The Weekly Rewind: Brandi and Elton duet, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour is here, Black Sabbath says farewell and more

Plus Weird Al plays Clairo, Lady Gaga unleashes new music and more.

By WXPN

February 08, 2025

The Weekly Rewind: Brandi and Elton duet, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour is here, Black Sabbath says farewell and more

Brandi Carlile and Elton John | photo by Peggy Sirota

Welcome back to The Weekly Rewind, our regular rundown of the biggest music news stories out there. Here’s what caught our ear this week.

Elton John and Brandi Carlile are releasing a duet album

Announced this week, Who Believes In Angels? finds XPN fave Brandi Carlile teaming up with one of her most famous friends: piano playing rock icon Elton John. The two have been mutual fans and friends for decades (you can read about how they connected in Brandi’s great memoir Broken Horses) and this is their first album together. It also features Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Pearl Jam’s Josh Klinghoffer, and bassist Pino Palladino. The title track is ouut now and you can check out the music video below. (Read more via Consequence of Sound, The Guardian)

Elton John, Brandi Carlile - Who Believes In Angels?

Get ready to hit the road for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour

After cleaning up at the Grammy Awards last week, including her first ever Best Album win for last year’s Cowboy Carter, which also made her the first Black woman to win Best Country Album. Over the past three decades, and on this album in particular, she has shattered records with her incredible voice, songwriting and stage presence. After winning the prestigious award, Beyonce immediately announced her upcoming concert schedule. The Cowboy Carter tour will begin on April 28th in Los Angeles, where she’ll perform at the new state of the art stadium, SoFi Stadium. After four nights in LA, She’ll head over to Chicago for a couple nights, before arriving on the East Coast, where she’ll perform for four nights at MetLife stadium (May 22nd to May 28th — the closest she’s coming to Philly). Afterwards, she’ll head over to Europe, where she’ll light the stage in London and Paris, before returning to the U.S. for a few more concerts. (Read more at Beyonce’s website and New York Times)

Beyonce - Texas Hold 'Em

PJ Harvey, Jarvis Cocker and more join together to help Los Angeles

Los Angeles Rising is the latest benefit compilation to raise money for wildfire relief in Los Angeles. This comp features previously unreleased songs by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Devo, Primal Scream, Gary Numan and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and more. It was organized by Bauhaus’ Kevin Haskins and producer Nick Launay and is available now at Bandcamp. (read more at The Quietus)

The role of Clairo will be played by Weird Al

For her new “Terrapin” music video, Clairo teamed up with director and actor Ayo Edebiri (of The Bear and Bottoms) for a playfully strange clip where the song is performed by none other than Weird Al Yankovic. Need we say more? (Read more at Pitchfork)

Clairo - Terrapin

Watch a music video for Lady Gaga’s new song “Abracadabra”

Last week, we heard that Lady Gaga is returning this year with a new album called Meyhem. After her Grammy win for best pop duo performance with Bruno Mars on Sunday, she released the music video for her thrilling new song, “Abracadabra,” which features a high-intensity dance-off. (Read more at The Fader)

Lady Gaga - Abracadabra

Mumford and Sons have a new album and tour on the way

London modern rockers Mumford and Sons continue to jam and sing their hearts out with a brand new album coming out March 28th, named RUSHMERE. They also announced warm-up tour dates in Europe and North America, and while the list of venues isn’t incredibly long, they’re intimate shows for the band as they get ready for a big world tour. More news sure to come. (Read more at Brooklyn Vegan)

Mumford and Sons - Rushmere

Black Sabbath’s last hurrah is a heavy-hitter

Ozzy Osbourne, who has officially announced the end of his touring, performing and entertaining career in music, is going out with a bang, conducting one of the best rock n’ roll lineups of the last decade. He’s reuniting Black Sabbath for the final time in their hometown of Birmingham, England, on July 5th, and the event features a hit-parade of heavy music legends: Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine, Halestorm, Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, and Alice In Chains. It also features Black Sabbath’s iconic lineup of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and of course, Osbourne. This will be the first performance together in 20 years. (Read more at NPR)

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