Blog Posts by Chris Willman

If there is a critical consensus so far on Britney Spears' Femme Fatale so far, it goes something like this: Spears doesn't show much of her personality on the album, nor does she seem to have contributed much to it artistically, and more than anything, she may just be a kind of void at its creative center. Oh, and it's great!

Yes, the critics like it, they really like it—for the most part—even if it's in spite of (or even because of) Britney being perceived as a producers' pet. It might even be her best-reviewed album, even though some say it doesn't quite match up to her supposed pinnacle, Blackout (which seems to have grown greatly in stature since 2007, not having received universal acclaim at the time).

"Despite her weak voice and empty lyrics," writes the Telegraph's Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski, not beginning promisingly, "the troubled Disney graduate has placed herself at the avant-garde of pop with this masterful mixture of uber-cool dubstep and sugary pop." 

The Los Angeles Times'

Lady Gaga has had so many individual pop culture "moments," you could almost start to imagine she's older than Madonna. But in fact, the lady turns a mere 25 on March 28. Has any artist in pop history provided such an extreme ratio of provocative moments per career-month?

You can go back almost two years and find commentators assuring everyone that Lady Gaga's shock tactics would soon tire the public, but there's no sign of that yet, as her "little monsters" and little haters alike can't stop relishing every new surprise. In honor of her quarter-century on earth—and her mere two and a half years in the public spotlight—we provide you with this handy guide to Lady Gaga's 25 most gonzo moments.

1. The meat dress. With apologies to Morrissey: Meat is couture. At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga had what appeared to be raw meat fashioned into a dress, boots, hat, and even accessories ("I never thought I'd be asking Cher to hold my meat purse"). The outfit was a devastatingly topical

Dierks Bentley recently invited a handful of influential radio programmers to come to a Nashville studio and hear a half-dozen of the new tracks he's working on—and we were on the scene. If you've asked yourself "Am I the only one (who can't wait to hear Dierks' next one)," no, you're hardly alone, and we've got a tantalizing sneak preview of what you can expect when the album comes out in July or August.

Of course, serious Bentley fans are already well aware of the first single, "Am I the Only One," which arrived at country radio this week, and which goes on sale at iTunes March 29. (He's also been performing the tune in concert; see a fan-filmed video clip, below.) Being a party anthem in the tradition of "Sideways," "Am I the Only One" is an obvious choice for the album's leadoff single... obvious maybe to everyone but Dierks, anyway.

"We were playing different songs for the label," the singer explained, "and I hadn't played this one for (Capitol Nashville head Mike) Dungan or

Have yourself a melancholy little Monday, knowing that the man who wrote "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" has died. Hugh Martin, a Hollywood golden-age songwriter, passed away in his Encintas, California home at age 96, family members reported.

I talked with Martin at some length a few years ago when I was writing a feature story on his most famous composition for Entertainment Weekly magazine. The history of the tune is stranger and more delightfully tortured and/or charmed than most people know, with different versions of the lyrics that took it from fatalistically pessimistic to guardedly upbeat to downright religious.

(Although the song is credited to Martin and Ralph Blaine, the two partners had a Lennon/McCartney-style collaboration, where they would write separately but take joint credit—and Martin said this Christmas perennial was his sole work.)

Here are some previously unpublished excerpts from our 2006 conversation:

Q: ASCAP is reporting that "Have Yourself a Merry

Kid Charlemagne is dead.

That would be Owsley Stanley, the highly eccentric counterculture figure who was the inspiration for songs by the Grateful Dead and Steely Dan... and who particularly inspired the Dead in all sorts of ways, some of them even legal. Stanley, 76, was killed instantly in a crash in Queensland, Australia after losing control of his car Sunday.

Among the reasons his name is legend to Grateful Dead cultists: The man known as "Bear" in Dead circles was "the band's first patron," as San Francisco journalist Joel Selvin put it—providing the upfront cash that gave the band its start and serving for brief periods as both manager and sound engineer. He co-desiginging their iconic skull-and-lighting-bolt logo. He recorded many of the Dead shows that eventually became live albums, starting with the 1973 release History of the Grateful Dead, Volume 1: Bear's Choice. Stanley was a sound pioneer, creating the first PA systems specifically tailored for rock shows, and he went on

When it comes to up-and-coming country, the bloom is on the rose. Or, actually, the magnolia—Steel Magnolia, that is, the duo that represents one of the genre's more refreshing recent success stories. Their rousing set at the New Faces show helped bring down the curtain on the 25th annual Country Radio Seminar, and you can only hope the hundreds of radio programmers and disc jockeys on hand were inspired to say "Ooh La La" (to quote one of the couple's song titles) and renew their support.

"Country radio is the gateway to the fans," said Joshua Scott Jones, back on their bus after the performance, "and it's like you're part of the club when you're on this show. That means they've accepted you—as long as you don't go out there and really mess up," he laughed. "There's a lot of nerves going on before the show, but you've got to turn all that off and think of it as another show for the fans. Because in a sense, radio has become your fans, even though it's a partnership."  

Country radio

"My name's Ronnie Dunn, and I'm a new artist at Sony Arista Records," said a certain returning superstar, by way of reintroduction, playing his first live gig since the breakup last year of Brooks & Dunn. The label exec introducing him wasn't going quite so much for false modesty: "This is the first 'new artist' we've ever had who comes to us already having sold 40 million records... You'll tell your grandchildren you were here for this."

The occasion was a private luncheon for hundreds of radio big-wigs being thrown during the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. A few nights earlier, Dunn had thrown a private listening party in the barn behind his house for visiting dignitaries to preview tracks from his upcoming June release. But this showcase was the first time he's played live publicly since the Brooks & Dunn farewell tour, and, eschewing B&D material altogether, he performed five new songs for the DJs and programmers—one of which, the ballad "Bleed Red," is already out and

"Howdy, [expletives]!" hollered Gwyneth Paltrow, introducing herself to a crowd of radio programmers and executives. "Tim told me to say that," she added, somewhat apologetically, "and I do everything Tim says... almost."

You can't say the gamine actress isn't game. Or that she's done with Nashville yet. Thursday night, Paltrow hosted the 25th annual Sony Nashville "boat show," a private performance showcase and dinner cruise held on a Nashville river showboat for visiting radio dignitaries. It's always the hottest ticket in town during the yearly Country Radio Seminar, even when it isn't being hosted by one of Hollywood's most talked-about leading ladies.

The evening began with a big surprise, as Tim McGraw—not a Sony artist—popped on stage to reprise his Country Strong soundtrack duet of "Me and Tennessee" with Paltrow. The night ended with an arguably even bigger shocker, as Brad Paisley premiered his upcoming single, "Old Alabama," and was three minutes into it when he was joined