YouTube builder Not a Luthier took an old bass drum, cut it in half, fabricated a custom mount, then attached a neck, bridge and strings to create an oversize bass banjo that produces a deep, reverberant sound unlike anything a standard instrument delivers. The build is as much about ingenuity as it is about craft, and the results speak for themselves.
Reggae Legend Lee Scratch Perry Gets a Stunning 600-Page Tribute with New Book ‘Black Ark’
One of the most important studios in music history finally gets the document it deserves. ‘Black Ark,’ published by Edition Patrick Frey, is a 600-page photographic and written tribute to Lee “Scratch” Perry’s legendary Black Ark Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, the space where the dub pioneer built his dense, ever-evolving world from 1973 onward.
The volume draws on photographic documentation completed in spring 2021, supplemented by a joint preservation effort with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Mural paintings, assemblages of records, instruments, found objects, posters and newspaper clippings layer through its pages the way Perry’s productions layer sound, dense, collaged and entirely his own. Perry was involved in the development of the book until his death in August 2021, and the volume closes with memorial essays from Ishion Hutchinson, David Katz, Kodwo Eshun and John Corbett. For anyone serious about reggae, dub, or the architecture of creative spaces, ‘Black Ark’ is essential.
SING! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival Returns for Its 15th Year with 20-Plus Events This May
SING! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival runs May 19 to June 1, 2026, and the 15th edition is the most ambitious yet. More than 20 events spread across Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, Koerner Hall, The Rec Room and The Great Hall make up a program that covers everything from jazz and soul to beatboxing and Broadway, all anchored by the human voice. Tickets range from free to $61.50, with half-price options for students and arts workers, and the full schedule is at singtoronto.com.
The festival opens May 19 at The Great Hall with Art Battle, where painters respond live to a cappella performance, setting the tone for a program that consistently finds new ways to frame vocal music. A free preview follows May 20 at Nathan Phillips Square, and free concerts at College Park on May 21 keep the early days of the festival wide open and accessible.
The competitive heart of the festival lands May 23 at Koerner Hall with the second annual SING! Canadian A Cappella Championships, featuring 16 finalist groups and a judging panel that includes Deke Sharon, producer of the Pitch Perfect films and The Sing-Off, alongside vocal coaches Elaine Overholt and Mo Field. The following afternoon, Sharon returns to the Royal Ontario Museum for an Aca-Singalong with 2025 championship winners Splüsh, guiding Pitch Perfect fans through “Since U Been Gone” entirely a cappella.
May 22 brings one of the festival’s most emotionally charged nights. Countermeasure, one of Canada’s top contemporary a cappella ensembles, plays their final concert, One More Spin, at The Paradise Theatre, closing out 16 years of international recording and touring. It’s a significant moment for Canadian vocal music, and SING! is the right place for it.
The Great North Beatbox Festival, presented by Beatbox Canada, takes over The Rec Room across three days from May 29 to 31, marking the largest celebration of beatboxing in North America. Performances, workshops and showcases fill the weekend with a different but equally vital dimension of vocal artistry.
The festival closes June 1 at the Royal Ontario Museum with SING! With Pride, an official Pride Toronto Major Cultural event featuring legendary Swedish quintet The Real Group and Toronto’s Singing Out Chamber Ensemble, hosted by Broadway and Stratford star Thom Allison. The evening also includes the presentation of the SING! Toronto Legacy Award to Canadian jazz icon Heather Bambrick, recognizing decades of outstanding performances and her influence on singers worldwide.
Launched in 2012 by seven volunteers, SING! has grown into one of Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals and Events for the past decade, with co-founders Patricia Silver and Patti Jannetta inducted into the Festival and Events Ontario Hall of Fame. The festival has since expanded to partner festivals in Texas, Edinburgh, Mexico, Edmonton and Vancouver. Fifteen years in, it remains one of the most distinctive music events in the country.
Festival Highlights:
May 19 – Toronto – The Great Hall – Art Battle
May 20 – Toronto – Nathan Phillips Square – Free Preview (5:30–7:30 pm)
May 21 – Toronto – College Park – Free Concerts (5–7 pm)
May 22 – Toronto – The Paradise Theatre – Countermeasure: One More Spin (7:30 pm)
May 23 – Toronto – Koerner Hall – SING! Canadian A Cappella Championships (7 pm)
May 24 – Toronto – Royal Ontario Museum – Aca-Singalong with Deke Sharon (1 pm)
May 24 – Toronto – Royal Ontario Museum – Pass the Mic Open Stage Night (7 pm)
May 29–31 – Toronto – The Rec Room – Great North Beatbox Festival
June 1 – Toronto – Royal Ontario Museum – SING! With Pride (7:30 pm)
Bucky Covington Returns to American Idol for a Season 5 Reunion Twenty Years in the Making
Bucky Covington stepped back onto the American Idol stage tonight for a special Season 5 reunion episode, twenty years after his run on one of the show’s most memorable seasons. The “20th High School Reunion”-themed broadcast brought together fan-favorite finalists including Taylor Hicks, Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler and Elliott Yamin, with original judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson returning to mentor this season’s contestants. Returning artists performed duets with the current Top 5 as America voted to determine the Top 3 finalists.
Covington placed eighth in Season 5 and parlayed that exposure into a genuine country career. His 2007 self-titled debut debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, producing charting singles including “A Different World,” “It’s Good to Be Us” and “I’ll Walk.” He also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie and has kept a steady presence in country music ever since. He’s currently preparing to record new music and is planning an acoustic tour for later in 2026.
The reunion carries a story beyond the broadcast. Covington’s publicist Colleen Lippert, founder of Anchor Publicity, first encountered him as a fan during his Season 5 audition in 2006, at a time when she was grieving her father’s sudden passing. “I remember seeing Bucky audition and, for the first time in a long time, feeling excited about something,” she said. That connection eventually grew into a professional relationship, a parallel full-circle moment running alongside the reunion itself.
“American Idol is so much more than a singing competition,” says Covington. “It produces careers.” Twenty years of evidence backs that up.
Video: Rihanna Owned the Main Stage at Rock in Rio 2015 Before 85,000 Fans
Rihanna headlined Rock in Rio on September 26, 2015, and delivered exactly what 85,000 people in Rio de Janeiro came for. Moving through “Rockstar 101,” “Only Girl (In The World),” “We Found Love,” “Diamonds” and “Umbrella” with the kind of ease that only comes from total command of a stage, she held one of the world’s biggest festival crowds from start to finish.
DJ Premier and The Alchemist Drop New Single “For The Gig” and Bring Their Show to LA on May 9
Two of hip-hop’s most legendary producers are back in each other’s orbit and making it count. DJ Premier and The Alchemist have released “For The Gig,” a new single and video produced by Alchemist, out now on all streaming platforms. The track arrives fresh off the heels of their “He’s The Preemo, I’m The Chemist” European Tour, which gave UK fans a live experience that set a high bar for what this pairing can deliver on stage.
The duo also announced a Los Angeles show on May 9 at The Novo, and tickets are available now. For anyone who missed the European run, this is the opportunity. Premier and Alchemist together in a room is exactly as good as it sounds, and “For The Gig” makes a strong case for what to expect when the lights go down.
Black Music Action Coalition and Live Nation Open Applications for Third Year of BMAC LIVE Accelerator
The Black Music Action Coalition and Live Nation are opening the doors again. Applications are now open for the third year of the BMAC LIVE Accelerator Program, a fully funded, week-long immersive experience designed to put emerging music business professionals directly inside the live entertainment industry. Twenty participants will be selected for the 2026 cohort, which runs July 13 to 17 in Los Angeles. Applications close May 15, with selected participants notified by June 18.
Powered by Live Nation’s School of Live, the program covers the full live entertainment ecosystem, from show production and artist relations to talent booking, marketing, ticketing and budgeting. It’s hands-on, direct and built to translate into real careers. Upon completion, participants can apply for paid, part-time internship positions at Live Nation, available exclusively to BMAC LIVE alumni.
In two years, the program has already supported 40 emerging professionals. “In just one week, BMAC and Live Nation demonstrated how intentional they are about impacting the lives and careers of emerging industry professionals,” said 2025 alum Kayla Clarke. That track record is the strongest argument for what year three can deliver.
“In just two years, BMAC LIVE has created meaningful access for 40 aspiring professionals, opening doors, building confidence, and helping participants see a future for themselves in this industry,” said BMAC Co-founder, President and CEO Willie “Prophet” Stiggers. Omar Al-joulani, President of Touring at Live Nation, echoed that: “BMAC LIVE is about more than exposure, it’s about opportunity.”
The accelerator sits within BMAC’s broader push for equity and access across the music industry, which includes Music Maker Grants in partnership with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Victoria Monét and the Luther Vandross Foundation, Music Business Accelerator Programs at HBCUs Tennessee State University and Clark Atlanta, and community support initiatives including the Gunna x BMAC 30349 Program in South Fulton, Georgia. Applications are open now at bmacoalition.org/bmaclivenation.
Cook Allender’s Debut Album ‘Music Your Parents Hate’ Arrives May 15 with Anthem “Free”
Cook Allender has been building toward this. The New Orleans-born, Nashville-based rock artist releases his debut album ‘Music Your Parents Hate’ on May 15 via VibraHive Records, and the lead single “Free,” out now, sets the tone immediately. Driving guitars, anthemic energy and a chorus that delivers its thesis without flinching: “It’s my life to choose, it’s my soul to lose.” It’s a rock track built for volume and it earns every decibel. Listen here.
“This song is about throwing off the shackles,” says Allender. “No rules, no lanes, no stop signs, just water and wind.” The track closes the album, and that placement is deliberate. “That’s why it ends the record. It’s the feeling I want people left with.” For a debut full-length, that kind of architectural thinking signals an artist who has been doing this longer than the release date suggests.
Allender’s path to this record is anything but linear. Raised in New Orleans, he started writing original music at seven years old, then spent years moving through careers in finance, the military and the film industry before music pulled him back completely. That experience runs through ‘Music Your Parents Hate,’ a record that nods to Led Zeppelin, Stone Temple Pilots and Foo Fighters without borrowing from any of them. Loud, melodic and built for momentum.
As a writer, producer and visual director, Allender controls every dimension of his output, bringing a cinematic edge to guitar-forward rock that feels both immediate and expansive. With a second album already underway and a portion of proceeds going to no-kill animal shelters including Wags and Walks in Nashville, this is an artist operating with full conviction from day one.
The Calling Announce New Single “DUST” and Rescheduled Tour Dates for Their “Before The World Turns To Dust Tour”
The Calling are back and moving fast. The rock hitmakers have announced “DUST,” a new single arriving this July via TLG|ROCK, distributed by Virgin Music Group, and have rescheduled select dates on their “Before The World Turns To Dust Tour” to align with the release. After a 20-year hiatus, Alex Band, guitarist Daniel Damico and Grammy-nominated bassist Dom Liberati are firing on all cylinders, and this run makes that clear.
The tour announcement comes alongside a significant milestone. The Calling are celebrating the 25th anniversary of “Wherever You Will Go,” one of the defining radio rock singles of the early 2000s, along with the multi-platinum debut album ‘Camino Palmero,’ a record that sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and went Platinum in the U.S. and more than 50 countries. Seven number one singles worldwide came out of that run. Twenty-five years later, those songs still hold up.
“With our record label pushing back the release of our new single ‘Dust’, we have decided it’s best to move some of our US tour dates to coincide with that release,” says Alex Band. “We’re looking so forward to celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the release of ‘Wherever You Will Go’ and sharing our new music with you all live on tour soon.” The decision to sync the dates with the single reflects a band that knows how to build toward a moment.
The rescheduled tour run kicks off August 26 in Woodstock, NY at the Bearsville Theater and moves through the Northeast, Southeast and beyond, including a stop at the New York State Fair on August 27, a Fort Lauderdale date at The Parker on September 10 and a Philadelphia appearance at World Cafe Live on September 20. The run wraps October 1 in Redding, CA.
“Before The World Turns To Dust Tour” Dates:
August 26 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater
August 27 – Syracuse, NY – New York State Fair, Chevy Court
August 28 – Warrendale, PA – Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
August 29 – Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theatre
September 5 – Lurin, Peru – Lurin Live (Vivo x El Rock)
September 10 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – The Parker
September 11 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live Orlando
September 12 – Jacksonville, FL – FIVE
September 18 – Norwalk, CT – District Music Hall
September 19 – West Springfield, MA – Court of Honor Stage (The Big E)
September 20 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live, Music Hall
October 1 – Redding, CA – Redding Civic