News

It’s probably safe to say that “Opry 100: A Live Celebration” is the first three-hour special in the history of country music television to feature nothing but first-rate performances over the course of an entire prime-time block. But then, producers for the show did have a built-in programming advantage in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, with theoretically a century of picks to draw upon and not just a year’s worth of recent radio fodder. That allowed for a whole evening of classic country, classily interpreted, without any freshman artists running laps around the stage in cutoffs dodging fireworks.

Even on a no-skips night, certain segments stood out. Here are 10 highlights from Wednesday night’s NBC/Peacock special:

Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs perform onstage during “Opry 100: A Live Celebration.”

A Vince Gill-led In Memoriam performance of “Go Rest High on That Mountain.

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

From Reba McEntire paying tribute to Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood honoring George Jones and Tammy Wynette, some of country’s most legendary stars will hit the stage for the 100th anniversary of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry during tonight’s Opry 100: A Live Celebration. Hosted by Blake Shelton, the three-hour special airs on NBC and will stream live on Peacock.

Get ready for Grand celebration, NBC honors the 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry on March 19 with a live telecast featuring dozens of country legends and superstars. The three-hour telecast for “Opry 100: A Live Celebration” will feature live performances, tributes and special appearances, and the whole star-studded affair is hosted by “The Voice” alum Blake Shelton.

“Becoming a member of the Opry is a highlight of my life and career, and 15 years later I still get that same feeling of reverence and excitement every time I walk out on that stage,” Shelton said in the event announcement. “The Grand Ole Opry has been connecting the country music family for 100 years, and I’m so proud to be part of this historic celebration.”

Live from the Grand Ole Opry and the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, the special event promises to deliver a jam-packed lineup of some of...

A lineup of performances for Wednesday night’s “Opry 100: A Live Celebration” special on NBC has been revealed, with many of today’s top country superstars slated to pay tribute to the legends of previous generations, and some doing their own enduring hits as well.

One First Couple of Country will salute another First Couple when Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood team up to honor the late George Jones and Tammy Wynette on the show, which will also be available for viewing on Peacock.

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash are the other country couple who will be feted with a tribute, delivered by the duo of Jelly Roll and Ashley McBryde.

Reba McEntire will do double-duty, as tributes go, performing in dual appreciation of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, who were close friends before Cline’s career was cut tragically short.

Kelsea Ballerini will sing Barbara Mandrell’s biggest hit,...

Blake Shelton is hitting the road with his Friends & Heroes Tour this year.

The 2025 edition of the tour kicked off on February 27 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

True to the title of the tour, Blake also brought several friends along for the ride, including Deana Carter, Craig Morgan and Trace Adkins, as well as an opening set from Team Blake alum Emily Ann Roberts from Season 9 of The Voice.

The tour featured Blake performing solo and with his music friends, including original hits and covers of songs from icons like George Strait and Alabama.

The tour will continue through the end of March. For tickets, head to Ticketmaster.com, or try resale sites like Stubhub.com and Vividseats.com.

Keep reading to see the opening night set list…

Blake Shelton’s 2025 Friends & Heroes Tour Setlist (Opening Night)

1. “Pour Me a Drink”

2. “I’ll Name the Dogs”

3. “Sangria”

4. “Neon Light...

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton joins the SiriusXM lineup with his own exclusive, year-round channel: Chris Stapleton Radio (Ch. 63).

Chris Stapleton RadioCountry, rock, soul & moreListen on the App

Listen on the App

“Chris Stapleton Radio gives people another way to connect with our music — where me and the rest of the guys in the band and Morgane are coming from,” Chris said about his new channel. “What our influences are. Knowing that when people come to watch a show, what they’re hearing is informed by the things that are on this channel. That’s probably the ultimate reason that I want to do this.”

Chris Stapleton Radio How to listen

Chris Stapleton Radio is available on satellite channel 63 and streaming on the SiriusXM app.

What you’ll hear

Curated and presented by Chris and his band, The Honchos, Chris Stapleton Radio features music spanning Chris’s career as well...

George & Tammy isn't likely going to have a second season, given the premise of the show and where it decided to end the story. George & Tammy premiered in December 2022, and the fantastic biopic tells the story of legendary country musicians, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, covering their relationship together as well as their careers. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain star as the titular characters, being nominated and winning numerous awards for their respective performances. Alongside Chastain and Shannon were performances by Steve Zahn and Walton Goggins before his incredible role in Fallout.

Despite being well-received and featuring a pair of standout career performances from Shannon and Chastain, George & Tammy only ran for one season, and a total of six episodes on Showtime. With the series not following Tammy Wynette up to her tragic death, it was unclear if a second season would continue the story, but the...

For filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer, the beginning of “The End” came somewhat unexpectedly as an extension of his work in documentary. This might sound strange considering this narrative feature is a musical set in the bunker of a family partly responsible for an apocalyptic event 25 years prior, but throughout the project’s inception, production, and edit, Oppenheimer was constantly drawing upon his skills as a documentarian to further his examination of humanity’s ability to — drawing upon a fitting allegory — “fiddle while Rome burns.”

To hear Oppenheimer tell it, if there were a way to have told the story depicted in “The End” as a documentary, he probably would have. In a recent interview with IndieWire, he said he intended to follow 2012’s “The Act of Killing” and its 2014 followup, “The Look of Silence,” with a third documentary about the oligarchs who exploited the pain and suffering of those featured in these films to enrich themselves.

Trace Cyrus comes from the talented Cyrus family, known for their musical roots. Growing up, Trace spent much of his childhood on tour with his famous family, which inspired him to start writing songs as a teenager. He even penned tracks for his father, Billy Ray Cyrus, and his sister, Miley.

Trace Cyrus | Credit: Instagram\@tracecyrus

In 2006, Trace co-wrote “Country Music Has the Blues” with Billy Ray for the album Wanna Be Your Joe, which featured country legends Loretta Lynn and George Jones. That same year, Cyrus met Mason Musso, whose brother Mitchel Musso is also in the entertainment industry. Together, they formed the band Metro Station. The group gained fame in 2008 with their hit single “Shake It,” reaching No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite his success, Trace’s story has plenty of surprises worth discovering.

Trace Cyrus Is the Adopted Son of Billy Ray Cyrus

Trace Cyrus is part...

The End's Michael Shannon explores more than just the end of the world in Joshua Oppenheimer's uniquely bleak take on the movie musical. Set years after ecological events have rendered most life on the surface of the Earth impossible, the film follows a family and their personal staff as they struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy in their bunker deep beneath the Earth. The patriarch of the family, only known as Father in the movie, is an interesting contradiction of a man whose efforts to assuage his guilt as a former industrialist are explored throughout the film.

It's a powerful film performance by Michael Shannon, with flashes of the intensity that have often defined some of his most famous characters like Zod from Man of Steel or Nelson Van Alden from Boardwalk Empire. However, there's also a deep vulnerability and almost pitiable element to the character that Shannon...

Those in the know classify Dierks Bentley’s 2010 bluegrass detour, Up on the Ridge, as his best all-around album. During Wednesday night’s 2024 CMA Awards, the country singer scratched that string-music itch again, performing a version of Tom Petty’s 1977 anthem “American Girl” as a bluegrass rave-up with a trio of musical aces: Molly Tuttle on guitar, Sierra Hull on mandolin, and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle.

Bentley’s rendition of “American Girl” originally appeared on this year’s tribute album to the late leader of the Heartbreakers, Petty Country: A...

True to form, John Anderson was in the studio writing and recording a batch of new songs when he first heard rumblings about the latest class being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. When the Florida native, who possesses one of the genre’s most idiosyncratic drawls, eventually learned that he was one of the inductees, he says he absorbed the honor with a mix of satisfaction and melancholy.

“One of the main gratifications is I got to live to see it,” Anderson, 69, says. “Several of my friends were inducted posthumously.

Country legend Keith Urban is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, but he had no idea how deeply he’d be affected by his trip to see Springsteen on Broadway a few years back. When Springsteen described having a dream where he tells his father he embodies him as a performer — “Look, Dad. That guy onstage? That’s how I see you” — Urban was stunned. “I just sat there holding back tears so badly,” he recalls in the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now. When the performance ended, Urban and his wife,...

Chris Stapleton returns to “The Howard Stern Show” and brings new performances from his album “Higher.” Watch and listen to his interview with Howard Stern and full set on Howard 100 (Ch. 100) in cars and on the SiriusXM app.

Chris StapletonFull ‘Stern Show’ interview & setWatch on the App

Watch on the App

“The Howard Stern Show” airs live on the Howard 100 channel Monday-Wednesday (7am-11am Et), with replays of Mondays and Tuesdays shows on Thursdays and Fridays. Episodes and videos are available on the SiriusXM app.

In the midst of yet another triumphant year, Chris Stapleton won four awards at 59th ACM Awards in May, as well as two more trophies at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February. These accomplishments celebrate Stapleton’s fifth studio album, “Higher,” which was released in November 2023 to overwhelming critical acclaim.

Chris Stapleton (C) and his band at SiriusXM Studios on September 25, 2024 in NYC. (Photo...

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Netflix's Kaos.

The soundtrack of Kaos mixes together contemporary genres with classical music, mirroring the dark comedic, contemporary take on Ancient Greek myths. Kaos is a hilarious, raunchy story that follows three humans who learn theyre destined to fulfill a prophecy that will bring down the Greek gods. The unhinged story thrives partly because it incorporates all the darkest and most twisted parts of Greek mythology but approaches them with a sense of humor. The narrator, Prometheus, helps set the sardonic tone for the series. However, another aspect of the show that contributes to its success is the soundtrack.

The episodes of the Netflix comedy show are packed with songs that shape the tone for the audience. The music that plays with each character in Kaos also reflects their personality. Scenes with Dionysus include eclectic music popular in the LGBTQ+ community. Zeus leans...

Post Malone performed a rough-edged rendition of Hank Williams’ “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It” to an intimate crowd at a Nashville honky-tonk late Saturday night. Malone, who has been teasing his country fandom since 2015, popped up at Nashville’s legendary Robert’s Western World to take the stage with Brandon Birkedahl and the band. In a video by the site Whiskey Riff, Malone was also captured performing George Jones’ “I’m a One Woman Man.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samantha Harlow (@samantha...

As the vibration of cicadas began echoing along the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina, last week, the Americana/indie sounds of Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters began to join in. AVLfest, the annual celebration of Asheville music, was underway.

“It’s such a windy world out there/everybody keeps on blowing away,” Platt sang in her whimsical tone akin to Bonnie Raitt during “Mirage,” a cut from the Honeycutters’ latest release. “I try to tell myself that I don’t care/but I learn to love the ones that stay.

In recent years Michael Shannon has begun to emerge as one of film’s most versatile and ubiquitous actors. Often cast his villains or law enforcement agents Shannon always brings a brooding intensity to his roles and manages to use that intensity for both good characters and bad that often know a lot more than they are saying.

Shannon first started his career as a stage actor in Chicago. He gained a great deal of notice and other roles from his appearances in the plays of a then little-known actor turned playwright named Tracy Letts. Shannon credits his work in the plays of Letts for the film and television opportunities that came his way after he appeared in two of Lett’s acclaimed plays “Bug” and “Killer Joe.”

He returned to the stage, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role as Jamie...

Joe Bonsall, the longtime tenor vocalist for the celebrated country and gospel group the Oak Ridge Boys, died Tuesday, July 9, from complications of Als (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). He was 76.

The Oak Ridge Boys announced Bonsall’s death in a statement on their website: “As a 50-year member of the American music group the Oak Ridge Boys, Joe was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and inducted into the Philadelphia Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame,...

When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell heard about plans for country greats like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Chris Stapleton, and Dierks Bentley to honor the band’s music on the covers collection Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, he felt it made perfect sense, even though they were a rock band at their core.

“We all grew up in the South and were seeped in the music of Hank Williams and George Jones that we heard on the radio,” he tells Rs.

Chris Stapleton is getting his own SiriusXM channel. Starting Thursday, May 23, at noon/E.T., Chris Stapleton Radio will debut on the satellite-radio giant on channel 63 and play a mix of songs all curated by Stapleton and his band members, including his wife and singing partner Morgane Stapleton.

“Chris Stapleton Radio gives people another way to connect with our music — where me and the rest of the guys in the band and Morgane are coming from. What our influences are,” the country singer said in a statement.

That Stapleton is...

Scotty McCreery knows that he shows up carrying a lot of baggage. He’s the American Idol kid, the preternaturally youthful, aw-shucks redhead who, at 17, won the reality singing competition back when it still mattered, and dropped the inoffensive debut single “I Love You This Big.” That reputation, polished and squeaky clean, tells some cynical country fans all they need to know about the type of music he makes. Surely, Scotty McCreery can’t do hard country.

McCreery, sipping on a Michter’s bourbon, two cubes, shakes his head. Straightening...

“Drank someone else’s juice and left only the rind,” Katie Crutchfield boasts on her excellent new Waxahatchee album, Tigers Blood. She’s got a right to sound cocky. The long-time indie-rock underdog hero won herself a lot of new fans with Saint Cloud, her 2020 breakthrough hit, going for a laid-back style of heartland rock & roll twang. But Tigers Blood is even more rugged and confident, a master storyteller fully aware she’s on a hot streak. She sings about adult romance, struggling for sobriety, the day-to-day work of holding...

Toby Keith is one of the 2024 inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The songwriter died Feb. 5 after a long battle with stomach cancer — one day before the names of the final inductees were to be delivered to the Hall of Fame staff.

Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, announced Keith as one of this year’s inductees and walked through the nomination process during a press conference in the Hall of Fame’s Rotunda Monday morning. “My heart sank that Tuesday afternoon knowing that we had missed the...

Brit Turner, the drummer and a founding member of the Southern rock & roll band Blackberry Smoke, died Sunday. He was 57. Turner was diagnosed with glioblastoma — a cancer of the brain — and underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor in November 2022. The band confirmed his death in a post on social media.

“It is with the deepest sorrow that we inform everyone that our brother @britturner13 has moved on from this life. If you had the privilege of knowing Brit on any level, you know he was the most caring, empathetic,...

Born and raised in Kentucky as the daughter of coal miner Ted Webb, Loretta Lynn taught herself how to play guitar as a teenager. She knew enough to begin carving out her identity as a singer, later giving way to the establishment of a powerful legacy. But taking a look at Loretta’s sprawling family tree, it seems as though her musical calling was inevitable — and it has spanned generations since.

Loretta was the second oldest of eight children. While neither of their parents pursued musicianship as careers, the Webb...

Get ready for an unforgettable evening of music as “Great Performances” presents Season 51 Episode 6, titled “George Jones: Still Playin’ Possum.” Tune in to PBS at 7:00 Pm on Sunday, February 25, 2024, for a heartfelt tribute concert honoring the legendary country musician George Jones.

This special episode showcases an all-star lineup of talented artists, including Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Jelly Roll, Tanya Tucker, Wynonna, Sam Moore, Travis Tritt, Jamey Johnson, Uncle Kracker, and more. Together, they come together to pay homage to the iconic George Jones, whose timeless music continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.

From classic hits to lesser-known gems, the concert promises to be a celebration of Jones’ remarkable legacy and enduring influence on the country music genre. Viewers can expect powerful performances, heartfelt tributes, and memorable moments as these acclaimed artists come together to honor a true legend.

Don’t miss out on this extraordinary musical event as “Great...

Get ready for an unforgettable night of country music with the latest episode of “Great Performances” titled “George Jones: Still Playin’ Possum,” airing on PBS at 9:00 Pm on Friday, February 23, 2024. This special tribute concert honors the legendary country musician George Jones and features an all-star lineup of talented artists.

Viewers can expect to be treated to incredible performances by some of the biggest names in country music, including Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Jelly Roll, Tanya Tucker, Wynonna, Sam Moore, Travis Tritt, Jamey Johnson, Uncle Kracker, and more. Each artist will pay homage to George Jones by performing his iconic songs and sharing personal stories about his influence on their careers.

From classic hits to heartfelt ballads, this tribute concert promises to be a celebration of George Jones’ enduring legacy and the impact he has had on the world of country music. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to his music,...

Matthew Macfadyen and Michael Shannon star in ‘Death by Lightning’

Two-time Emmy Award winner Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) have committed to star in Netflix’s Death by Lightning, a political drama based on Candice Millard’s Destiny Of The Republic. Matthew Macfadyen will star as Charles Guiteau and Michael Shannon will play James Garfield.

“Death by Lightning is a drama series that brings to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau — the man who would come to kill him,” reads Netflix’s synopsis.

The series was created by Mike Makowsky (Bad Education) who’ll serve as writer and executive producer. Game of Thrones and 3 Body Problem‘s David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bernie Caulfield also executive produce along with director Matt Ross. (Ross will direct all episodes.

Michael Shannon is to play assassinated President Garfield with Matthew Macfadyen as his killer Charles Guiteau in a new series for Netflix.

Death By Lightning comes from Bad Education screenwriter Mike Makowsky, who created the series, and directed by Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic) with Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss exec producing via their overall deal with Netflix.

It is based on the book Destiny Of The Republic by Candice Millard.

The series will bring to life the stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau — the man who would come to kill him.

Garfield was President in 1881 and was assassinated later that year, having previously served nine terms as a Congressman. He was elected as a Senator but declined this when he became President, despite having not sought the office.

He was shot by Guiteau,...

The estate of Tammy Wynette’s fifth and final husband, George Richey, has sued Showtime and one of Wynette’s daughters over the “villainous” portrayal of Richey in the 2022 miniseries George and Tammy.

Richey died in 2010, 12 years after Wynette’s 1998 death. A year after Richey died, Georgette Jones — the daughter of Wynette and fellow country legend George Jones — published a book titled The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George that made significant accusations against Richey, including that he allegedly destroyed a Wynette will that would have left...

Showtime is being sued by the family of Tammy Wynette‘s fifth husband, George Richey, for what it claims is a negative portrayal of Richey in the network’s limited series George & Tammy. As reported by Variety, Richey’s wife, Sheila Slaughter Richey, and their daughter, Tatum Keys Richey, filed the suit against Showtime for depicting Richey “as a devious husband who abused Wynette and Richey’s prior wife, facilitated and encouraged Wynette’s addiction to prescription painkillers, and engaged in financial and managerial manipulation of Wynette.” The White Lotus actor Steve Zahn portrayed Richey in the series, which premiered on Showtime on December 4, 2022. The show also starred Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette and Michael Shannon as George Jones. A spokesperson for Showtime responded to the lawsuit, stating, “We see no plausible basis for any claim against Showtime,” as per Variety. Steve Zahn as George Richey in ‘George & Tammy...

The family of Tammy Wynette’s fifth husband George Richey has filed a lawsuit against Showtime, alleging that the network’s George & Tammy limited series disparaged Richey as a “villain.”

The suit was filed, our sister site Variety reports, on behalf of Richey’s wife Sheila Slaughter Richey and their daughter Tatum Keys Richey. (George Richey died in 2010.) The suit says that George & Tammy depicts Richey, played by Steve Zahn, “as a devious husband who abused Wynette and Richey’s prior wife, facilitated and encouraged Wynette’s addiction to prescription painkillers, and engaged in financial and managerial manipulation of Wynette.

Showtime has been hit with a lawsuit over “George & Tammy” by the estate of country star Tammy Wynette’s fifth and last husband, George Richey. His heirs contend that the critically acclaimed miniseries disparaged Richey as the “villain” of the tortured love story between Wynette and George Jones, in violation of a previous non-disparagement agreement with Georgette Jones, the daughter of the titular couple and a key participant in the series.

Georgette Jones is not named as a defendant; only Showtime is. But because she was a consulting producer on the miniseries, as well as being the writer of the memoir that was the basis for the script, the lawsuit claims that the 2022 release of “George & Tammy” represented the network’s “tortious interference” in a 2015 settlement agreement the estate had made with Jones not to defame or disparage Richey, played by Steve Zahn in the series

A Showtime...

(Updated with Showtime statement) Tammy Wynette had a huge hit in 1968 with “D-i-v-o-r-c-e,” but today the family of the legendary country singer’s fifth and final husband has taken Showtime to court to break up their relationship with George & Tammy.

Citing an alleged violation of a five-year old Non-Disclosure Agreement signed by Georgette Jones, the estate of songwriter George Richey want a wide variety of damages from the cabler. Richey’s fourth and final wife Sheila Slaughter and offspring Tatum Keys Richey also want the award winning 2022 miniseries pulled off streaming because “the Series conveys a negative and disparaging depiction of Richey.”

That’s the polite and legalese version of the way the suit says the self-described George & Tammy “villain” was presented.

“In summary, the Series depicts Richey as a devious husband who abused Wynette and Richey’s prior wife, facilitated and encouraged Wynette’s addiction to prescription painkillers, and...

Country star Blake Shelton is going back on the road for his Honky Tonk Tour.

Shelton announced his return to the stage in October and shared that his special guests this time around would be “Thinking ‘Bout You” singer Dustin Lynch and former The Voice contestant Emily Ann Roberts.

The “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” singer will embark on his first tour of the year on February 22 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and will stop in cities like Austin, Texas, and Portland, Oregon. He will also be making visits to Canada in the first half of the tour and is scheduled to end on March 29 in Wichita, Kansas.

This is not the first Back to the Honky Tonk Tour that Shelton has been on. Last year, he went on an 18-date tour of the same name with Carly Pearce and Jackson Dean.

Last week, during his New Year’s Eve show,...

Julien’s Auctions announced Music Health Alliance’s “Lyrics for a Cause” benefit auction in collaboration with Julien’s 20th anniversary week-long celebration in Music City.

The online auction opened on Monday, October 23, and will be held live — for the first time — on Tuesday, November 14, at 6:00pm Cst at Hard Rock Cafe Nashville and ["online at Julien’s Live Auctions}. Proceeds will benefit Music Health Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides free healthcare advocacy and support, and access to critical life-saving health and financial resources for the music industry.

In its fourth consecutive year, Julien’s Auctions has partnered with Music Health Alliance in offering a rare collection of handwritten lyrics from some of the most legendary singers and songwriters from the 20th and 21st centuries. Spanning in genres from country, pop, rock, gospel/Ccm, americana, hip-hop/rap and alternative rock, they generously offered to handwrite and sign the lyrics of some of their greatest hits and music’s most enduring classics to aid and support underserved members of the music community in times of need.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary as the...

Director Sam Jones won plaudits earlier this year for his HBO documentary “Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed,” one of the best-regarded music docs since his own “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco” back in 2001. He also got attention this year for his HBO documentary series “Smartless: On the Road,” with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. But he doesn’t go on-camera himself with those particular doc projects, the way he did in his long-running talk show “Off Camera With Sam Jones,” which ran for 220 episodes on DirecTV from 2013 through 2020.

Now Jones putting himself back in the formal host role with a new series he’s begun shooting intermittently at the Hotel Café club in Hollywood, titled “The Talent Show.” The types of guests he has and the strength of his interviewing chops will seem recognizable to anyone familiar with “Off Camera,...

Within the past four years alone, the success rate for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress Emmy nominees who have entered their ceremonies with same-year SAG Award wins under their belts has dropped from 100% to 60%. After being followed by Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”) in 2021, win-lose trendsetter Patricia Arquette might soon be joined by 2023 SAG Award recipient Jessica Chastain (“George & Tammy”), whose Gold Derby Emmy odds are significantly lower than those of her strongest challenger, Ali Wong (“Beef”).

Chastain and Wong represent half of their Emmy lineup’s first-time acting nominee majority, which also includes Dominique Fishback (“Swarm”) and Riley Keough (“Daisy Jones & the Six”). Rounding out the group, which features no former Emmy champions, are category newcomers Lizzy Caplan (“Fleishman is in Trouble”) and Kathryn Hahn (“Tiny Beautiful Things”).

In order to determine the likelihood of Chastain perpetuating said unfortunate trend, let’s take a closer look at each nominee.

Just two years after winning a Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor Emmy for “Mare of Easttown,” Evan Peters currently has a strong shot at conquering the corresponding lead category as the star of “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” By succeeding on this outing, he would not only maintain his perfect acting Emmys record, but would also follow Ed Flanders as the second recipient of both possible limited program performance prizes.

Given the overall strength of this year’s Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor lineup, Peters’s potential win won’t come easily, if at all. The only other previous Emmy nominee in the mix is Kumail Nanjiani (“Welcome to Chippendales”), with most of the slots being filled by well-known first-timers Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”), Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”), Michael Shannon (“George & Tammy”), and Steven Yeun (“Beef”).

In order to tell whether Peters really has anything to worry about,...

Emmy-nominated costume designer Mitchell Travers didn’t have the luxury to simply re-create the real suits and gowns worn by country music legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette for Showtime’s limited series George & Tammy. In fact, the stature of actor Michael Shannon, who has earned an Emmy nom for his performance as Jones, was an immediate obstacle for the designer.

“Michael Shannon is a brilliant actor, but he’s also six feet, four inches [tall],” Travers tells THR, adding that the real-life Jones was seven inches shorter. “Trying to create costumes for a much shorter man was a major part of the transformation for him.”

Speaking with THR at an FYC event for George & Tammy, held Monday at the 71 Studio Bar at Hollywood’s Grandmaster Recorders, Travers recalls the massive volume of period costumes needed for the limited series — not just for Shannon and his Emmy-nominated co-star Jessica Chastain,...

This story about Jessica Chastain and “George & Tammy” first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Drama and Limited Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. This interview took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.

An Oscar winner in 2022 for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”and a Tony nominee in 2023 for “A Doll’s House,” Jessica Chastain completed that acting trifecta this year with her first Emmy nomination. It came for “George & Tammy,”the Showtime limited series that she exec-produced and in which she and fellow first-time nominee Michael Shannon play Tammy Wynette and George Jones, the country music legends who chronicled their stormy on-and-off relationship through decades of hit songs — which Chastain and Shannon sing themselves rather than lip-syncing to the original recordings.

I get the feeling that you were as excited about Michael Shannon’s nomination as you were about your own.

I’m possibly even more excited,...

As Hurricane Hilary approaches Southern California, several events in Los Angeles are being rescheduled this weekend.

My Morning Jacket and Fleet Foxes’ joint Hollywood Bowl show Sunday night was postponed until Aug. 28, the Bowl’s official Twitter account announced on Saturday. Attendees will be able to use their tickets — including parking, shuttle, and park and ride passes — on the new date with no further action needed. The Bowl also gave ticketholders an opportunity to exchange, donate, refund or receive account credit for their tickets if they no longer want them.

In the sports realm, the Dodgers’ game against the Miami Marlins, which was scheduled for Sunday, was pushed to Saturday afternoon instead. The teams will now face off in a split doubleheader on Saturday, with the 6:10 p.m. Pt game still on the schedule.

The L.A. Galaxy’s match against Real Salt Lake, also set for Sunday, has been rescheduled for Oct.

This story about Michael Shannon first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Drama and Limited Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. All actor interviews in that issue were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.

Perhaps the only thing more surprising than “George & Tammy” star Jessica Chastain receiving her first Emmy nomination as country legend Tammy Wynette is that her journeyman costar Michael Shannon is also receiving his first Emmy nomination as country legend George Jones, despite an impressive TV background that includes HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers.”

“Jessica fought to get me in there after there was a vacancy,” Shannon said of his Oscar-winning “Take Shelter” costar, “because I think some of the powers that be were like, ‘Can we get somebody a little more… whatever?’”

But as he’s been doing throughout his remarkably chameleonic career, Shannon provided something far...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2023 Emmy Predictions:

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

Weekly Commentary: In the biographical comedy film, Daniel Radcliffe plays the brilliant role of parody musician Al Yankovic, diving headfirst into the eccentric world of the satirical songwriter. He effortlessly channels Yankovic’s signature humor in the Roku Channel movie,...

Igor Martinovic is an Emmy-nominated cinematographer whose work includes “House of Cards,” “The Night Of,” “What Happened, Miss Simone?” and the Showtime limited series “George & Tammy,” but the best advice he ever got was not from a fellow cinematographer, a teacher or even a director he was working with.

Instead, Martinovic told TheWrap, it came from “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” screenwriter and “American Gigolo” and “First Reformed” director Paul Schrader, in an interview Schrader gave about what he and director Martin Scorsese were trying to do when they made “Taxi Driver.”

“He was talking about (Robert De Niro’s character) Travis Bickle, and he said they were trying to make a documentary of Travis’ mind,” Martinovic said. “That was the idea that taught me the most about filmmaking, the idea that you’re actually making visuals that represent somebody’s state of mind.

“So on ‘George & Tammy,...

When costume designer Mitchell Travers first heard about “George and Tammy” he was busy working with star and Emmy nominee Jessica Chastain on another Tammy project: “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”

“Every actor is so different and I’m sure everyone on this panel can speak to the different process that we get to experience with actors,” Travers, an Emmy nominee for the Showtime series, tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview as part of our Meet the Experts: Costume Designer panel. “For whatever reason, Jessica and I aligned on our process. It’s a very similar approach that we have. I like to get the actor dressed in the morning in the same way that a human being gets dressed. So I don’t like to just deliver that one costume that’s exactly right. I like to sort of live with them as a living, breathing person,...

This Episode Was Recorded Prior To The Actors’ Strike.

This week’s guest is Jessica Chastain.

Fresh off a Tony nomination for her role in Jamie Lloyd’s Broadway revival of A Dolls’ House, Chastain is Emmy-nominated for her turn as country singer Tammy Wynette in Showtime’s six-part series George & Tammy, which co-stars Michael Shannon as George Jones.

During our chat, Chastain went deep into why Wynette was criticized for her apparently submissive role in performing her iconic song “Stand By Your Man”. Chastain, who sang live while shooting the show, peeled back the layers of Wynette’s experience at that time in Nashville, and why feminism found the “wrong target” in Wynette.

The Oscar-winner also dished about her role alongside good friend Anne Hathaway in the upcoming thriller Mothers’ Instinct, and Memory with Peter Sarsgaard.

And of course there’s the ’20 Questions’ at the heart of the episode,...

Dave Cobb had just gotten off a plane when he learned that Robbie Robertson, the leader of the Band and one of rock & roll’s great lyricists and guitar players, had died Wednesday at 80. The Nashville producer behind such modern-day milestones as Jason Isbell’s Southeastern, Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, and Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music says you can hear Robertson’s influence not only in the albums Cobb himself has produced, but in much of what is considered “Americana music” today.

“Robbie was one of the godfathers of Americana.

Keith Urban, the Australian country hitmaker, will enter the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this fall. The institution, founded in 1970, cited his songs “But for the Grace of God,” “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me,” and “Days Go By” as reasons for his induction, which will take place at the titular town’s Music City Center on Oct. 11. Urban will be recognized in the Hall’s “contemporary songwriter/artist” category.

The other songwriters going into Hall this year include Brooks and Dunn’s Kix Brooks (whose credits include his own...