A new message from LevonHelm.com confirms what many fans feared when he suddenly postponed an April 6 concert appearance, just weeks after returning from an unexplained surgical procedure: The legendary co-founder of the Band and multiple solo Grammy winner has seen his cancer battle take a turn for the worse.

The forthcoming May 2012 deluxe reissue of Paul McCartney’s Ram will feature a new documentary on the making of the album, and we’ve got a new segment to share. Hear McCartney talk about the genesis of his second solo album, and how he decided to invite his first wife Linda to be in his new band.

A new Esquire feature story on Eddie Van Halen reveals that his cancer battle has been much more involved that was originally thought.

Lionel Richie has made that rarest of comebacks in 2012, and not just because he’s so successfully exploring the country roots inside his own musical muse.

Blunderbuss makes you miss the White Stripes all over again, but at the same time gain a new appreciation for the itchy, adventuresome attitude that made Jack White such an important — if never, we see now, fully explored — element in their sound.

What might sound to the casual ear like goofing around in the studio is actually a drumming genius at work.

There was something about a New Year’s Eve show and the Grateful Dead, as the forthcoming All The Years Combine: The DVD Collection so artfully illustrates.