Attendees of the Americana Music Conference who might have expected a heated debate during a fitting conversation on political activism instead encountered an impressive calm on Sept. 11, as a decidedly progressive panel called for a respectful response to the assassination of a controversial conservative personality.

America was dazed, confused and angry following the Sept. 10 shooting of Charlie Kirk, with people on both sides of the political aisle engaging in familiar verbal attacks online.

But Americana artists Allison Russell and Margo Price avoided outrage, as Russell expressed empathy for Kirk and other members of the conservative movement responsible for taking rights away from women and immigrants.

“The news was devastating,” Russell said. “The reaction I found, in some ways, even more devastating. When we lose our moral compass — out of anger, out of vengeance, out of grief — we become that which we repudiate. We become it. So when people say things like, ‘He deserved it,’ that’s not it. We can forgive… We cannot operate from a place of vengeance, of violence, of shame and blame. It just doesn’t work.”

The Americana Music Association announced the panel “Art & Activism” weeks before the convention’s start. Even if Kirk had not been shot, the discussion would still have been appropriate. It was moderated by Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, D-District 52, who gained national attention as a member of the so-called Tennessee Three, legislators who were punished by the Republican majority for their animated demonstrations in favor of gun regulation following a shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School in 2023. Lawmakers declined to enact any meaningful reform at the time.

Jones has modeled his efforts as an activist and reformer on the work of Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, who was among the demonstrators at Nashville lunch counters when sit-ins broke out across the South in 1960.

The city now boasts the National Museum of African-American Music, located on the same block where Lewis boarded a bus for Alabama in 1961 to join the Freedom Rides, employing nonviolent strategies in a key milestone of the movement. While much of mainstream country’s audience, and many of its artists — most of them based in Nashville — are squarely conservative, a good portion of the industry’s executives are determined to expand the genre’s reach among minority populations, including Blacks, Hispanics and the LGBTQ+ community.

“Being in this country music space has been so challenging for me,” Price said. “People tell me that I can’t say things or to tone it down. [But] I think that we are at such a crucial time in the loss of our democracy. You’ve got to be able to sing truth to power. Let’s dream of a better world.”

Russell, an openly gay Black artist adopted by a white supremacist family in Montreal, recalled a visit with extended relatives in Edmonton, Alberta, when she heard Tracy Chapman’s a cappella “Behind the Wall,” a song about domestic abuse featured on the same album as breakthrough hit “Fast Car.” It was the first time that Russell realized she could change the trajectory of her life, and it informed her passion for songs that make a difference in the world.

“Anytime you’re singing a message, it’s kind of like that ‘spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,’ ” she said, referencing a song from Mary Poppins. “It opens people up to receive, maybe, news that they would not otherwise take into their system.”

Russell referenced Bloody Sunday — a moment in 1965 when Lewis and others were beaten by state troopers while peacefully marching for civil rights in Selma, Ala. — and mentioned meeting an activist from that era who talked about extending forgiveness to his oppressors. Russell said that same spirit is required while progressive forces fight against the erosion of rights that’s taken place in America over the past decade.

“We have to learn to forgive the unforgivable in order to liberate ourselves from these endless cycles of harm and violence,” she said. “It’s the only way.”

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Woody Guthrie and folk singer Odetta — artists who opposed the Vietnam War, racism and fascists in previous eras — were among those mentioned as inspirations for Price and Russell. Their support of blue-collar communities set an example that the “Art & Activism” panel encouraged today’s musicmakers to follow.

“These are very difficult times,” Jones said. “The saying that ‘democracy dies in darkness’ — I say that creativity dies in isolation, and fascism thrives in both. We are connected for a reason, and I know that we shall overcome.”

MGK has conquered the worlds of hip-hop, emo punk and pop, not to mention building a budding acting resumé. But this week the multi-hyphenate landed a new notch on his experience belt that no one saw coming: he lectured at Harvard Business School.

Colson Baker chronicled the unexpected visit on his Instagram, where he posted a series of pictures of his visit to the venerated Boston university, including a shot of him standing next to the school’s sign wearing his version of professor chic: baggy grey dress pants, a brown bomber jacket, a button down shirt, two different ties (one tied, the other loose around his neck) and, of course, a white baseball hat promoting his Lost Americana album.

“Harvard has a new professor,” he captioned the series, which also featured a snap of him poring over a thick textbook on a train, seemingly in preparation for the visit, standing on steps with a group of students (and not-so-subtly flipping the bird), chilling on the quad and posing in a classroom with more students.

A close-up showed off his official Harvard crimson tie with the school’s motto “Veritas” (truth) and a short video of MGK at a chalkboard writing the words “Water Fire Air Earth” ended with him breaking the chalk and feigning frustration to the laughs of students.

In an Instagram Story, Kelly captioned the snap in front of the biz school sign with “hi class, my name is mr. machine,” followed by a short video of him taking off his college tie drag, writing “class dismissed” underneath as Fisher and AATIG’s “Take It Off” played in the background.

It was quite a trip for the rapper, who in a 2011 interview said he graduated from high school in Cleveland, but had “not a damn” plan to attend college. “But I always plan on being educated… college particularly, do I believe in it?,” said MGK, who was 21 at the time. “For certain people, yes… does a degree make you or break you to be viewed as an intelligent American citizen? Not at all.”

At press time spokespeople for MGK and Harvard Business School had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the visit or the details of the lecture.

Last week, Kelly was dressed up for a different reason. He received the Style Icon award at the 12th Fashion Media Awards, where he was accompanied by his teenage daughter Casie and BFF comedian Pete Davidson, with the latter presenting him with the prize. “Pound-for-pound I think he’s maybe the most talented person I’ve ever met,”Davidson said. “He can rap, he can play guitar, he can rock, he can act. He’s a great dad. He always leads by example for me, I look up to him.”

MGK released his seventh studio album, Lost Americana, in August, which featured his No. 62 Billboard Hot 100 single “Cliché.”

The Tonight Show is Jimmy Fallon’s vehicle, sure. But only when Cardi B doesn’t stop by.

The “Bodak Yellow” rapper made a classic entrance on Fallon’s late night show Tuesday, Sept. 16, as he was delivering his monologue.

First, Cardi Facetimed the talkshow host. Then — voila! — she strolled onto the set, to share some important information.

Carrying the vinyl of her forthcoming album Am I The Drama?, Cardi showed off the artwork, announced a tour, and urged viewers to get off their armchairs and buy a copy of her long-awaited collection.

“Tell people on your show to get my album. Thank you.” She quipped, “tell your audience or I’m gonna be homeless.”

As previously reported, Cardi B’s second album, Am I The Drama?, is due out this Friday, Sept. 19, and is the followup to her 2018 debut, Invasion of Privacy.

Her Miss Drama Tour will play 30 arenas up and down North America and will go on sale the following Friday, Sept. 25, Fallon announced. Those dates will get underway Feb. 11, 2026 at Palm Desert, CA and will wrap up April 17 in Atlanta, GA.

Earlier this week, Cardi revealed that the new LP will feature eight guest artists: Cash Cobain, Janet Jackson, Kehlani, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Selena Gomez, Summer Walker and Tyla. So far, she’s released two singles from the collection, the Hot 100 top 10 “Outside” and the Jay Z-sampling “Imaginary Playerz.

Watch Cardi’s Tonight Show spot below.

Foo Fighters ’ smattering of confirmed live dates should be just the beginning of another massive tour.

The Rock Hall-inducted stadium fillers have been off the road since September 2024 and is set to return to the stage with upcoming shows in Indonesia (Oct. 2), Singapore (Oct. 4), Japan (Oct. 7, 8, 10) and Mexico (Nov. 12, 14).

“Stay tuned,” reads a new message from the band, posted late Tuesday, Sept. 16. “There’s more to come.”

Dave Grohl and Co. dropped the cryptic clue in a goofy “Keeping It Real” video, which sees the bandmates delivering their lines with all the gusto of cartoon robots, and generative AI hogging the visuals.

A separate message from the band leaves little doubt about their plans to mount another monster trek. “Thank You!!!,” it reads. “Where Will We See You Next???”

The rockers released their 11th and latest studio album, But Here We Are, in 2023, marking their first new music following the death of longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins.

The band celebrated its 30th anniversary in July with the release of a new track titled “Today’s Song,” and made a surprise performance on Saturday (Sept. 13) for an all-ages show at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California.

That show served as a coming out party for the Foos new drummer Ilan Rubin, who appears in the new social video with, count them, 10 arms. “Wait ‘till you meet our new drummer,” quips Grohl.

Bonnie Raitt‘s political and social leanings are no secret, and she’s certainly rankled by what’s transpired during the first nearly nine months of the current administration in Washington, D.C.

But as the 15-time Grammy Award winner and 2024 Kennedy Center Honoree continues touring to support her 2022 album Just Like That…, Raitt says she’s doing her best to make her concerts something of an antithesis to the turmoil.

“I never proselytize on stage about my positions, politically, but I do acknowledge the suffering and cruelty and anxiety that we’re feeling,” says Raitt, who routinely contributes lobby space at her concerts to non-profits involved in social and environmental causes.

“I don’t assume that everybody in the audience is politically aligned with me, but I think we all agree there’s a lot more discord and dissension and unhappiness and stress, to put it mildly.”

Raitt spoke with Billboard ahead of a recent Detroit concert, where she had a warm reunion with Nick of Time producer Don Was, in town rehearsing with his Pan-Detroit Ensemble, on his 73rd birthday.

“We’re all suffering, I think,” she continues. “But aside from announcing which grassroots groups have a table in the front lobby — it’s clear I like to support the environmental and voter registration and humanitarian kind of efforts — I keep it pretty general.

“And it’s a great uplift for the audience, and for me, in tricky and very stressful, anxious and upsetting times to have this time to come together and celebrate our great history in these songs, and these songwriters and our affection for each other. I can’t think of a better place to be during these difficult times.”

The topic does come up during points of the show, Raitt allowed. She generally precedes Oliver Mtukudzi’s spiritual “Hear Me Lord,” which she recorded for 2002’s Silver Lining by “saying I know we’re all feeling a lot of anxiety,. and some of us are more depressed than others, but let’s just sort of all on…we need all the help we can get.’ And that’s just very uplifting.” Raitt does acknowledge, however, that it’s probably a good thing she received the Kennedy Center Honor when she did.

“The chances of me and the Grateful Dead getting honored with this current situation would’ve been impossible,” she acknowledged, “so I’m really glad…Not only was it a wonderful event, but it was really timely.”

Raitt is currently winding down her latest North American tour, which wraps Sept. 24 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. On tap after that, she said, “I don’t have plans for anything other than a serious break.”

“This is our fourth year of touring; we’ve been pretty steady on the road since the record came out,” she says. And breaks have been used to appear at benefit concerts and appearing at awards shows — with three Grammys for Just Like That…, including song of the year, and an Icon Award at the 2022 Billboard Women In Music Awards. She’s also filmed appearances for a number of documentaries about “at least nine people I really love.”

“I’m glad I got to know them, and to be able to talk about them from having known them for 40 or 50 years, and what their music means to me,” Raitt says. “I’m happy to be an elder that’s been around and do that, but it really cuts into the time thinking about my own new music. Other requests can be overwhelming, to put it mildly.”

Raitt says she’s looking forward to “having more than five weeks at home for the first time in five years,” and she won’t hazard a guess about when she’ll start approaching a follow-up to Just Like That… “I’m not that motivated to suit up for a whole new album and promotion cycle because I haven’t had a break,” Raitt explains. “We don’t usually do four years of touring like we have on this (album). I don’t know how people write whole new albums while they’re out there. I can’t…so I’m trying to leave time free so that my own project and my own downtime can be fit in. I always have a little bit of a stash of songs I love so much that I’ll have to (record) them.

“So I’ll have to get in the studio — but not before there’s been some time off.”