Table of contents for Jun-18-15 in Rolling Stone

1. Jenny Lewis “She’s Not Me” video What if Jenny Lewis never became a rock star? Her very funny new clip takes another look at her child-actress past, with pals like Fred Armisen and Girls’ Zosia Mamet helping to parody her old roles – from turns in The Golden Girls to Troop Beverly Hills. 2. Disclosure “Holding On” Just in time for your next BBQ, Disclosure have returned! If you can’t get down to these guys’ latest bubbly house groove, we don’t know what to tell you. 3. A$AP Rocky “LSD” So trippy, it should come with a warning label. We haven’t gotten such a contact high from a song since the last time we put on Ummagumma. 4. Julian Casablancas and the Voidz “Human Sadness” video Helicopters, hurricanes, invading…

Before Ronnie Wood joined the Rolling Stones, he made his name as a guitarist with the Faces and the Jeff Beck Group – and before that, as a teenager in West London, he played in a bluesy group called the Birds. Wood, 68, recently discovered his personal diary from a tour with that band in 1965, when he was 17. He fleshed it out with new reminiscences and illustrations for a new book, How Can It Be? (out now in limited edition, with a wider release this fall). What were the crowds like at your shows in 1965? Heavy emphasis on the girls. You gauged how well you were doing if they screamed. It took us ages to warm them up sometimes. You had to convert these unbelievers to let…

‘Why is she here?” that’s what director Nicholas Stoller remembers thinking when Rose Byrne came to audition for the part of a raunchy pop star in his 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek. Stoller knew Byrne primarily as a star of the TV legal thriller Damages, and she looked to him more like a “model . . . like a lead.” But her audition blew him away. “She would improv stuff that was so gross and inappropriate that [co-star] Russell Brand – who isn’t someone who breaks, ever – finally cracked,” Stoller recalls. “She’s secretly one of the most brilliant comedians working right now.” Byrne stars in the new James Bond spoof Spy, giving a delightfully cruel performance as a haughty Eastern European arms dealer opposite Melissa McCarthy. (“We…

When Chris Stapleton’s solo debut, Traveller, hit Number Two on the Billboard Country Albums chart, it was a huge moment for a songwriter who’s been at it for almost 15 years. With songs that evoke Seventies barroom twang instead of the pop-wise “bro country” currently ruling Nashville, Stapleton also validated purists who claim that people still yearn for vintage sounds. “Thankfully, it looks like there is a little bit of a need for it,” he says. “They want more on the traditional side, because we haven’t had a lot of that in recent years.” Stapleton grew up in Kentucky, where his father was a coal miner, and he fronted a bluegrass band during the 2000s. But he’s no down-home reactionary; he co-wrote one of the year’s poppiest country hits, Thomas…

“Half the shows I play, I’d rather not play. Festivals, for example. But I have to make the best of it.” —Jack White Jay and Bey’s Dolce Vita Beyoncé and Jay Z jetted to Florence over Memorial Day weekend for the wedding of a billionaire hedge-fund banker buddy. While in town, they visited the Accademia Gallery to check out Michelangelo’s David, and made some selfie art of their own on a scenic hilltop. Earlier this year, producer Detail hinted that Jay and Bey are working on music together. Bruce’s Folk Revival “The Sessions band – they’re back!” Bruce Springsteen shouted during a reunion at the Kristen Ann Carr Fund’s annual cancer benefit at New York’s Tribeca Grill. Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions folk orchestra played “Pay Me My Money Down,” “Jesse James”…

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell The Traveling Kind Nonesuch A pair of old friends join their voices in beautiful harmony Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell met in 1974, but it took them until 2013’s Grammywinning set Old Yellow Moon to make a record together. The original duets on their followup range from heartbreak (Crowell’s superb “No Memories Hanging ’Round”) to social consciousness (the bluesy “The Weight of the World”). Harris’ all-time great harmonies elevate Crowell’s poetic lyrics on the mandolin-tinged title cut; the loose rocker “Bring It on Home to Memphis” and their rendition of Lucinda Williams’ “I Just Wanted to See You So Bad” are highlights. Through it all, their creative partnership sounds stronger than ever. CORINNE CUMMINGS Tanlines Highlights True Panther Dance pop with heart…

An Icon Signs off ALTHOUGH THE DAVID LETterman feature was as sensitive as I had ever seen him, one still gets a feeling of reluctance [“David Letterman, Happy at Last,” RS 1235]. About everything. And somehow that makes him all the more likable. Compelling work on an even more compelling man. Michael Bado, via the Internet TOUCHING TO SEE LETTER man on the cover one last time, but the photo captures the Shadows in the Night elder statesman, not the Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61/Blonde on Blonde innovative television genius. In the 1980s, every Late Night was a potential event and genuinely dangerous comedy. With Late Show coming to a close, Dave lets Oprah have 20 minutes to tell us how great Oprah is. Happy retirement, Dave. You earned…

OLD Elton John “Ballad of a Well-Known Gun” This is a little more bluesy than the Elton John I’m accustomed to, but it’s great. He sounds amazing. Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock” Billy Corgan is freaking phenomenal on guitar. Every single thing on this is a hook. NEW Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé “Feeling Myself” This is the perfect song if you have ADD. The way Nicki says “laser” is so cool and memorable. Titus Andronicus “Dimed Out” Thank you for introducing me to the best song of the year. It’s tough to even listen to any other song. The energy is perfect, and the bridge is spectacular. I want to get a tattoo of those lyrics across my face. Diet Cig “Breathless” The best band name I’ve ever heard. This song…

A few years ago, the electro-pop band Phantogram checked Twitter and saw something wonderful. “Holy shit! Big Boi just tweeted at us,” guitarist Josh Carter recalled. It turned out the Outkast rapper was a big fan, and he invited the duo to appear on his 2012 solo LP, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. Now he’s teamed with the band for a full EP, to be released later this year under the name Big Grams. (Big Boi calls it “potent like cobra venom.”) The rapper – who completed a massive Outkast tour last year but has no plans to record with the group – invited the New York band to Atlanta to live and work at his house. “They were sitting at the dinner table with me and my kids just…

DAWN TO DUSK Eight years ago, Sam Hunt was a star quarterback at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, being eyed by pro scouts. But after graduation, Hunt decided to try his luck in Nashville instead of the NFL. Good call: Hunt, 30, recently topped the country charts (and hit Number Three on the Billboard 200) with his debut album, Montevallo, which incorporates bright pop hooks, touches of EDM, and Hunt’s Drake-ish vocals. The singer has caught flak from those who say the album isn’t country. “The argument [about what’s country] is so convoluted that I stay out of it,” he says. But the Georgia native seems comfortable in Nashville, his adopted hometown. We caught him on a rare day off on the road, as he rehearsed for an upcoming tour, hung…

We caught up with Denis Leary as he prepares to star as Johnny Rock, an aging bad-boy frontman, in FX’s new comedy Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll. Why a series about a middle-aged, cokesnorting one-hit wonder? When I went to Emerson College, there were all these students that became musicians – guys who played in Ozzy’s band and the Del Fuegos. These were the guys who thought fame was everything. They’re still living that rock & roll lifestyle, but they didn’t make it – what the fuck do they do now? Johnny and his guitar player, Flash [John Corbett], are like an old married couple. They’re like the Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Nineties CBGB’s bands. I like the dysfunctional-family dynamic of a band, and those guys are the bickering parents that keep…

Muse Drones Warner Bros. In April 1961, President John F. Kennedy addressed a group of U.S. newspaper publishers on the value of a free press in a world threatened by “a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy,” a government by “intimidation instead of free choice” where “dissenters are silenced, not praised.” He didn’t mention communism by name; he didn’t have to. The British power trio Muse sample Kennedy’s speech in the middle of their seventh studio album, Drones. Singerguitarist Matthew Bellamy does not cite specific evildoers in his lyrics, but the implication in this progressive-metal holocaust is obvious: They are us. Drones is a truly guilty pleasure, like watching The Daily Show and knowing Jon Stewart’s best jokes start with someone else’s colossal error or hurt. The concept here is even…

Death N.E.W. Tryangle Detroit punk progenitors come back to life, stay loud as ever Back in the Seventies, these badass Detroit brothers were so punk-rock, they rejected a deal with Clive Davis on principle. Now reunited after several decades of obscurity, with new frontman Bobbie Duncan replacing late singer-guitarist David Hackney, they’ve summoned forth an album of new material from the abyss: whiplash-fast songs as Spartan in construction and as bracing in attack as their 40-years-young visionary predecessors. They’re not nearly as scathing on the state of the nation, though: This century’s Death have swapped out bad tidings for good vibrations. When rocking while black is already tantamount to a crown of thorns, who can blame ’em? GREG TATE Adam Lambert The Original High Warner Bros. Singer’s…

AFTER LIVING THROUGH two mayors who were in bed with law enforcement and Wall Street, it’s great to have elected one who cares about the working class. De Blasio is being cast as a throwback leftist. That’s how far to the right we’ve traveled. Ernest Moore, via the Internet DE BLASIO’S CAMPAIGN message resonated with New Yorkers fed up with what he accurately called a “tale of two cities.” A year and a half into his first term, there’s expanded sick leave, IDs for undocumented immigrants, universal pre-K and a commitment to affordable housing. Next up must be the minimum wage. It’s impossible to live on $8.75 an hour when the average Manhattan studio rents for $2,600 a month. Betty Chen, via the Internet THE STORY DOESN’T MENtion that after…

‘Thank you very much, San Diego, you were bloody wonderful!” Mick Jagger shouted from the stage at Petco Park on May 24th. The Rolling Stones had just finished the first night of their 15-date Zip Code stadium tour, delivering more than two hours of rock & roll – from the raucous “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” that opened the show through the encore of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (assisted by a California choir) and “Satisfaction,” with a handful of deep cuts unearthed along the way – and it had all gone off without a hitch. “I was enjoying myself,” Jagger says two days later. “It’s hard to fake it if I wasn’t.” Keith Richards agrees. “Usually, the first two or three shows, the band feels they’re not quite on,”…

Last spring, while the xx were in New York for an unusually intimate 11-night residency – performing for just 45 people at a time in the cavernous Park Avenue Armory – the U.K. indie-pop band’s resident producer, Jamie xx, snuck away and bought a vintage synth. “It’s quite a rare thing, an old Oberheim from the Seventies,” he says. He shipped the instrument back to his London home and ended up using it to make “Gosh,” the irresistible opener of his solo debut, In Colour. “That’s one of the best times I’ve ever had in the studio,” he says. “It was so natural.” The album is the fullest expression yet of Jamie’s taste in hip-hop and dance music (previously heard most notably on his house-tinged beat for Drake and Rihanna’s…

Mary Ellen Mark Pioneering photojournalist MARY ELLEN MARK, WHOSE PHOTOgraphs of actors, rock stars and social outcasts could be seen in magazines like Life and ROLLING STONE and 19 of her own books, died of myelodysplastic syndrome in New York on May 25th. She was 75. Mark grew up outside Philadelphia and built a successful career as a celebrity photographer – her 1969 portraits of Federico Fellini helped her make a name for herself, and she shot Yoko Ono, Jerry Lee Lewis and others for ROLLING STONE – while also chronicling life in Bombay brothels, an English methadone clinic and among homeless Seattle teens. In 1976, Mark lived in an Oregon state mental hospital for 36 days, which she captured in a signature work, 1979’s Ward 81. “She built relationships…

‘DO YOU WANT ANYTHING TO drink?” Kacey Musgraves asks one recent afternoon. “I’ve been really into gin and tonics lately.” Still wearing her gym clothes – a white tank top and leggings – Musgraves is giving a tour of her modest two-story home in East Nashville. It’s full of mementos from the past few years, including a signed copy of a Loretta Lynn album and an autographed Rolling Stone from 1978 with Willie Nelson on the cover (it’s signed, mistakenly, “To Katie”). Near the kitchen, a poster reads BELIEVE IN YOUR FUCKING SELF. STAY UP ALL FUCKING NIGHT. When she’s not on the road, Musgraves like to watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (“It’s the funniest shit I’ve ever seen,” she says) or hang with her boyfriend, Misa Arriaga, who is also…

AS A CHILD SPENDING HIS summers in New Hampshire, Steven Tyler would run a 50-foot wire from the back of his radio to the top of an apple tree in order to pick up WOWO, a Fort Wayne, Indiana, station that would play some of his favorite country songs. “I’d listen to things like Johnny Horton’s ‘The Battle of New Orleans,’ ” Tyler says. “I loved the Everly Brothers, Duane Eddy, Jerry Lee Lewis.” More than half a century later, Tyler is connecting with his childhood love by cutting a country album in Nashville. He just released a single, “Love Is Your Name,” which debuted at Number 33 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, and he hopes to wrap the album after Aerosmith finish a summer tour in August. “I…

WHEN JACK BLACK WAS a first-grader, he loved The Six Million Dollar Man so much he tried to convince other kids that he was bionic: “I’d go to school with these wires poking out of my sleeves,” he says. Black is at a brunch spot in Los Angeles. He’s wearing a T-shirt with a chaotic magic-marker whorl on its chest, courtesy of his youngest son, Tommy, and he’s recalling the origins of his own chaotic creativity: how he first got hooked on hoodwinking other people. “There was a lot of fraud in my youth,” he says. In addition to his bionics infatuation, Black was fascinated by the supernatural, so “I orchestrated a séance with a Ouija board, where I rigged a room with strings to make the books and stuff…

Original Greatest Hits 2005 The legend starts here – two CDs of King’s Fifties and early-Sixties blues hits for the Bihari brothers, the Los Angeles clan that ran the RPM, Modern and Kent labels. Recommended to the Biharis by their Memphis A&R scout, Ike Turner, King fused Southernexile mettle and urban finesse in a broad repertoire of defining covers – Lowell Fulson’s “3 O’Clock Blues,” Memphis Slim’s “Every Day I Have the Blues” – and classic originals including “Sweet Little Angel” and “Be Careful With a Fool.” This was the sound of black America on the move – out of the Delta, to big-city promise. You also hear King’s imminent major role in the Sixties blues revival. Live at the Regal 1965 King was struggling on the R&B charts…

The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers: Deluxe Edition Universal The Rolling Stones’ first studio album of the Seventies was their sayonara to a messy 1969: Brian Jones’ death; Altamont; guitarist Mick Taylor’s partial entry on Let It Bleed. Recorded over more than a year and finally issued in April 1971, Sticky Fingers was an eclectic affirmation of maturing depth – the poise and polish before the titanic grunge of ’72’s Exile on Main Street. As writers, singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards rolled out a breadth of introspection (the swagger and warning in “Sway,” the Asian-sunset tinge of “Moonlight Mile”) while Taylor’s searing tone was fully integrated into the treble tangle of “Bitch” and “Brown Sugar.” KEY TRACKS: “Moonlight Mile,” “Sway” The alternate takes in this reissue show…

The singer-songwriter looks back at his life on a warm, direct folk album James Taylor Before This World Concord On his first album of new songs in 13 years – a long wait even by his meticulous standards – James Taylor’s past is never far in the rearview mirror. “Somehow I haven’t died,” he observes in “Today Today Today,” the album’s back-porch-ready single. “Angels of Fenway” is a poignant reflection on his late grandmother and her devotion to the Red Sox; as he sings, 1965, the year Taylor became a Sox fan, “doesn’t seem like a long time ago.” KEY TRACK: “Today Today Today” The simplicity of the music matches Taylor’s nostalgic mood. With its renewed focus on his voice and guitar – both miraculously unscarred by time…