Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Derek Hough has made it to the finals of the 16th edition of "Dancing With the Stars," which wraps Tuesday, but he almost didn't return to the ABC show this season. "I was gonna sit this season out," Hough said in a recent interview. "My mom hurt herself and she was in the...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

Daft Punk, "Random Access Memories" (Columbia) On its wildly anticipated fourth studio album, "Random Access Memories," helmeted duo Daft Punk go harder, better, faster, stronger than ever before. The eight-year wait for new music paid off as Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

Darius Rucker, "True Believers" (Capitol Nashville) On his two previous Nashville, Tenn.-recorded solo albums, Darius Rucker proved he could gain acceptance from contemporary country music fans. On new album "True Believers," he proves he can do more than create formulaic radio hits: Finding a...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

The National, "Trouble Will Find Me" (4AD) The first word that comes to mind after listening to The National's new album is "restrained." Six or seven listens later and the small nuances on "Trouble Will Find Me" work their way out of the mix, but that first impression of the group's sixth...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — If either her husband or daughter is calling, Audra McDonald knows without looking at her phone. That's because the five-time Tony Award winner has programed the ring tone for both to be The Carpenters' hit version of "(They Long to Be) Close to You." "It's cute, right?" the...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

DETROIT (AP) — A 3-day Detroit showcase planned this week aims to explore how seven artists work in both fine art and electronic music. Synesthesia kicks off Tuesday at the Red Bull House of Art in the city's Eastern Market. It's a collaboration of the Red Bull Music Academy and Movement...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

Another day, another domination for Taylor Swift: She was the red hot winner at the Billboard Music Awards. Swift won eight of 11 awards, including top artist and top Billboard 200 album for "Red." She told the crowd: "You are the longest and best relationship I ever had." She also had a...

Updated: Mon, May 20, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — James Levine rolled onto the Carnegie Hall stage in his black motorized wheelchair and into a 6-by-6-foot mechanical podium constructed by the Metropolitan Opera. Belted into the wheelchair, Levine and two aides waited while the podium hoisted him about 3 feet in the air and...

Nancy Dunham

Published: Sun, May 19, 2013

Sometimes the best plan is a little good luck, or so goes the saying. It certainly seems to be just how Ashley Monroe, one-third the red-hot country trio Pistol Annies, went from a talented yet unknown singer-songwriter into one of the "It" girls of country music. True, Monroe hasn't had a...

Updated: Sun, May 19, 2013

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Officials say the leader of the reggae band Toots and the Maytals was injured when a 19-year-old man threw a bottle and hit the singer during a concert in Richmond. Police said Sunday the man has been charged with aggravated assault. Authorities have not identified him....