Rolling Stone June 15, 2017

MUSIC 100 GREATEST COUNTRY ARTISTS From the Red-Headed Stranger to the Man in Black, ROLLING STONE pays tribute to country’s vital voices with a ranking of the genre’s most celebrated performers. MUSIC ‘PURPLE RAIN’ TOUR REVISITED Members of the Revolution, including Brown Mark, Doctor Fink and Bobby Z, look back on Prince’s epic 1984 road show. TV THE GREAT CARRIE COON How the dogged Minnesota cop on Fargo (and the grieving mother on The Leftovers) became TV’s 2017 MVP. CULTURE SEX BOTS OF THE FUTURE ROLLING STONE visits the RealDolls factory, where life-size sex dolls are getting a 21st-century makeover. ‘MUSIC NOW’ PODCAST In our latest podcast, we remember the late Chris Cornell, and share exclusive audio from the Soundgarden and Audioslave lead singer’s in-depth, revealing ROLLING STONE interviews with Kory Grow and Andy Greene. Rolling Stone Music Now also airs live on…

Rock’s Road Back NICE WRITE-UP OF A brIlliant man [“Rock in a Hard Place,” RS 1287]. The first great cracking of our mature lives, divorce, is quite a wake-up. Chris Rock will adapt and advance. I like him. He’s tough and thoughtful, a rare combination. Leslie Piper, Via the Internet DIVORCE IS A NIGHTMARE. It’s strangely therapeutic to see it happening to someone else – not because you want that celebrity to be miserable, but because you can empathize with them. Welcome to the “rebuilding and recovery” phase, CR. Sounds like you’re doing the right thing for your kids, and yourself – you’ll emerge from this stronger. Sensei, Via the Internet CHRIS ROCK IS ONE OF THE most creative and hilarious guys on the planet. His humor has always been based on a truth and…

1. The National “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” The beloved Brooklyn indie-rock crew usually goes for refined gloom. But the first song we’ve heard from its forthcoming new LP (due late summer) is straight-up aggro, right down to Aaron Dessner’s searing guitar solo. 2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit “If We Were Vampires” A powerful meditation on love and mortality from one of the best alt-country artists around – with his wife, singer-songwriter Amanda Shires, adding vocals. 3. Beach House “Chariot” The dream-pop duo have a new B-sides set coming out. Judging by this elegiac gusher, they’ve got some great leftovers. 4. Selena Gomez “Bad Liar” This bubbly jam lifts its groove from Talking Heads’ 1977 classic “Psycho Killer,” adding a cool, creepy edge to lyrics about a lover you can’t keep out of your mind no matter…

The Nashville singer-songwriter just released Way Out West, a tribute to California’s influence on country music. The Ventures “Out of Limits” There’s a real connection between a garage-rock instrumental like this and the world of country music, like Merle Haggard and the Strangers. The twang is the common denominator. Richard Bennett “Riviera” Richard rescued Nashville from the urban-cowboy bullshit. You could make an entire movie out of this song. It’s beautiful. The Byrds “Chestnut Mare” I play Clarence White’s actual guitar, which is the central guitar on this record. This song is cinematic, always one of my favorites. Marty Robbins “El Paso” This song tied the West with the East, the North and the South. It had no barriers. It’s a stunning piece of writing. There’s not a stray word. Sons of the Pioneers “Cool Water” The harmony structure here was divinely ordered, in my…

T deadlier incidents – at Paris’ Bataclan theater, where three gunmen killed 90 fans at an Eagles of Death Metal concert in 2015, and at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where a shooter killed 49 last year. But the May 22nd bombing at an Ariana Grande concert at England’s Manchester Arena was a new kind of horror. The attack was shocking both for its apparent targeting of young people, and for the ease with which it was carried out: By detonating his device in a foyer area just outside the venue, the 22-year-old bomber found a way to circumvent security at a major arena. “My first thought is, ‘How do they let this guy in a venue?’ Because everybody has cracked down on security,” says Bob McLynn, manager of Lorde, Sia and Fall…

B his mind before U2 kicked off the Joshua Tree 2017 tour. There were logistical questions, like whether it was a good idea to spend the first 25 minutes on a tiny B stage with no video screens, or whether there were too many obscure songs. But his biggest worry centered on the idea of the tour itself: “It’s so not us to throw ourselves a birthday party,” he says. “We didn’t know if we could pull off a tour that honors The Joshua Tree without it being nostalgic – that’s an oxymoron.” But shortly into opening night on May 12th at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium, Bono stopped worrying. The group tore through the 1987 opus – which made U2 one of the world’s biggest bands – with an innovative production…