Following Cindy Mabe’s departure as CEO/chairman of Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) earlier on Thursday (Feb. 6), parent company Universal Music Group has appointed Mike Harris as CEO and named noted producer and nine-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb as chief creative officer.

The move is a return to UMGN for Harris, who served as COO/executive VP there until his departure last September.

“We see an incredible opportunity to expand our presence in Nashville and build upon our industry leading track record,” said Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman/CEO of UMG, in a statement. “The worldwide success of our country artists demonstrate that the genre truly has no boundaries and I’m excited for what lies ahead creatively and commercially.” The two will report to Grainge.

“I am humbled to have been asked by Sir Lucian to lead UMG Nashville at such an important and exciting time in country music,” said Harris, who had initially joined UMGN in 2016 after 15 years at EMI. “I also look forward to work closely with Dave Cobb, the amazing roster of artists and my friends at UMG Nashville.”

Cobb said, “I am incredibly excited to work with Mike Harris, I’m here to honor the past, and look to the future.”

Cobb, one of Music City’s most in-demand collaborators, has produced such albums as Chris Stapleton’s 6-times-platinum Traveller, Jason Isbell’s Southeastern and Brandi Carlile’s By The Way I Forgive You as well as recent albums for Mumford & Sons, Red Clay Strays, Zayn, Greta Van Fleet, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire and music for Deliver Me From Nowhere, the forthcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic.

Mabe, whose reign lasted almost two years, was the successor to Mike Dungan, who retired in March 2023. Mabe became the first woman to lead a Nashville major label group. Country Airplay first broke the news.

“I want to thank Cindy Mabe for all her contributions to our Nashville company,” Grainge said. “She leaves UMG with our gratitude and respect.” 

In addition to Stapleton, UMGN is home to such acts as Eric Church, Luke Bryan, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Mickey Guyton and The War and Treaty. Among its more recent successes were upstart Tucker Wetmore, who reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart last year with “Wind Up Missin’ You,” and Ringo Starr, whose country album is the first release from the newly-relaunched Lost Highway/UMGN and debuted at No. 27 on Top Country Albums.

Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart is taking a look at one of music’s most iconic names for his latest record, Dave Does Dylan.

Arriving as part of the global Record Store Day celebrations on April 12, Stewart’s 14-song homage to Bob Dylan sees the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer performing live, one-take covers of Dylan’s catalog – armed only with guitar and vocals. Featuring cover artwork evocative of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, the record largely features tributes to Dylan’s songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, though latter-period tracks also make the cut.

In a statement, Stewart explained that he had been a fan of Dylan since childhood, going so far as to perform two Dylan covers as part of his earliest gigs as a teenager in the mid ‘60s.

“I was insistent on getting into folk clubs, but I looked about 12 years old, so they kept me out for a while,” he recalled. “Then one chap, Mick Elliot, took pity and allowed me to play at The George & Dragon which became the center of the folk music scene in my hometown, Sunderland N.E. England, in the 1960’s. It was like stepping into a sacred room where visionaries and rebels converged — actually, it was simply a room upstairs in a pub full of older folk singers, beer, whisky and cigarette smoke everywhere. I was allowed to sing two songs, so I would play Bob Dylan songs from his albums that my brother had left behind when he went to college.

“The audience was always a bit shocked that this kid, who looked so young, was singing these lyrics — especially in that kind of folk club,” Stewart continued. “It was mostly old folk music that was being played from the local area about the coal mines and about the shipyards, which I loved too…and Dylan would have loved also. I started to sing and play these Dylan songs anywhere I could; in other folk clubs, even on the street all over the north east of England. From then on, I got every Bob Dylan album — and still do to this day — on vinyl and in every possible variation.”

“Captain Dave is a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order, very delicately tractable on the surface but beneath that, he’s a slamming, thumping, battering ram, very mystical but rational and sensitive when it comes to the hot irons of art forms,” Dylan himself said in a statement.

“An explosive musician, deft guitar player, innately recognizes the genius in other people and puts it into play without being manipulative. With him, there’s mercifully no reality to yesterday. He is incredibly gracious and soulful, can command the ship and steer the course, dragger, trawler or man of war, Captain Dave.”

Ahead of the release of Dave Does Dylan, Stewart is also set to tape an episode of the Recorded Live at Analog series on March 22 at Analog inside Nashville’s Hutton Hotel. The appearance will see him performing tracks from his upcoming record with the addition of strings, pedal steel guitar, and keys. The episode will air on PBS on an as-yet-unspecified date in July, with tickets available for audience members to attend the taping.

“I’ve played on stage with Bob in London, L.A. and Tokyo, and I find conversations with him — whether on the phone or when we’re together — really relaxed and easy,” Stewart added. “As you can imagine, he is full of great observations and wisdom, all wrapped up in a poetic language. 

“I’m so, so grateful for getting to know him personally and to now record this album of songs after years of singing them to friends and to myself. It’s been a long road and these lyrics and melodies have kept me company through the best and the worst of times. I hope my album can do the same for Dylan fans out there—who understand the mastery and the mystery Bob has bestowed on us, and still does to this day.”

Swedish producer Alesso has opened up about his recent experiences with tinnitus and how it has been the cause of numerous canceled shows in recent months.

The 33-year-old musician (whose real name is Alessandro Lindblad) took to social media on Monday (Feb. 3) to discuss his recent spate of live cancellations. Following near nonstop touring throughout 2024, Alesso was forced to cancel shows throughout Australia and Saudi Arabia, before his entire world tour was axed, with “a recent health issue combined with overexertion” being cited as the reason.

“I just wanted to be a little bit transparent on the situation,” the producer said in a video shared to Instagram. “So basically, two months ago, I woke up with the loudest ringing in my ears. I’m talking about 10 out of 10. I was in complete shock, and it was not after a show. I just woke up, and it was so intense.”

Noting that such problems related to hearing were “super common in the music industry”, Alesso admitted he too had experienced similar issues in the past, though not to this level.

“But the good news is I’m getting better,” he continued. “I took this as a sign to slow down, to prioritise my health, be more careful. I’ve been doing this for 14 years now, and I’ve never taken a break. So I’ve just been kind of focusing on that.”

Currently, Alesso’s website lists tour dates for the next six months, with his return to the stage set to take place at Belly Up Aspen in Colorado on Feb. 14. As he concluded his video, Alesso explained he’s working towards big events such as Miami’s Ultra Festival on March 30, and offered advice to his followers as he moves forward.

“I will be doing shows, but maybe not as many, as you can understand,” he explains. “I just wish everyone health this year. I want everyone to To be careful, wear ear protection. Remember, we’re only humans.“

Alesso rose to fame throughout the 2010s, beginning his musical career with a series of remixes, singles, and collaborations ahead of his only studio album to date, 2015’s Forever. The record peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the Tove Lo-featuring single “Heroes (We Could Be)”. The track would become his biggest commercial success in the U.S., hitting No. 31 on the Hot 100.

The ever-prolific Neil Young has assured fans that 2025 will feature a new album, with the Canadian veteran offering an update on his debut album with new band The Chrome Hearts.

News of the upcoming record comes just weeks after Young shared “Big Change”, the first single to be released with his nascent band. The Chrome Hearts first debuted by Young back in September 2024, just months after an unspecified illness necessitated a “big unplanned break” from touring with longtime backing group Crazy Horse.

The Chrome Hearts, as Young himself describes, “reconfigures musicians he has worked with before”, with guitarist Micah Nelson, bassist Corey McCormick, drummer Anthony Logerfo, and organist Spooner Oldham comprising the lineup. While Nelson, McCormick, and Logerfo have performed with Young as members of Promise of the Real, Oldham has worked with Young for decades, appearing on records such as 1978’s Comes a Time and 1992’s Harvest Moon.

Working with producers John Hanlon and his brother-in-law Lou Adler at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu, Young explains that “Big Change” is the first taste of a forthcoming album from The Chrome Hearts, with the material being written throughout November and December.

“They feel fresh to me and I am very happy to have this all ready for you. It won’t be long now and it will be great to have new songs to play on the road this summer in Europe, the USA and Canada,” Young said via his website. “We are looking forward to that!”

Young added that the record is now in the mastering stage for vinyl, CD, and digital copies that are expected to be released in only a couple of months.

“I am very happy and relieved to have ths [sic] done in the short time it took,” he explained. “The album art has been completed and handed in with Jenice Heo. I am working on the lyric sheets now, hoping to hand-write the words and get them in, in time..

“It is a happy feeling I have today, knowing I have made an album I think people will enjoy. I hope it’s out in April. That would be pretty fast.”

Presuming the April release date is adhered to, it would make the as-yet-untitled record the second release from Young in 2025, with his “lost” 1977 album Oceanside Countryside set to drop on Feb. 14.

Young and The Chrome Hearts will also be performing at England’s Glastonbury Festival in June. Young’s inclusion on the lineup was marred by an “error in the information” which initially saw him distance himself from the event, labelling it a “corporate turn-off”.

Los Angeles Celtic punk band Flogging Molly have been forced to cancel all of their 2025 tour dates due to health issues faced by frontman Dave King.

The band shared the news on social media, alerting fans that Flogging Molly will be unable to headline their own Salty Dog Cruise, which launches on Feb. 17 as a five-night trip from Port of Miami to Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

“Our fearless leader, the inimitable Dave King, is currently battling a very serious health condition,” the group wrote. “Dave and Bridget ask everyone to respect their privacy at this time, we will share as we can. Any good thoughts or prayers you can send Dave’s way, he and we would appreciate it.

“Unfortunately Flogging Molly will be unable to perform shows in 2025. With the Salty Dog Cruise 12 days away, the boat will sail as planned with 18 bands, and members of Flogging Molly, on board to celebrate the cruise, the community and our captain, Dave King.”

Currently no further details in regard to King’s condition have been made available. Flogging Molly’s 2025 tour itinerary was expected to kick off in earnest on Feb. 24 following their cruise, with dates in the U.S. scheduled across February and March, and shows throughout Europe and Canada planned across June, July, and August.

The Irish-born King formed Flogging Molly in 1994 after years spent as a musician in the U.K. Rising to fame as the vocalist for Fastway alongside ex-Motörhead guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke, King briefly performed with former Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer in Katmandu before navigating his way out of a record contract with Epic Records to found Flogging Molly in Los Angeles.

The band released their first album in 2000, with 2008’s Float becoming their most successful to date – peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The most recent studio album, Anthem, was released in 2022 and became the first in their career not chart.