By Robert Spuhler

Special to MSN Music

There are teenagers today who had not been born the last time Rod Stewart released a song which he had written.

The legendary British singer has spent the last 15 years singing other people's words, whether they be songs written for him (2001's Human) or classics (the lamentable Great American Songbook series). Eight studio albums between 2001 and 2011 saw him taking on Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke and even Rodgers and Hart. It would be hard to hold it against a 14-year-old for thinking that Stewart was the guy was a cover artist, a previous generation's version of an "American Idol" contestant.

By Paul Pearson
Special to MSN Music

SEATTLE – Molly Ringwald finally broke through the fourth wall late in her gig. The actress-author-singe​r performed a revamped, jazz-quartet version of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” the theme to the iconic 1985 movie “The Breakfast Club” in which she starred. At the table to my right were a couple of fans who were knocked out over seeing one of their heroines up close, and they had said as much aloud. Towards the end of the song, Ringwald stooped to the table, and offered one of the fans the microphone to sing the song’s memorable “la-la-la-la” hook. Shy and nervous, they were too charmed not to comply.

By Phyllis Stark

Special to MSN Music

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It was hard to tell the hits from the album cuts at Gary Allan’s Wednesday night show at Nashville’s Ryman auditorium because the fans that filled the venue reacted with equal enthusiasm to both. Twelve songs in, Allan declared it “an excellent night,” and the audience loudly agreed.

By Phyllis Stark

Special to MSN Music

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There was a lineup of country music’s top superstars and legends, three hours of great live music, some very unexpected cover song choices and two surprise guests, but it was the little moments that made Tuesday night’s All For The Hall benefit concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena so memorable. They included:

By Danielle Cheesman
Special to MSN Music

NEW YORK -- Despite the results a Google Image search of Lianne La Havas would breed -- all collared shirts and pristine button-ups -- and regardless of the soul singer's admitted affection for an "Annie Hall"-like wardrobe, she was every bit the opposite of that illustration when she took the stage at Webster Hall. In fact, dressed in a figure-hugging, bright orange maxi dress with revealing cutouts along her waist, La Havas was more the siren we'd only seen, until then, in her music videos (namely "Elusive" and "Gone," a recently released set of clips she dubbed a "two-part" film).

By Adrien Begrand
Special to MSN Music

Performing to a quaintly sized audience in Regina, Saskatchewan, singer-songwriter Billy Bragg was direct and cutting in his opinion on former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who had died just a day earlier. Bragg, one of the most vocal opponents of Thatcher among musicians in the 1980s and who was in the middle of his long North American tour, suddenly found himself in demand from news agencies around the world once the news had spread. “I talked to ABC, the BBC, the CBC,” he said. “I had to stop before I was asked by the DBC, the EBC and the FBC.”

By Alan Light

Special to MSN Music

NEW YORK -- Two nights. Nine-and-a-half hours. Thirty-three guitar players (more or less). Ninety-one songs.

No matter how you count it, there was a whole lot of music this weekend at Eric Clapton's fourth Crossroads Guitar Festival, held for the first time at Madison Square Garden. The styles represented were heavy on the blues, but encompassed jazz, country and straight-ahead rock, and the ages spanned from Buddy Guy's 14-year-old protégé, Quinn Sullivan, up to 87-year-old B.B. King. If such a lineup inevitably makes for an uneven ride, the shows provided some unforgettable highlights and built to a truly thrilling crescendo.

By Robert Spuhler

Special to MSN Music

INDIO, Calif. -- In 2011, it was Arcade Fire's ascension from being the “next big thing” to being the big thing, featuring LED-illuminated beach balls. In 2012, it was the Tupac projection during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's set. But the defining memory of the 2013 edition of Coachella, at least for the first weekend, did not happen onstage; instead, it was a sandstorm that whipped the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio on Sunday night, stinging eyes and driving the faces of festivalgoers behind bandanas and even surgical masks.

It was the one spontaneous event of an evening that delivered very few surprises, with headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers in fine form, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds converting some new fans and the Wu-Tang Clan stealing the show at the Outdoor stage.