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☆ Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Opens at No. 1 With the Year’s Biggest Sales
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Ben Sisario | More About Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Beyoncé’s genre-bending “Cowboy Carter” has become her eighth No. 1 album, opening with the biggest sales of any release so far this year. “Cowboy Carter,” billed as “Act II” of a trilogy that began with Beyoncé’s dance-oriented album “Renaissance” almost two years ago, had been expected by fans, and the music industry at large, as primarily a country project. “Cowboy Carter” arrives with the equivalent of 407,000 sales in the United States, and in addition to topping the all-genre Billboard 200 chart it is also No. Of its composite total sales figure, “Cowboy Carter” sold 168,000 copies as a complete album, including 62,000 on vinyl versions sold through Beyoncé’s website.

Persons: Carter ”, “ Cowboy Carter, ”, Dolly Parton’s, Jolene, Nancy Sinatra, Chuck Berry, Cowboy Carter ” Organizations: Metro Boomin Locations: United States

☆ Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Is Here, and It’s Much More Than Country
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Beyoncé has gone country, sure … but it turns out that’s only the half of it. For months, the superstar, who made her name in R&B and pop, has been telegraphing her version of country music and style. At midnight on Friday, Beyoncé finally released her new album, “Cowboy Carter,” and the country bona fides were certainly there. Yet “Cowboy Carter” is far broader than simply a country album. That theory is made clear on the spoken track “Spaghettii,” featuring the pioneering but long absent Black country singer Linda Martell, who in 1970 released an album called “Color Me Country.”

Persons: Beyoncé, that’s, —, Cowboy Carter, ”, Dolly Parton, Jolene, Willie Nelson, Chuck Berry, Rosetta Tharpe, Son, Carter ”, Nancy Sinatra, Sly Stone, Linda Martell Organizations: Stetson Locations: Texas

☆ Rachel Rosenkrantz is making guitars from mushrooms
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Flo Cornall | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

While these classic guitars will always have a firm spot in our playlists, there are some new designs making waves by harnessing some peculiar materials. Guitar maker and master luthier Rachel Rosenkrantz thinks she’s hit the right note crafting bespoke instruments out of biomaterials. From mushroom ukuleles and beehive guitars to banjos made out of kombucha leather, she’s assembled a curious collection of biodegradable instruments. Her “Mycocaster” electric guitar is made from mycelium and paper, with dried fibers such as corn husk added to make the guitar body more rigid. Her “Mycocaster” electric guitar is made from mycelium and paper, with dried fibers such as corn husk added to make the guitar body more rigid.

Persons: Rachel Rosenkrantz, she’s, banjos, Rosenkrantz, luthiers, I’m, it’s, ” Rosenkrantz, Biomaterials, Rachel Rosenkrantz's, “, –, doesn’t, Angela Weiss, ”, Rosenkrantz’s Mycocaster Organizations: CNN, Forest, Convention, International Trade, BMW, Rhode Island School of Design, Getty Locations: biomaterials, Paris, Rhode, Sitka, Brazil, New York

☆ The Town With a Song in Its Heart
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Richard Rubin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A merciful evening breeze kicked up, swatting away the Arkansas heat and giving wing to the melodies coming from two of the gazebos in the grassy park. In the larger one, a dozen people were playing the last strains of “Barbry Allen” on fiddles, mandolins, guitars, a stand-up bass, dulcimers, banjos and even a dulci-banjo. A pretty tune I did not recognize drew me over to the smaller group. But I never got to ask what it was because, just as I approached, they stopped. Crafts and charactersAll the roads to Mountain View, the seat of Stone County, in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas, are two-lane and twist through towns with names like Pumpkin Bend, Grubbs, Fifty-Six and Oil Trough.

Persons: swatting, Barbry Allen ”, “ I’ve, Johnny Cash, “ Baraboo Locations: Arkansas, Waterloo, Kalamazoo, ”, Stone County, Grubbs

☆ Bobby Osborne, Mandolinist Who Flouted Bluegrass Convention, Dies at 91
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Bill Friskics-Warren | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bobby Osborne, the singer and mandolin player who with his younger brother, Sonny, led one of the most groundbreaking bands in the history of bluegrass, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Gallatin, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville. His death was confirmed by Dan Rogers, the vice president and executive producer of the Grand Ole Opry. Formed in 1953, the Osborne Brothers band habitually flouted bluegrass convention during its first two decades. They were the first bluegrass group of national renown to incorporate drums, electric bass, pedal steel guitar and even, on records, string sections. They were also the first to record with twin banjos, as well as the first to amplify their instruments with electric pickups.

Persons: Bobby Osborne, Sonny, Dan Rogers, Osborne, Ernest Tubb, Randy Newman, Everly Organizations: Grand Ole Opry Locations: Gallatin, Tenn, Nashville

☆ 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love New Orleans Jazz
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Giovanni Russonello | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Over the past few months, The New York Times has asked experts to answer the question, What would you play a friend to make them fall in love with jazz? The United States is full of cities with their own rich jazz histories, but none goes back as far as New Orleans. To really discover the beauty of New Orleans jazz, the in-person experience is key. But unless you’re about to book a trip, why not take five minutes to read and listen, and see if you get hooked? In the 100-plus years since then, New Orleans has remained something of a cultural anomaly in the United States: rooted in its own traditions, and fortified against broader commercial trends.

Persons: banjos, Joseph’s, Louis Armstrong — Organizations: New York Times, New, Mardi Locations: United States, New Orleans, Congo, Orleans

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