When John Fogerty's wife, Julie, suggested over dinner one night that he revisit his catalog of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs with artists he admires today, he wasn't about to let the music take a back seat to technology.

"I realize nowadays with the ease of digital that a lot of stuff gets made by emailing files around," said Fogerty, who turns 68 on Tuesday, the same day his new album, "Wrote a Song for Everyone," is released and he headlines a show at the El Rey Theatre. "I wanted it all to take place in the same room, kinda old school, as it were. And that's how it happened. And since we're in the same room at the same time, you're a collaborator even if you don't realize it."

Among those who joined Fogerty in various studios for his new album: rockers Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters, Bob Seger and Kid Rock, country stars Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Alan Jackson, young indie-rock groups My Morning Jacket and Dawes and R&B-pop star Jennifer Hudson.

PHOTOS:...

Jewel may have come from the Lilith Fair generation of female singers and songwriters, but her latest move pays homage to a much earlier era of guitar-playing troubadours.

The 39-year-old is taking on the role of June Carter Cash in "Ring of Fire," a Lifetime movie scheduled to premiere Monday. The film, directed by Allison Anders, throws the spotlight squarely on the woman casual music fans may know only as Johnny Cash's wife.

It's no easy task since Jewel is following in the footsteps of Reese Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for lead actress in the 2005 biopic "Walk the Line."

VIDEO: The lure of a Southern drawl at the movies

"I knew this was a big undertaking," Jewel said from her home in Stephenville, Texas. "I mean, Reese won an Oscar for playing June. That set a real high mark. But this movie isn't the Johnny-and-June love story like 'Walk the Line.' This is June's story. I'd seen a bunch of scripts for different roles, but not any that were really interesting to me. When I read...

The disagreement between Stone Temple Pilots and Scott Weiland over whether Weiland is still the band's frontman appeared to have been settled last weekend when the grunge-era hitmakers took the stage at KROQ-FM's Weenie Roast with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park on lead vocals.

Not according to Weiland.

"Like everybody else out there, I read about my band, Stone Temple Pillots, and their recent performance this past weekend with a new singer," Weiland wrote in a "letter to my fans" posted Friday on his website. "To tell you the truth, it took me by surprise. And it hurt."

In February the three other members of Stone Temple Pilots -- guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz -- issued a tersely worded statement in which the band said it had "officially terminated Scott Weiland."

The firing followed a period of reported turmoil within the band, which had reunited in 2008 and toured heavily in support of a self-titled 2010 album.

In response Weiland issued his...

The first lyrics on Cold War Kids' newest album, "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts," sum up the band's predicament right now. "I was supposed to do great things," Nathan Willett howls over a speedy piano plink. "I wasn't raised to shoot for fame, I had the safety on."

Cold War Kids have indeed done some great things, rising out of L.A.'s mid-'00s indie scene with an arty take on barroom blues-rock that made them international stars. They made a real pivot with a summery, pop-inclined 2011 album, "Mine Is Yours," and hired producer Jacquire King to shine up their sound in hopes of pivoting to mainstream success. 

Whatever bar they'd set for that, they didn't quite clear it. The album earned mixed reviews while alienating some longtime fans, and despite a winning Coachella set in 2011, their big grab at the rock-star brass ring came up a little short.

But let's not overcorrect here. "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts" is purposefully opposed to the ethic of "Mine Is Yours." It's an adventurous yet immediate...

Blake Shelton’s benefit concert for Oklahoma is set for May 29.

The singer announced that he was working with NBC to quickly organize a telethon in wake of the powerful tornado that ripped through central Oklahoma on Monday.

Shelton’s benefit, "Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert," will air live from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City on NBC and other NBCUniversal networks Style, G4, Bravo, E! and CMT on either a live or delayed basis.

The country superstar has already tapped his wife, Miranda Lambert, and friends and fellow Oklahoma natives Reba McEntire and Vince Gill to perform. Additional guests are expected to be announced.

PHOTOS: The Oklahoma tornado as seen from space

"Everyone has their way to help, and mine as an entertainer is to perform to help raise money and awareness for this tragedy," Shelton said in a statement. "This is why I want to do this special, and especially hold it in Oklahoma City, which is near ground zero."

The singer is...

When I sat down with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member John Fogerty recently to discuss his new all-star album revisiting his Creedence Clearwater Revival songbook, we spoke about many of those collaborations for the feature story that will appear in the Sunday Arts & Books section.

With more than a dozen artists participating on “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” including the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Tom Morello and Jennifer Hudson, there were far more stories to tell than we could cover in one article.

One I didn’t touch on in Sunday’s story is the album’s closing track, “Proud Mary,” possibly Fogerty’s best known and most popular song. The new version features Jennifer Hudson and New Orleans musicians Allen Toussaint and the Rebirth Brass Band.

I knew of Fogerty’s affinity for all things New Orleans, having spotted him hanging out several times at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival when I...

The afternoon light leaked through the open doors of the Hollywood Palladium on Thursday. But inside the venue, everything was lighted red enough to resemble a reign in blood.

The thousands-deep line outside for Thursday’s memorial for founding Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman (who died earlier this month at age 49) proved that the service was more than just appropriate -- for metal fans, it was necessary. Few bands command the kind of loyalty that the Southland metal pioneers have enjoyed for three decades. Drawing your first Slayer logo in a school notebook is practically a rite of passage, and learning Hanneman’s jackhammer guitar riffs is a sacrament of angry teenagedom.

The Hanneman and Slayer families are surely going through their own private grief. But for a few hours Thursday, the tribe of metal fans came together for a final rowdy goodbye. 

PHOTOS: Iconic rock guitars and their owners

As the lines of black-clad masses wound up Argyle Avenue, inside the venue, the...

The great thing about early morning news is how unpredictable and often over-the-top the anchors are at the hour.

That also just happens to be the same traits we love about Mariah Carey.

The pop diva kicked off the "Good Morning America" summer concert series Friday. and while she did sing a few numbers, the real entertainment came in between songs.

After she performed her classic smash, “Always Be My Baby,” Carey mentioned she was rushing to change and her dress was still unattached (stop us if you know where this is going).

PHOTOS: Concert photos by The Times

“This is the diva drama. 'Cause I wake up at this hour — I don’t mean I wake up, I mean I go to sleep, it's kind of the same thing” she rambled before her gown popped open from behind.

“I love you, Donatella [Versace], but it popped, darling. I just wanted to change the ensemb," she mused. Carey then turned around to show the plunge of the back of her gown and was seconds away from...

The last time local government took a close interest in electronic dance music around downtown L.A., the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission banned raves at the facility after a teenage girl's drug death at Electric Daisy Carnival in 2010.

The ban was eventually lifted, yet the incident was a dark cloud over dance music's future on public property in the heart of L.A. But that tune will soon change.

Starting Sunday, a new monthly series produced by the owners of the Fashion District's Pattern Bar will bring sophisticated underground dance artists to Grand Park, one of the city's most significant and idyllic new public spaces.

PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times

"This is an opportunity for our genre and community to show proper citizenship," said Eduardo Castillo, co-owner of Pattern Bar and organizer of the Sunday Sessions series. "It sets a new precedent if we all do this responsibly."

Over the last two years, Pattern Bar — Castillo's urbane, Venezuelan-accented venture with chef...

Consider an all-guitar jazz quartet and it's easy for your mind to conjure images of fingers burning up and down fretboards with the kind of mind-scrambling fireworks that've made heroes out of Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin.

Although those approaches to guitar music aren't necessarily wrong, Anthony Wilson offers something more understated with his Seasons quartet. Assembled after being commissioned by guitar maker John Monteleone, the quartet of Wilson, Julian Lage, Chico Pinheiro and Steve Cardenas debuted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011 with a concert that became a split CD/DVD release that same year.

PHOTOS: Best albums of 2012 | Randall Roberts

What's most inviting about the album isn't the technical prowess on display, although there's certainly no shortage of that. It's the lush simplicity of the sound of wood, resonance and steel in the hands of four masterful musicans and collaborators, who uncover music that rests between thoughtful chamber-jazz and the sort of...

If there's a broad failure to the vast majority of popular music in 2013, it's that very often nothing of consequence is being said. This is not an issue for jazz artist Christian Scott.

Which isn't to say that Scott has delved into vocals or the spoken word to get his message across. Though Scott is certainly unafraid to speak his mind in interviews, his instrument remains the trumpet, which can soar, murmur or wail on his two-disc 2012 album "Christian aTunde Adjuah."

Musically referencing American xenophobia ("Jihad Joe"), racial injustice ("Trayvon") and, most often, the plight of his native New Orleans in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina ("New New Orleans," "Danziger"), Scott is a continuation of the thread of social consciousness that has long run through the heart of jazz.

PHOTOS: Best albums of 2012 | Randall Roberts

Last year, Scott burned through the Blue Whalewith a broad musical palette that referenced  textures of rock and R&B; this weekend, he'll have three nights to do...