News on Neil Diamond/Rick Rubin, John Mellencamp, Jewel, Cary/Cockrell
Pop legend Neil Diamond is collaborating with producer Rick Rubin on a new studio album, sources have confirmed to Billboard.com. The as-yet-untitled set will be Diamond's first album of original material since 2001's "Three Chord Opera," which debuted at No. 15 on The Billboard 200.
Rubin helped Johnny Cash flourish late in his career by producing his series of "American" albums, one of which ("American III: Solitary Man") was named after and featured a cover of Diamond's 1966 hit "Solitary Man."
Diamond just wrapped a tour of Australia and New Zealand, and will begin a run of dates in the United Kingdom beginning May 17 in Sheffield. A North American tour is expected to kick off in July.
-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
John Mellencamp will follow up a successful spring run in primarily secondary markets with a summer amphitheater tour with John Fogerty, Billboard.com has learned. The approximately 40-date trek begins June 14 in West Palm Beach, Fla., and runs through Sept. 3 in Charlotte, N.C.
Singer/songwriter Jewel will return to live duty with a handful of June acoustic shows, beginning June 15 at Denver's Botanic Gardens. Beforehand, the artist will also perform at the Candie's Foundation's "The Event to Prevent" on May 3 in New York.
Former Whiskeytown member Caitlin Cary and singer/songwriter Thad Cockrell have recorded a duets album, "Begonias," due June 14 via Yep Roc Records. "We'd actually planned to make this album a long time ago," Cockrell says. "It was merely a matter of fitting in with each other's schedules."