Elmore #61 is here! In this issue, we look at the growing industry of music cruises, as well as the fall and rebirth of the show band. Plus, keyboard masters Allen Toussaint, John Mayall, and J. Roddy Walston sit down to talk about their influences.

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Everyone can relax; Mumford & Sons are not breaking up. The multi-platinum Americana quartet are taking a hiatus after the grueling tour behind their second album Babel, but both Marcus Mumford and banjoist Winston Mitchell have dropped hints that the band could be done for good…if they weren’t joking. Mitchell made remarks about the band’s demise to Vulture last week, and Mumford has repeatedly told reporters that the band has broken up, but a publicist for the group said that those were just instances of the boys having fun and that Mumford & Sons will continue at a later date.

Christine McVie has re-joined Fleetwood Mac. The long-absent member has re-entered the fold in time for the band’s upcoming U.S. tour. McVie, who played with the band during their late-70s commercial peak, left the band in 1998 to retire from public life. McVie is joining just in time for a possible new album, but guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is keeping mum on when that album will come out. In the meantime, expect to see the fully-reformed Mac on the road through the fall and winter of this year.
 
Scott Asheton, drummer and founding member of the Stooges, died on March 15th from an unspecified illness. The news came from Scott’s bandmate Iggy Pop, who posted an obituary on his Facebook page. Asheton and his brother Ron picked up their instruments as teenagers in Detroit. After meeting Iggy Pop, then James Osterberg, the Stooges were formed, and rock & roll was never the same. Asheton played with a reunited form of the band that toured regularly since 2003, and they released two new albums, The Weirdness and Ready To Die. Asheton was 64 years old.

Neil Young is going to change the way you listen to music. At least, that’s what the music icon is aiming to do with his new PonoMusic project. Young introduced PonoMusic at this year’s South By Southwest conference, where he laid out the details of Pono’s streaming service as well as his new music player. Young, an avowed audiophile, launched Pono as a platform that brings the highest quality digital music to the marketplace as an alternative to the cheap-yet-low-quality MP3 format. Young’s PonoPlayer will be available at a $399 retail price; a Kickstarter pre-order sold out in minutes after launch.

U2 fans will have to wait a little while longer to hear new music from the Irish rock group. The band’s long-awaited new album, originally scheduled for a summer release this year, has been pushed back to 2015. According to U2’s publicists, the band is taking the extra time to work in the studio further. The band’s world tour has also been postponed until next year.

FEATURES

Cruisin’
Recorded music sales have shrunk and touring’s tiring. Enter the multi-day festival, and its most artist-and-fan-friendly incarnation, the music cruise. Lee Zimmerman sets sail for fun

Lights! Costumes! Dance!
After their initial rise, show bands fade, falter and, now, finally, flourish once again

DEPARTMENTS

Goodbye… Fellow songwriter and banjoist John McEuen remembers Pete Seeger

Opening Act: Snippets, fun, interviews, reviews. Go meet Elmore at shows and compare notes!

Kickin’ in Your Stall: Carl Gustafson on songwriting as a day job

Influences: Three men who tickle, play and pound the ivories: Allen Toussaint, John Mayall and J. Roddy Walston

On The Record: The Boss and optimism have always been on good terms; his latest High Hopes comes true. Other artists move on land or water: Roseanne Cash/The River & the Thread; Emily Barker/Dear River; Eric Bibb/Jericho Road; David Grisman/Muddy Roads; Jim Lauderdale/Blue Moon Junction, while Dave Keyes opts for Right Here, Right Now

Re.Issues: Paul Aaronson weighs in on the whitest of bluesmen, Johnny Winter, and the new box set celebrating Winter’s career. Groups from the Small Faces to the Velvet Underground resurface; Dionne Warwick and James Taylor merit career-spanning retrospectives

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning: Sharon Jones has perfected the practice of bootstrapping, and pulls all of us up

What’d I Say: If you want a job done right, do it yourself: five singer/songwriters release albums

The Good Seats: The Grand Ole Opry moved to a mall, leaving the “Grand” vibe back at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium

Also Appearing: Patti Smith doesn’t play her show like anybody’s grandma. Bobby Womack’s New York residency, the Carolina Chocolate Drops in (North) Carolina, plus books and DVDs for these long late winter nights

Listen Up: You have to eat, but pick your companions carefully. Arnie Goodman’s wish-list for dinner guests

Get to Know: 20 Seafaring Songs You Should Know

This Month’s Trivia