Various Artists - MusiCares Tribute to Dolly Parton, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2-8-2019

Here's another MusiCares tribute concert. This one honors Dolly Parton.

I'm running out of MusiCares concerts to post. (I only have one more after this.) The problem is, these annual concerts have small audiences who have to pay big donations to get in, plus there are metal detectors. So audience bootlegs are almost unheard of. The reason we have a worthy recording of this one is that it was broadcast as a one-hour special on Netflix. I streamed the audio from that, and cut it into mp3s. Let's hope this isn't a one-off and other MusiCares will come out in similar ways.

This concert followed the usual format: guest stars singing covers of songs by the person being honored, then that person giving an acceptance speech, then that person playing a couple of songs. In this case though, it seems Parton only sang one song at the end.

Unfortunately, this album is quite short for such concerts at less than an hour. That's because some songs were not included in the Netflix special, and I couldn't find them elsewhere. I know at least Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang a duet version of  "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You." I'm not sure if there are others. (As usual, if anyone has any of the missing songs, please let me know so I can include them.)

I also found it a bit surprising that Emmylou Harris didn't sing a song, since she was there. She and Linda Ronstadt gave a short introduction speech for Parton. Perhaps she did sing, and that's another missing song. Or it could be she didn't sing out of respect for Linda Ronstadt, who gave the introduction speech with her, but can no longer sing due to troubles with her vocal chords. Since Parton, Harris, and Ronstadt recorded two "Trio" albums together, it might have been rough on Ronstadt seeing the other two sing but not her. I don't know, that's just a guess. 

At least what we have here has excellent sound quality.

UPDATE: On February 19, 2026, I updated the mp3 download file. When I first posted this, it was missing "Jolene," performed by Pink. In my original notes, I commented that this was a shame, because that's one of Parton's signature songs, along with "I Will Always Love You." But a kind person sent me this missing song. Unfortunately, the sound quality is rougher than the rest. Also, it got cut off at the end. The person who sent me the song said it was taped off the TV, and that's when the broadcast ended, so maybe that's all that's available. As a result, I put it at the end. I did my best to improve the sound quality. I used the MVSEP program to split the vocals from the rest and then I ran the vocal through a Reverb Removal filter. That helped a lot, but still, there was only so much I could do.  

This album is 50 minutes long. 

01 talk (emcee)
02 Islands in the Stream (Miley Cyrus & Shawn Mendes)
03 talk (Little Big Town)
04 Everything's Beautiful in Its Own Way (Brandi Carlile & Willie Nelson)
05 Here You Come Again (Katy Perry & Kacey Musgraves)
06 The Grass Is Blue (Norah Jones with Puss n Boots)
07 talk (Little Big Town)
08 9 to 5 (Chris Stapleton)
09 Not Enough (Mavis Staples & Leon Bridges)
10 Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (Cam, Jennifer Nettles & Margo Price)
11 The Seeker (Lauren Daigle)
12 talk (emcee)
13 I Will Always Love You (Yolanda Adams)
14 talk (emcee)
15 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris)
16 talk (emcee)
17 talk (Dolly Parton)
18 talk (Miley Cyrus)
19 talk (Dolly Parton)
20 Coat of Many Colors (Dolly Parton with Linda Perry)
21 Jolene [Edit] (Pink)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/SnahZw7a

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Fty1I7Lp5donyob/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. From right to left: Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton. 

Various Artists - MusiCares Tribute to Bruce Springsteen, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2-8-2013

A few days ago, I got a request to post the MusiCares tribute concert to Bruce Springsteen. I'm happy to do so, because I've been meaning to post more of these MusiCares concerts soon anyway. So here you are.

MusiCares has been holding annual tribute concerts since 1991. They cleverly have these concerts in Los Angeles, where the Grammy Awards take place, and hold them only a couple of days apart from the Grammies. That way, many musical stars are in town and able to participate. I've only posted one such album so far, the tribute to Brian Wilson in 2005. But I have seven more to post after this. Thus, today I've created a MusiCares Tribute label to help you find them all.

Bruce Springsteen is a very big name in music, and lots of other big names paid tribute to him here, including Elton John, Neil Young, and Sting. This was a particularly long concert as far as these MusiCares tributes go. It's easily the longest of all the ones I've found so far, which is fitting since Springsteen concerts are known for their length. Springsteen himself played five songs at the end, which again is more than usual. 

This comes from a DVD. It hasn't been released on any audio format. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is two hours and 16 minutes long. 

01 talk (Jon Stewart)
02 Adam Raised a Cain (Alabama Shakes)
03 Because the Night (Patti Smith)
04 Atlantic City (Natalie Maines, Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite)
05 American Land (Ken Casey)
06 talk (Jon Stewart)
07 My City of Ruins (Mavis Staples & Zac Brown)
08 talk (Jon Stewart)
09 I'm on Fire (Mumford & Sons)
10 American Skin [41 Shots] (Jackson Browne & Tom Morello)
11 My Hometown (Emmylou Harris)
12 One Step Up (Kenny Chesney)
13 talk (Jon Stewart)
14 Streets of Philadelphia (Elton John & Raphael Saadiq)
15 Hungry Heart (Juanes)
16 Tougher than the Rest (Tim McGraw & Faith Hill)
17 The Ghost of Tom Joad (Tom Morello & Jim James)
18 talk (Jon Stewart)
19 Dancing in the Dark (John Legend)
20 Lonesome Day (Sting)
21 Born in the U.S.A. (Neil Young)
22 talk (Jon Stewart & Bruce Springsteen)
23 We Take Care of Our Own (Bruce Springsteen)
24 Death to My Hometown (Bruce Springsteen)
25 Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
26 Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
27 Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen)
28 talk (Bruce Springsteen)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/fXM5GV8j

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/B96M5E8MDQxu5O4/file

For the cover, I wanted a photo of Springsteen from this exact concert. But of the photos I saw, he was generally alone or with just one other person nearby, so I went with a group photo from this concert instead. From right to left: Zac Brown, Emmylou Harris, Ben Harper, Jackson Browne and Patti Scialfa. There were some distracting things in the background, so I used Photoshop to remove them.

Various Artists - Let's Go Crazy: A Grammy Salute to Prince, Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1-28-2020

A couple of days ago, I posted a Grammy tribute to Paul Simon in 2022. That's not the only such Grammy tribute, although they haven't always happened yearly. Here's one from 2020, paying tribute to Prince, who died in 2016.

In the Paul Simon tribute, there was a lot of talking between songs. But in this one, this is almost no banter whatsoever. It's possible some of that was cut out of the version I found, since even the applause at the ends of songs was usually brutally cut short after just a second or two. To make this a better flowing listen, I usually patched in more applause between songs, to give more breathing room before the next song began. 

There are lots of interesting versions of Prince's most famous songs here, often done by big name stars. Since most of Prince's songs are upbeat and funky, and there's no banter between songs, this plays like a party album.

Everything here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and seven minutes long.

01 Let's Go Crazy (H.E.R. & Gary Clark Jr.)
02 I Would Die 4 U (Miguel)
03 Nothing Compares 2 U (John Legend)
04 Controversy (St. Vincent)
05 1999 (Juanes)
06 The Beautiful Ones (H.E.R.)
07 Little Red Corvette - When Doves Cry - Kiss (Usher)
08 Manic Monday (Chris Martin & Susanna Hoffs)
09 Jungle Love - Cool - The Bird (Morris Day & the Time)
10 Darling Nikki (Foo Fighters)
11 Adore (Earth, Wind & Fire)
12 Sign O' the Times (Common & Sheila E.)
13 Raspberry Beret (Beck)
14 The Cross (Gary Clark Jr.)
15 America - Free - The Glamorous Life (Sheila E.)
16 Delirious (Maya Rudolph, Gretchen Lieberum & the Revolution)
17 Purple Rain (Mavis Staples & the Revolution)
18 Baby I'm a Star (Sheila E. & All-Stars)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/sDXfRJEg

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/gbGt1ut1LUSTASX/file 

The cover photo shows Chris Martin and Susanna Hoffs singing "Manic Monday" under a giant picture of Prince.

Joss Stone with Mavis Staples - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 8-24-2005

Here's another episode of "PBS Soundstage," from 2005. It mainly stars Joss Stone, but there is a section in the middle featuring Mavis Staples. Then Stone and Staples sing the final song together. 

Stone is a talented British singer with a soulful voice. She had her most success with her first two albums. "The Soul Sessions," an all-covers album released in 2003, sold several million copies worldwide. "Mind Body & Soul," released in late 2004, mostly consisted of songs she co-wrote with others, and also sold several million copies worldwide. Since then, her sales have gone down a lot, but at the time of this concert she was a very big star. Overall, she's sold about 15 million albums worldwide.

Here's her Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

Joss Stone - Wikipedia 

Mavis Staples has had a very different career path. She was born back in 1939, and is 85 years old as I write this in April 2025, yet she continues to record and tour. She became a member of a family band, the Staple Singers, back in 1950, when she was only 11 years old. She was the main lead singer for the Staple Singers, though not the only one, and sang lead on major hits like "Respect Yourself," "I'll Take You There," and "Let's Do It Again." The Staple Singers broke up in 2000 when band leader (and her father) Pop Staples died. But Mavis Staples has kept very busy with her musical career since then. She's released about two dozen solo albums, if one includes both studio and live ones.

Here's her Wikipedia entry:

Mavis Staples - Wikipedia 

Stone and Staples make a good pairing, despite a big age difference, since they both sing soul music. Most of the songs here are covers, including a version of "Under Pressure," originally by David Bowie and Queen, which Stone only released on a various artists tribute album to Queen. (Mavis Staples didn't have a role in writing the Staples Singers hit she sang here, "The Weight," "Respect Yourself," and "I'll Take You There," so I consider those covers too.)

This unreleased album is 55 minutes long.

01 Super Duper Love [Are You Diggin' on Me] (Joss Stone)
02 talk (Joss Stone)
03 Fell in Love with a Boy (Joss Stone)
04 Under Pressure (Joss Stone)
05 talk (Mavis Staples)
06 Have a Little Faith (Mavis Staples)
07 talk (Mavis Staples)
08 The Weight (Mavis Staples)
09 talk (Mavis Staples)
10 Respect Yourself (Mavis Staples)
11 The Chokin' Kind (Joss Stone)
12 talk (Joss Stone)
13 Right to Be Wrong (Joss Stone)
14 talk (Joss Stone)
15 You Had Me (Joss Stone)
16 talk (Joss Stone)
17 Spoiled (Joss Stone)
18 I'll Take You There (Joss Stone & Mavis Staples)
19 talk (Joss Stone & Mavis Staples)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/SD52Un8e

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/mDWzzVn2tS0C0Xi/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

Woodstock '94, Winston Farm, Saugerties, NY, 8-12-1994 to 8-14-1994 - Day 2, Part 1: Cyprus Hill, Salt-N-Pepa, & the Sisters of Glory

The last album I posted from the Woodstock '94 Festival was a kind of leftovers album of all the musical acts from Day One where I only had a small number of songs. That's the case here as well, but for Days Two and Three combined. (I call this "Day 2, Part 1" in the title for organizational reasons.)

In the case of that Day One leftovers album, that was pretty much everything I could find that had worthy sound quality. But for this album, I have to admit I found the full sets for three of the four acts here, but I just don't like them that much, so this is all I included. I'm not really into rap or hip hop, and that's the style for the first two acts here, Cypress Hill and Salt-N-Pepa. Both of them performed on Day Two. I only included their best known songs. Cyprus Hill played a 47 minute long set. I included seven minutes. Salt-N-Pepa did a 44 minute long set, and I included 23 minutes. 

It's a bit different with the third act here, Country Joe McDonald. He was one of the stars of the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. I'm sure that's why he was invited to play Woodstock '94. But he was given only a short slot, as the first act on the morning of the third day. I think he played three songs, but I could only find the audio for one of them.

The fourth and final act here, the Sisters of Glory, were kind of a Traveling Wilburys of female gospel singers. Meaning a bunch of famous musicians got together and put out a studio album, but they didn't stay together long after that. The group was made up of Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, Mavis Staples, and Lois Walden. All of them except for Lois Walden had big secular hits, and if they would have performed that kind of music, I would have happily included their full set. But instead they did almost entirely gospel songs. As a non-religious person, I can only handle that in very limited doses. So while they did a hour and five minute long set, I've only included 17 minutes. I picked the songs that I liked best, which also happen to be well known beyond the gospel genre. It so happened that most of these were sung by Mavis Staples of the Staples Singers, including the one secular song, "I'll Take You There," a number one hit in 1972. So I put Mavis Staples in the artist name, since she's pretty much the star here.

The Sisters of Glory came together for a short tour in April 1994. They only planned to stay together for that long. But they got together just for this concert, plus a concert for the Pope later in the year. Then they released a studio album called "Good News in Hard Times" in 1995 that was most of the same songs from their Woodstock set list. They really did disband after that.

Other than these, I've included all of the full sets from Days Two and Three of the festival, with six exceptions. One is that a Croatian musician named Nened Bach was the opening act for Day Three, but I haven't found any recordings of that set. Bach is not a well-known musical act compared to the others on Days Two and Three, so I'm guessing this set probably wasn't included in the pay-per-view broadcast. The second is a jazz percussionist and singer named Vinx. Similarly, I couldn't find any recordings of that set, probably for the same reason.

The third exception is that I did find the full set for the Rollins Band on Day Two. But I disliked it so much that I couldn't stand to even include one song from it. The Rollins Band, led by Henry Rollins, is described as "hard rock" by Wikipedia. I like a lot of hard rock, but this just seemed like angry screaming to me. I make these albums mainly for myself, and I couldn't stand to have any of that set in my music collection, sorry.

The fourth exception is Todd Rundgren. He did something very strange for this festival. Instead of giving a set on one of the two big stages like everyone else, he did no less than five sets a day every day of the festival! But he did it in a special section of the festival called the Philips Multimedia Village, and his performances were "multimedia" somehow. A couple of these sets have shown up on YouTube, but the sound quality is so poor I couldn't include them. If anyone has any of Rundgren's performances with good sound quality, please let me know. 

The fifth and sixth exceptions are the Justin Trio and Xalam from the WOMAD (world music) portion of the festival. I only found portions of their sets, and they are pretty obscure musical acts. I wasn't that impressed, so I left them out. (I did include two other WOMAD acts though.)

This album is a really weird mixture of rap, hip hop, folk, and gospel. It doesn't exactly flow well, but at least it's available here.

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 How I Could Just Kill a Man (Cypress Hill)
02 Insane in the Membrane (Cypress Hill)
03 Push It (Salt-N-Pepa)
04 Whatta Man (Salt-N-Pepa)
05 Let's Talk about Sex (Salt-N-Pepa)
06 Shoop (Salt-N-Pepa)
07 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
08 Save the Whales (Country Joe McDonald)
09 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Mavis Staples & the Sisters of Glory)
10 Glory, Glory (Mavis Staples & the Sisters of Glory)
11 I'll Take You There (Mavis Staples & the Sisters of Glory)
12 Oh Happy Day (Mavis Staples & the Sisters of Glory)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16750837/VA-WODSTCK94_8-13-1994_01CyprsHillSltNPpathSstrsofGlry_atse.zip.html

Here's an alternate download link I'm experimenting with:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/4ojTzz2T

The cover photo is of Salt-N-Pepa. It's from this exact concert.