Critically acclaimed duo The War and Treaty have signed with Atlantic Outpost and will release their first album for the label, The Story of Michael and Tanya, on June 19.

The set, which features Whoopi Goldberg, Valerie June and Wynonna, is preceded by first single “Don’t Say Goodbye,” which drops Thursday (May 7).

The new album, which is available for pre-order, explores the “tension between sacred sounds and secular desires,” according to the label. Among the writers on the project are Babyface, who co-wrote the track “You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore.”

“Evoking hard, honest emotions first required me to find those parts in myself,” Tanya Trotter said in a statement. “Once you find them, there’s a strength to the urgency that feels like you’ll be at your wits’ end if you don’t express that emotion.”

Michael Trotter added, “For The War and Treaty, feeling every aspect of what we’re writing and singing has grown from representing routine emotions to now demanding that people connect with our spirit.”

The married couple was named duo/group of the year by the Americana Music Honors & Awards in 2022 and 2023 after winning emerging artist of the year in 2019.

The two-time Grammy nominees were previously on Universal Music Group Nashville’s Mercury Nashville imprint. They parted ways with the label following the release of their most recent album, 2025’s Plus One.

The War and Treaty reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023 with “Hey Driver,” their collaboration with Zach Bryan. 

Billboard honored The War and Treaty with its Groundbreaker Award at the 2024 Country Power Players event for their boundary-busting musical appeal, which makes them equally at home on the CMA Awards stage, at the Newport Jazz Festival or performing as part of a tribute to Jon Bon Jovi at MusiCares.

The duo will headline Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 13. Tickets go on sale to the general public on May 15 through AXS.com.

The Story of Michael and Tanya track list

1. Litty (featuring Whoopi Goldberg)
2. Don’t Say Goodbye
3. You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore
4. Shouldn’t Have
5. Forgive Me
6. Darlene & Gene
7. Reclaim All of Your Time (featuring Valerie June and Wynonna)
8. Lay This Bottle Down
9. Don’t Give Up Now
10. Holy Ghost Fire

French independent music giant Believe has teamed with former 300 exec Az Cohen for a new joint venture, called AZTEC, that will mark Believe’s first U.S.-based record label, the company announced Thursday (May 7). Cohen, the son of industry legend and current YouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen, will spearhead the new venture as its president and founder.

Significantly, AZTEC marks Believe’s first frontline foray into the United States, after spending the past 20 years building a local-music empire in more than 50 territories around the globe. It also solidifies the company’s intentions in the world’s biggest music market, following last week’s announcement of a new label and artist solutions division in the U.S., headed by Thomas Maxwell. Together, the new initiatives — Maxwell overseeing label distribution and services, and Cohen overseeing the new frontline label — as well as TuneCore, the DIY distributor that Believe acquired in 2015, encompass a full stack of services in the U.S. for Believe.

“Our joint venture with AZTEC reflects Believe’s continued commitment to building artist-first partnerships and supporting entrepreneurs who deeply understand the creative and cultural landscape,” Believe’s global head of music, Romain Vivien, said in a statement. “Az brings an exceptional ability to spot talent and build sustainable careers, and together we are creating an ecosystem designed for the next generation of artists.”

Cohen has spent 13 years at 300, the company his father co-founded in 2013 as an indie record label alongside Kevin Liles, Todd Moscowitz and Roger Gold. He served in various A&R capacities as the company — which shepherded the careers of Migos, Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Fetty Wap and more — grew and was ultimately acquired by the Warner Music Group in 2021 for $400 million. During his time at 300, Cohen also launched Sparta, 300’s indie distribution wing, which has racked up more than 8 billion streams across its catalog, according to a press release.

With AZTEC, Cohen hopes to build out lasting careers for the artists he signs, eschewing the quick-hit nature of parts of the business in the social media era. “In an industry that’s become increasingly about quick wins and short-term virality, we are artists, engineers, planners and warriors with a singular focus: building empires with our artists and partners,” Cohen said in a statement. “AZTEC is about patience, commitment and shaping careers that stand the test of time.”

Cohen, who also managed Post Malone early in his career, will be based in New York, with initial signings to be announced in the coming weeks and months. He’ll leverage his own network of sources and contacts, as well as TuneCore’s distribution base and Believe’s global footprint, to help develop those acts. “The success of artists today often starts with hyper-local stories, and it is our job to champion those around the world,” Cohen added. “Believe’s unique position as a truly global company with massive local expertise, via boots on the ground, allows AZTEC artists to be certain that their stories will be shared with new fans, no matter where that fan lives.”

Olivia Rodrigo is giving fans a few more chances to see her on tour. After announcing 65 stops on her upcoming Unraveled Tour last week, the “Drop Dead” singer has expanded the outing due to demand, with five more shows in London, two more in Amsterdam and Barcelona and a second Paris show. In addition, five additional gigs in Los Angeles are set for next January and five more in Brooklyn in February.

The tour in support of the singer’s upcoming third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (June 12) is slated to kick off on Sept. 25 with the first of two gigs at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Conn. Support on select dates on the tour will come from Wolf Alice, The Last Dinner Party, Devon Again, Die Spitz and Grace Ives, with the outing now slated to wrap up with a May 6, 2027 show at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.

Among the new 2027 shows on the roster are five in Los Angeles on Jan. 20, 21, 24, 25 and 28 five in Brooklyn on Feb. 19, 20, 23, 24 and 27, five additional dates at the O2 in London on April 12, 14, 15, 19 and 20 along with two more in Amsterdam on March 27 and 28, another pair in Barcelona on May 5 and 6 and a second Paris show on April 24. Another 2026 date, an Oct. 18 stop at TD Garden in Boston, Mass. has also been added.

Check out all the dates for Olivia Rodrigo’s 2026-2027 Unraveled tour below (new shows in bold).

Justin Bieber is many things. A pop icon, a heartthrob, a hitmaker. A “yes man” he is not.

The Kid LAROI recently sat for a chat with Carter Gregory for The Set List, on which he recounted working with Justin Bieber on the mega-hit “Stay.” Were it not for Bieber convincing LAROI he was sitting on a piece of platinum, “Stay” might not have reached our ears.

“That song came about because he sent me the song for his album and I was kind of like alright I gotta send him back one now from mine,” LAROI explains. “I don’t know, there was a part of me at that point in my career I think I was very in my head about like, ‘oh is this too pop of a song? Is this gonna be weird if I put this out?’ I think I was overanalyzing things, I remember asking him ‘do you want to put this on your project or something?’”

Biebs laid it out. “He was like ‘bro, are you out of your mind? You have to release this, you keep this for you,’” says LAROI. “He literally was like ‘Bro this is a smash, you gotta put this out.’”

That was some good advice. Following its release in 2021, the collaboration went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and stayed there for seven weeks), won ARIA and APRA Awards, and is one of the top 10 most-streamed songs in Spotify history, chalking up more than 3.9 billion plays on the platform (it’s currently at No. 10 on the all-time leaderboard).

Bieber is always there with good advice, even if that is to rip LAROI’s work. “He’s always dropping some really good stuff. I think though, the most helpful and useful thing is something that you wouldn’t think of, maybe off rip, but something I think he does so well is that he just listens really well. He’s really good at just being like ‘man, I’m sorry. That sucks, let’s talk about it,’” LAROI remarks. “He always has great advice but just talking about something and being acknowledged like ‘damn that sucks’ you know, that’s a thing in itself that sometimes.”

He continues, “I find it helpful when he shares his experiences with me. He just cares too which is cool, he’s never approaching it from like ‘I know everything’ which is really cool. He’s very honest about things and if he doesn’t know something he will always be like ‘I don’t know, but I’m here for you.’”

Canada and Australia have a special relationship, a human connection we see flow through with Bieber and LAROI, who also teamed up on “Unstable,” a track housed on Biebs’ sixth studio album, Justice from 2021.

LAROI (real name: Charlton Howard) is currently working his way across the United States on his A Perfect World tour, in support of his third full-length project, Before I Forget, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year.

Bryan Adams makes his second trip to YouTube Music’s Billion Views Club, this time with “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.”

The Canadian singer-songwriter passes the billion views milestone with performance video for “I Do It For You,” the 1991 ballad that soundtracked Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

“I Do It For You” was an unstoppable hit following its release, much like the film it was connected to. It’s one of Adams’ four titles to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for seven weeks — by some margin the longest reign by Adams on the national singles survey.

Across the Atlantic, “I Do It For You” enjoyed a fairytale run on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, which included an historic 16-week reign, all of it consecutive. No other song in OCC history has enjoyed a longer stretch at No. 1.

The song led-off Adams’s Waking Up the Neighbours, which topped the Official U.K. Albums Chart, the ARIA Chart, and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. 

The action-adventure film from which “I Do It For You” was synced was a box office success, coming in at No. 2 among the year’s highest-grossing films with $390 million, behind the sci-fi masterpiece Terminator 2: Judgment Day with $520 million, and comprehensively trounced, at the box office at least, the critically-acclaimed, Patrick Bergin-starring Robin Hood, also released in 1991.

Adams first entered YouTube’s Billion Views Club with another ballad, 1993’s “Please Forgive Me.”

“(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” was written by Adams, Robert “Mutt” Lange and Michael Kamen. Its official black and white video was filmed in Miami, Florida 1992, directed by Andy Morahan, and can be seen in full below.

Brandi Carlile is the newest inductee into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame.

The 11-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, producer and performer will be elevated during the ACL Hall of Fame induction and taping on July 1, with Bonnie Raitt on hand to induct Carlile. Raitt, who was inducted in 2016, will also perform a tribute on the night.

“Being inducted into the ACL Hall of Fame by one of my absolute heroes — Bonnie Raitt — means everything to me,” comments Carlile in a statement. “I’m so grateful to have had such a deep and powerful connection to the city of Austin and Austin City Limits all these years — and I cannot wait to hit the Moody stage in July to celebrate this immense honor.”

Adds Raitt: “I’m thrilled to induct my friend Brandi into the ACL Hall of Fame. She is truly one of our most respected and impactful artists. I admire her not only for her incredible music, but for standing up for the causes and artists she’s passionate about, all while balancing her wonderful family life. I can’t wait to get to perform together for this show that has meant so much to us both.”

The 12th Annual ACL Hall of Fame will be presented at ACL’s studio home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin, Texas.  Highlights, including performances and speeches, will be packaged for an hour-long broadcast during Season 52 of Austin City Limits, premiering this September on PBS, and available to stream online and via the PBS App.

Established in 2014, the ACL Hall of Fame recognizes artists who’ve played a defining role in the series’ half-century legacy. Honorees have included Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lucinda Williams, Roy Orbison, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, and last year’s inductee Garth Brooks.

Carlile has “deep roots at ACL” and is a frequent presence at the ACL Hall of Fame, reads a statement announcing her special night. Also, Carlile handed induction honors for Sheryl Crow in 2022 and has delivered three standout appearances: in 2010 (Season 36), 2018 (Season 44) and 2022 (Season 48).

Across a two-decade-plus career, Carlile has landed 10 titles on the Billboard 200 chart, including five top 10s.  At the back end of 2025, Carlile broke the record for most No. 1’s by a woman on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, as her latest album Returning to Myself debuts atop the Nov. 8-dated tally. Earlier this year, Carlile performed “America the Beautiful” during Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium, and presented the Innovator Award to Laufey at Billboard Women In Music 2026.

“When Brandi Carlile first stepped onto the ACL stage more than 15 years ago, it was immediately clear she possessed a rare and singular talent,” says ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “The moment you hear her voice, you know exactly who it is. She will always have a home here at ACL, and now she takes her well-deserved place in the ACL Hall of Fame. Having Bonnie Raitt there to welcome her into the fold makes the occasion all the more special.”

Austin City Limits and the ACL Hall of Fame are produced by Austin PBS.