Classical cellist Matt Haimovitz has been astounding audiences -- and confounding critics -- with his edgy, high tech "Figment" tour and album. In his own words, Matt talks with AMG about embracing non-traditional venues, new technology and his collaboration with new music composer Du Yun.

Read the full article »

Liam Clancy, the last surviving member of the seminal Irish folk band the Clancy Brothers, died on Friday at a Cork hospital at age 74. The balladeer, who Bob Dylan described as "the best ballad singer I'd ever heard in my life," suffered from incurable pulmonary fibrosis (which also afflicted his brother Bobby) for years. With his brothers Tom and Patrick as the Clancy Brothers, Liam Clancy helped spark the folk revival of the early '60s, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and playing Carnegie Hall at the peak of the group's fame. Clancy embarked on a solo career in 1973 and the Clancy Brothers split a year later, but Liam rejoined the group in 1996 for the album Older But No Wiser and a farewell tour. Clancy's funeral was held today at St. Mary's Parish Church Dungarvan in county Waterford. [SFGate.com, IrishTimes.com]

R.I.P. songwriter Aaron Schroeder, who wrote or co-wrote some of Elvis Presley's biggest hits, including "It's Now or Never," "Good Luck Charm," and "A Big Hunk o' Love." Schroeder also wrote songs for Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, and Nat King Cole, founded the independent label Musicor Records and was Gene Pitney's manager. Schroeder, who died from complications from Alzheimer's Disease, was 83. [NYTimes.com]

Read the rest of this entry »

We covered 2007 in a similar way before -- way back in 2007 -- but not to this extent. Some of these lists from our editorial staff go up to 20 rather than 10, so there is more Radiohead, Panda Bear, White Stripes, UGK, and probably M.I.A. (There is the exact same amount of Amerie, Frank Zappa, and the National, however.) Consider this the expanded, remastered, reissued version of our two-year-old feature AllMusic Editors Pick Their Top Ten of 2007. The AllMusic Loves series will finish out the decade shortly.

Read the full article »