Ryan Adams is in the process of recording a covers of all the songs on Taylor Swift’s album 1989, but Adams is setting the songs entirely in the style of the Smiths. When Swift learned of the project and Adams confirmed it, she tweeted, “I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight or ever again, and I'm going to celebrate today every year as a holiday." Adams responded by tweeting a preview of his Smiths-style cover of “Welcome to New York.” There is no word yet on what Morrissey may think of the project. (Rolling Stone)

Whereas covering Taylor Swift songs is perfectly within bounds, what happened earlier this week in Edmonton, Alta., is definitely not. While performing her song “Bad Blood” during a concert at Edmonton’s Rexall Place Arena, an overzealous fan reached across the catwalk in attempt to grab Swift’s leg. Thankfully, the man was quickly stopped by security. Swift paused singing just long enough to look daggers at her thwarted assailant before continuing her performance. (Billboard)

https://instagram.com/p/5_ZRIoktcm/

Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear have released a new video (via Apple Music) for their song “Silent Movies,” a track off their album Skeleton Key. The Kansas City-based mother-son duo also announced a new batch of tour dates. They’ll visit the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis on Oct. 25. (Rolling Stone)

Emily Kinney, well-known for playing the character Beth Greene on the hit AMC series The Walking Dead, is also a musician (her character has sung occasionally on the show). Kinney has released a couple of albums and is now teasing her next — entitled This is War, scheduled for release on Oct. 2 — with a single from the album, “Birthday Cake.” An album-release date has been scheduled for Sept. 23 in Los Angeles, but further tour dates have yet to be announced. (Rolling Stone; note to those waiting to stream the next season of The Walking Dead: article contains spoilers)

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/218056923" params="color=ff5500" width="50%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

Released at midnight on Aug. 7, Dr. Dre’s new album, Compton, will benefit the city whose name it bears. Dre announced he will donate all of his artist royalties from the album to fund an new performing-arts center in Compton, Calif., a city just south of downtown Los Angeles. Dre credits Compton Mayor Aja Brown for the idea of funding the center. "I've been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn't quite figure out what it was," Dre says. “[Mayor Brown] actually had this idea and she was already in the process of working on it. I said, 'Boom, this is what we should do.'" (Rolling Stone)

On a visit to Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater, Sam Smith had a little fun photo-bombing two women being interviewed about the venue by Denver’s ABC affiliate, KMGH. After Smith gave one of the interviewees “rabbit ears,” the other audibly tells the “Stay With Me” singer to “get out of here.” (Entertainment Weekly)

tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus has shared a video for the song, “Rocking Chair,” off her latest album, Nicky Nack. The stop-motion video, created by artist and one-time tUnE-yArDs collaborator Sarah Pupo, has drawn comparisons to a kaleidoscope and to a Rorschach test. (Pitchfork)

In concert on Tuesday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, singer Kelly Clarkson did the hometown crowd proud with a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” Before she launched into it, Clarkson announced, “This is such a great classic song from someone from here.” (SPIN)

https://youtu.be/cjY5aRaK3RQ

Last night, Jon Stewart hosted his final episode of The Daily Show. MPR News compiled a list of 10 classic "Minnesota Moments" from The Daily Show's history, including a story about a Minneapolis performance artist who covered his body in popcorn so seagulls could peck it all off. Fans of Hitchcock's The Birds may end up watching the segment (below) through their fingers. (MPR News)

Speaking of Jon Stewart's farewell to The Daily Show, Bruce Springsteen performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" followed by "Born to Run" on last night's episode. During the performance of the latter song, the show's guests danced onstage with the band. During their interactions, Springsteen encouraged Stewart to follow his own career dreams; Stewart reciprocated by noting how much he admires Springsteen's description of his career as being "an ongoing conversation with his fans." (Associated Press)

Haim have released a cover of Tame Impala's "'Cause I'm a Man"; the remix is a bit down-tempo from the original and includes some new lyrics by Haim. (Pitchfork)

Børns was recently the subject of a profile piece in The New York Times. Among other factoids included in the feature, Børns shares that he lived in a treehouse after relocating to Los Angeles to boost his music career. (New York Times)