Music News Net

Jonathan Demme Back at Work With Neil Young

MUSIC NEWS- Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme was back at work filminge the final two shows of Neil Young’s Le Noise concert tour, which took place at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The footage will become part of a film chronicling Young’s 2011 tour in support of his Grammy-and Juno Award winning album Le Noise. The film is planned for release later this year and is the third and final film in a series of Neil Young concert movies shot and directed by Demme. The previous two films are Heart of Gold, released in 2006, and received critical praise followed by the equally applauded Trunk Show, which screened internationally in 2009. Demme’s film credits include the Oscar-winning dramas Philadelphia, Silence of the Lambs, and Rachel Getting Married.

Don Henley of the Eagles Working on Country Music Covers Album

MUSIC NEWS -  The Eagles' Don Henley continues work on an album of country covers.  An Eagles fan website reports that The Eagles founder has been spending more time in Nashville, TN working on the record with producer, drummer Stan Lynch (Tom Petty & the Heartbeakers).  According to the site, L&M's Eagles Fastlane, his new album is expected to feature an all-star country music cast.

The album will make an interesting companion work to the 1993 album of country covers of Eagles songs,  ‘Common Thread’, that has recordings by top country artists such as Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Vince Gill. Tanya Tucker and Brooks & Dunn singing the Eagles tunes.  

LEVON HELM Hospitalized in NYC; He's OK

MUSIC NEWS- The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal reports that two-time Grammy Award winner, drummer with legendary group The Band and noted singer/songwriter, Levon Helm was hospitalized in NYC recently.  Good news is that he's expected to make a full recovery.

Helm's manager, Barbara O'Brien, informed the sold-out crowd at Saturday night's (12/11/10) Midnight Ramble house concert at "The Barn" at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY that the 70-year-old Arkansas native will be released from the hospital within a few days and that his hospital stay is “totally unrelated” to the throat cancer Helm was diagnosed with in the late 1990s.  “Levon came down with a little bit of a cold this week and because he’s got COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], a little bit of a cold to you and me is a lot more serious for him,” said Ms O’Brien.

KENNY EDWARDS, An Original Stone Poney Member, Dead at 64

MUSIC NEWS- One of original members of the groundbreaking country rock band, The Stone Poneys,  KENNY EDWARDS, died on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 in California at age 64.  As part of the Poneys, and his solo career, he was a longtime collaborator with singer-songwriters Linda Ronstadt and Karla Bonoff

The L.A. Times reported that Edwards was hospitalized in Denver, CO earlier this month after he collapsed while on tour with Ms Bonoff.  He was then air-lifted to a hospital near his home in Santa Barbara, where he died.  Edwards was diagnosed with the blood disorder thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP, and had been undergoing chemotherapy for prostate cancer.