . . Latest example: his cover story on Aretha Franklin.” Another reader, Benjamin M., called it “a beautiful reflection…

OZZY OSBOURNE’S pre-show routine is a little quieter than it used to be: First he does vocal warm-ups, then he prays. “I say a few words to my higher power, which, if you want to call him God, I don’t care,” he says in his dressing room at PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on opening night of his North American tour. “If something goes wrong, it was his decision, not mine.” The stakes are greater this time, since the former Black Sabbath singer and reality-TV star declared that this world tour will be his last. Its name, No More Tours II, references his No More Tours farewell run in the early Nineties. Back then, Ozzy had been diagnosed with “a little bit of” multiple sclerosis. “Sharon said, ‘A little bit of…

IN THE REGIMENTED world of country music — where would-be stars pass through a Music Row boot camp of nights spent working out their material at open mics and days spent peddling songs to publishers — Kane Brown, 25, thinks of himself as an outcast. He’s biracial, and he came up hard in Tennessee and northern Georgia, living with his single mom in a car at one point and moving so often he attended five different high schools. “I got bullied so much growing up for being a different color in a majority-white school,” he says. “I remember being chased through the woods being called the n-word. I was in middle school. The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘They’re gonna kill me.’ ” Early in Brown’s career, because…

Blood on the Tracks has always been one of Bob Dylan’s most mysterious albums. He recorded the classic LP in New York, but then, for reasons he’s never explained, scrapped half of it and went back home to Minnesota to keep working, even though advance copies had been shipped out (everyone from Mick Jagger to Dylan’s brother David have been credited with convincing Dylan the original recordings weren’t up to par). A new box set, More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14, offers a window into those original New York sessions, showing exactly how his most confessional songs came together during just six days in 1974. These never-heard recordings reveal that he originally laid down the songs acoustically by himself. On the box set, raw, achingly tender renditions…

TWO YEARS AGO, when Brothers Osborne beat out Florida Georgia Line to win Vocal Duo of the Year at the Country Music Awards, many Nashville scene-watchers saw it as a hugely pivotal moment. FGL had defined the slick “bro country” sound that had ruled radio for years. Brothers Osborne hearkened back to a tougher, rootsier side of country. Underdog realness took home the hardware. “All genres of music get to be repetitious after a while,” says the bearded John Osborne, 36, sitting next to his younger brother in an East Nashville cocktail bar. “And sometimes a bomb needs to be detonated.” On November 14th, the Brothers are up for their third consecutive Best Vocal Duo CMA. Along with artists like Ashley McBryde and Chris Stapleton, they’re part of an old-school, guitar-driven…