Lainey Wilson performs at Toyota Pavilion in Concord, Calif. on Aug. 24, 2024. Sean Liming/STAFF. CONCORD, Calif. — Country star Lainey Wilson, current holder of the Grammy for Country Album of the Year and the first woman to win entertainer of the year at the CMAs since Taylor Swift…

Ice Spice performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on Aug. 21, 2024. Derek Fisher/STAFF. OAKLAND — Performing in front and on top of set pieces resembling a New York subway station, as images of lit-up city skyscapes flashed behind her and a giant inflatable caricature of herself, Bronx rapper…

Bikini Kill, courtesy Debi Del Grande. Mosswood Meltdown photos: Roman Gokhman/STAFF. Riot grrrl originators Bikini Kill didn’t purposefully wait three decades to make their late-night TV debut. They weren’t holding out on principle of not selling out or due to their ethos as a punk band. In fact, drummer…

Kevin Abstract performs during Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Aug. 9, 2024. Mariana Garcia/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — Kevin Abstract, the cofounder of the former self-proclaimed boy band of hip-hop, Brockhampton, did a lot with little at Outside Lands on Friday. The rapper…

Tyla performs during Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Aug. 9, 2024. SAN FRANCISCO — South African superstar Tyla was so late to her own performance that she only got through four songs before calling it a day at Outside Lands. The artist,…

J Balvin, “RAYO.” Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin morphs once again on RAYO, latest collection of dance bangers and melodramatic lyricism. RAYO J Balvin Capitol, Aug. 9 7/10 Get the album on Amazon Music. But unlike his last album, 2021’s kaleidoscopic, vibrant and family-centered Jose, RAYO is dark, sleek…

DARUMAS; L to R: Ceci Leon, Vedala Vilmond and Aldana Aguirre. Courtesy Lucía Olmos. The musical backgrounds of the members of DARUMAS are as diverse as their roots and upbringing. The Latin-American funk and pop trio consists of Cuban American guitarist Ceci Leon, bassist Aldana Aguirre, who is from Argentina but…

Orville Peck, “Stampede.” Vol. 1 was just the introduction. Queer country troubadour Orville Peck introduced a new direction with his first EP on Warner Records in May, duetting with artists as varied as Willie Nelson, Bu Cuaron and Elton John back in May. We say Peck experimented with pop, Banda…

Hootie & The Blowfish perform at Fenway Park in Boston on June 21, 2024. Photo by Eddie Monigan/Boston Red Sox. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Hootie & the Blowfish topped a rock bill at Shoreline Amphitheatre that included Collective Soul and Edwin McCain. While it wasn’t the highest-profile concert in…

Megan Moroney, courtesy CeCe Dawson. When Georgian Megan Moroney moved to Nashville in 2020 to pursue a music industry career, she wasn’t completely sure what that would mean. So the University of Georgia grad, who hadn’t written her first song until three years earlier in her freshman year, set…