Rosanne Cash has a new The Essential Collection available today, Jan. 10, commemorating her spot in music history and her role in the development of Americana music. This definitive 40-song set spans Cash’s music catalog from 1979 up through 2021, highlighting her 14 studio albums and 10 No. 1 hits, as well as collaborations with John Leventhal, duets with Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.This release is meant to complement a new exhibit, Rosanne Cash: Time Is a Mirror, which is running now through March 2026 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn. Per its official description, the exhibit will explore Cash’s more than 40-year journey as an artist, songwriter and storyteller, and how she has embodied both tradition and innovation across her musical career.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bob Clearmountain was driving back from Apogee Studios in Santa Monica to his home in Pacific Palisades. The revered producer and mixer has helmed records by such rock legends as Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Roxy Music and David Bowie, often out of his home studio, Mix This!, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He could feel the Santa Ana winds ripping up the coast and through the canyons.

Lupe Fiasco is headed to Johns Hopkins as a professor. On Wednesday, the rapper announced that he’ll be a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute this year. The rap star will teach a course for their four-year hip-hop program that starts in 2025. “Let’s hit the ground running in 2025… Thrilled to share that I’ll be joining the faculty at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Fall 2025 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor,” Fiasco wrote, thanking the degree program leader, musician Wendel Patrick.

Joan Baez received a gold medal for her outstanding contributions in art and public discourse, the highest honour awarded, from the Historical society on Friday, December the 13th. Baez, who rose to fame in the 60s, has become a legend in folk music and has advocated for nonviolence and human rights throughout her long and illustrious career. Baez was first introduced and awarded the medal for her work in activism and art before sitting down for a Q&A session with the Auditor of the Hist, Tom Francis. Francis asked Baez questions about the intersection between music and activism and the particular current state of the world. Of activism and social change, Baez stated, “I wouldn’t be interested in it without the music. I believe that it’s the spirit and it’s really the only thing that crosses borders”.

Her career stretches back to more than four decades ago with her first album in 1979. It was the next record, Seven Year Ache, that led to her first No. 1 first with the title track. Over the next decade, Rosanne Cash lit up the country charts with a string of No.1’s like “Blue Moon with Heartache,” Tennessee Flat Top Box,” “Runaway Train,” and others.

With her distinctive vocal style, talent for songwriting, and extensive catalogue blending country, country rock, pop, and Americana, the four-time GRAMMY winner Rosanne Cash has cemented her own place in music history. To celebrate her many contributions, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has opened a new exhibit: Rosanne Cash: Time Is A Mirror.

There were stars a plenty at the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin last night. Yet they were all playing second fiddle (excuse the pun) to a global star who was in Dublin for a screening of a documentary about her life, Joan Baez. Now 83, Ms Baez is as famous for her decades of political activism as she is for her music, and indeed the two became interwoven over the years. "The activism came a teeny bit earlier than the songs and the guitar and the ukulele and all of it," Ms Baez said. "All I can tell you is that when I was eight and my parents joined a quaker church, it was about learning about violence and non-violence and nation-state versus human beings and I found that all through the years I've been the happiest and felt the most reason to be here when I was doing music and activism at the same time," she added.

Rosanne Cash's journey from curiosity-driven teenage rock fandom to a Grammy and Americana Music Association award-winning and 11-time Country Music Association award-nominated musician is highlighted via the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's newest exhibition, "Rosanne Cash: Time Is a Mirror." It runs through March 2026 and is included with museum admission.

Baez is a legendary folk musician and a lifelong activist who was at the forefront of 1960s counterculture. She marched with Martin Luther King, opposed the war in Vietnam, attended peace marches in 1970s Belfast. A recent documentary about her life, Joan Baez: I Am a Noise, tells the story of her music and activism but also deals with her struggle with anxiety and some upsetting family secrets. It’s all the more affecting given how powerfully Baez has moved through the world. The impression most fans would get from her is that she is someone who’s at peace and knows exactly what she’s doing. She laughs. “That’s true now.”

GLEN Hansard will perform a solo show at Belltable on Thursday December 19. This will be the first Limerick date since 2017 for the The Frames/The Swell Season frontman.This intimate solo show is a pre-Christmas fundraiser for Ukrainian Action in Ireland.

Angélique Kidjo’s influence on the African music scene is immeasurable. Her exceptional artistry and astute showmanship have resulted in a career that stands alongside the greats of this century — and yet, Kidjo isn’t stopping. Forty years in, album after album, the multiple Grammy winner has transformed a dazzling kaleidoscope of influences, keeping in touch with modern sensibilities while reflecting her own long-held standards. OkayAfrica recently met the Beninese French icon at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where we had a conversation that ranged across her glittering career.

In a year marked by global challenges, the United Nations Foundation’s 2024 We the Peoples Global Leadership Awards Gala in New York City illuminated the transformative power of leadership and collaboration. Held in the heart of Manhattan on November 21, the event celebrated extraordinary individuals and organizations addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues—from climate change to gender equality. This year’s honorees included National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, Grammy-winning singer Angélique Kidjo and former New Zealand Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Jacinda Ardern.