Keith Richards has told Rolling Stone that The Rolling Stones might head into the studio this year, though no plans have been set in, ahem, stone.

“There’s no definite plans, but I can’t see any of them stopping,” Richards said in a phone interview. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we did some recording later this year.”

The band’s last studio album was 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

Richards also contemplated a new Stones tour, saying, “Maybe we’ll search for a different way for the Stones to go back on the road, maybe not the football stadiums anymore. Maybe something different. You can’t go around there in lemon-yellow tights forever.”

The 67-year-old guitarist also addressed talk that he and Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood had quit drinking together following Wood’s arrest on assault charges this past December.

“Listen, the rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated,” Richards says. “And we’ll leave it at that.”

On May 18, The Rolling Stones will reissue their iconic Exile On Main Street (1972), which will include 10 previously unreleased tracks.

TheMetalDen.com has uncovered an original, isolated guitar track from the Ozzy Osbourne song “Crazy Train,” as performed by the late Randy Rhoads. The guitarist — a Les Paul loyalist — died tragically in a freak plane crash in 1982 at age 25, but not before building a lasting legacy with his electrifying guitar work.

Among his other contributions to the Osbourne catalog, Rhoads co-wrote the hit song “Crazy Train,” which appeared in 1980 on Osbourne’s first solo album (The Blizzard of Ozz).

Rhoads fans are going nuts over this Internet find, especially because it lets them listen in detail to the guitarist’s famous solo (rated the ninth best guitar solo of all time by 25 million Guitar World readers). Critics are also honing in to determine if the track was recorded in one or two takes, using one guitar — the 1972 Les Paul Custom he was primarily using at the time — or two.

“At first listen, the rhythm track might sound like one guitar in a stereo spread,” muses MusicRadar.com’s Joe Bosso. “Upon closer inspection, however, it could be two guitar performances as there are slight variations between the channels in the harmonics and the odd minor timing, not to mention different lengths of pick scrapes … Of course, this could be an illusion created by two different mics on the same amp/take being panned hard as different mics will pick up different harmonics. But to our ears it sounds like two very similar but separate takes.”

Decide for yourself. Listen to the track in its entirety here:

Dave Grohl dashed rumors that Foo Fighters were on hiatus, telling a Rolling Stone reporter Friday night at the Independent Spirit Awards that “Me and [Foos drummer] Taylor [Hawkins] have already started demoing songs.”

Grohl, who was a presenter at the awards ceremony, revealed that Foo Fighters’ seventh album will be produced by Butch Vig, the man behind Nirvana’s Nevermind, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year.

“I think this could be our heaviest album yet,” Grohl said.

Also in the works is a Foos documentary that’s set to debut alongside the band’s new album; it will follow the album’s making and look back over the band’s 16-year history together.

Making a decided return to his garage band roots, Grohl said that Foo Fighters will record their album in Grohl’s garage in Encino, Calif. The Foo Fighters recorded their last two releases — Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007) and In Your Honor (2005) — at their own Studio 606 in Northridge, Calif.

Last month Hawkins told Spinner.com, “We’ve already got together and worked on a little bit of stuff, but very tenatively, just ideas. We’re just gonna take our time.”

“It would be hard for us to go a year without making music together,” Hawkins continued. “We have fun being together. That’s the whole trip — we still enjoy that, whether it’s a Neil Diamond cover or whatever. We still like to get in the jam room.”

Mark Linkous, the critically acclaimed Virginia singer-songwriter who recorded under the name Sparklehorse, committed suicide on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn., according to a statement released by his family. He was 47.

"It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today," read the posting on the official Sparklehorse website. "We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts."

Linkous, who was known for his collection of vintage instruments that included several Epiphone Casinos, released four albums with Sparklehorse.

The band’s 1995 debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot chronicled Linkous’ battle with heroin withdrawal through gothic country ballads, spawning the minor hit “Someday I Will Treat You Good." It was also a major inspiration for Radiohead's OK Computer.

But while in London promoting the disc in 1996, Linkous suffered a near-overdose of Valium and antidepressants that stopped his heart for two minutes and briefly paralyzed his legs before he learned to walk again using braces.

After the group’s 2006 album, Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, came out, Linkous talked openly about his ongoing struggles.

“For a while there I got in a really bad state of depression and just could not work at all,” he told Magnet Magazine. “I’d always had bouts with it, but after the last record came out and 9/11 happened, it just triggered a lot of bad (expletive). A lot of people started dying around me, and I really thought it was the end of the world—Revelation—and no one else knew it but me.”

Linkous’ death came just days after it was announced that his long-delayed collaboration with producer Danger Mouse and the director David Lynch, Dark Night of the Soul, would get an official release this summer.

In an interview with SPIN, Amy Lee says that Evanescence will finally release their first album since 2006 later this year.

The catch? The Grammy-winning band will return with an entirely new lineup.

The band, which originally emerged from Little Rock, AR, with its 2003 multi-platinum debut Fallen, has gone through several personnel changes over the years. Co-founder Ben Moody was the first to depart, eventually followed by guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray. Asked if it was safe to say that she hadn’t been in touch with any of the original members, Lee says, “Oh yeah, that's very safe to say.”

For the new album, the singer is working with guitarist Terry Balsamo, bassist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt, and another songwriter named Will "Science" Hunt. They are recording in New York with producer Steve Lillywhite, best known for his work with U2 and the Dave Matthews Band.

Lee says fans can expect a slightly different sound from the band on the as-yet-untitled new release.

“It's not an organic record,” she says. “Our idea is to take synthetic and atmospheric sounds and find a way to blur the line between organic and synthetic… There is something really cool happening in music right now. There are bands that sound like they're from another time -- it's like '80s throwback music with analogue synthesizers and Moogs. I love it. I've been listening to a lot of La Roux.”

Billboard reports that Elton John is recording an album with his musical hero Leon Russell in a Los Angeles studio with T Bone Burnett, the Grammy-winning producer who also oversaw the unlikely pairing of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for Raising Sand.

John and Russell have already recorded more than a dozen songs according to a post on Bernie Taupin’s website. "It's varied in scope and drenched in a rich tapestry of atmospherics," says John’s longtime collaborator. "Don't expect to hear the old EJ/BT sound; this is organic recording unlike anything you've heard from our duo before."

He goes on to describe the music as covering everything "from Stones-like rockers, country-tinged ballads, gospel and even a Sinatra-like weepy.”

Russell is still recovering from brain surgery in January but apparently is playing a major part in the production. John is working his recording schedule around his tour with Billy Joel and several solo dates that will keep him on the road through September.

Congratulations to Gibson artists and Grammy and CMA Award winners Lady Antebellum, who lead this year’s Academy Of Country Music Awards with seven nominations, including Album of the Year, Top Vocal Group, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Video of the Year for “Need You Now,” producer for Single Record of the Year and composer for Song of the Year.

The trio of Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood are followed by Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, with six each, Taylor Swift with five, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley with four, the Zac Brown Band with four, and an additional two nominations for Brown himself. This year’s Humanitarian Award will be presented to Montgomery/Gentry.

As in the past two years, fans will vote for Entertainer of the Year, which is the most prestigious ACM award. Three other categories are open to fan votes: Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo. Winners in the Top New categories proceed to the next level, Top New Artist, where fans again vote for the winner.

The 45^th ACM Awards will air on Sunday, April 18, at 8:00 p.m. EST on CBS. Reba McEntire will mark her 12^th year as the show’s host. For a complete listing of categories and nominees, and to cast votes, visit www.acmcountry.com/home/index.php and www.voteACM.com. Learn more about Lady Antelbellum at http://ladyantebellum.com/.

Merle Haggard will release his new CD, I Am What I Am, on April 20, his first project for Vanguard Records. Haggard recorded the album at his Shade Tree Manor studio in Northern California and co-produced with Lou Bradley. The 12 songs feature his longtime band, the Strangers: Don Markham – trumpet, Doug Colosio – piano, Biff Adam - drums, Norm Hamlet - steel guitar, Scott Joss - fiddle and guitar, Kevin Williams – bass, Tim Howard – lead guitar, and Haggard’s son Ben Haggard – lead guitar. Haggard also duets with his wife, Theresa, on one song, “Live And Love Always.”

Haggard began his career during the days when country artists could build longevity on one hit single. It’s a different world now, with award show red carpets akin to fashion-show runways and an increasingly crowded playing field. “Time and gravity work on your appearance,” he says. “You will change if you stay alive, and if you stay alive and have good luck, you’ll learn a lot. People who have been in this business and stay in for a lifetime, like Willie [Nelson] and George [Jones] and myself, we’re here for the long haul. We’re like the old golfers you see — at the end of the day they repeat the same kind of swing every time, and they’re glad they’ve got a swing that people can recognize. A lot of people who are now swinging at the ball are so generic that you’ve got to say, ‘What happened? Are we stuck?’ I don’t feel like a child or like I did at 30, recording for Capitol and records going to No. 1. I can’t compare that guy to an old fogey like me! I don’t try to stay in tune with that. I don’t think about it. I’m a common guy and I’m fortunate to do this over my life, and as for the effect it had, halleluyah. I appreciate it and I feel the warmth of the public, but I live in today. I stay in the moment.”

To learn more about this country legend, visit www.merlehaggard.com.

"Ya can't hold no groove if ya ain’t got no pocket!!" So goes the gospel according to groove-infused progressive rockers Karnivool, as told by guitarist Drew Goddard. The five-piece Australian band, which also includes Ian Kenny – vocals, Mark Hosking – guitar, Jon Stockman - bass and Steve Judd — drums, have arrived in the U.S. for their headline tour in support of their new album, Sound Awake.

Goddard, who also plays an Epiphone mandolin while Hoskings plays a Les Paul Custom, says that the role of the guitars on Sound Awake was “to add the color and dimension. I think the whole album was one giant learning experience in finding where our strengths lie and how to best complement one another.”

Karnivool is the first time both men have played in two-guitar bands, bringing a new set of challenges while complementing each other’s styles. “When you're in the jam room, I think it just becomes a matter of awareness,” says Goddard. “When you hear that space in the sonic spectrum, you instinctively move there to fill it in … or not ... if it's asking for that space. I think we're both very similar in the way that we're not really guitarist's guitarists. The focus is on the song, to be slaves to it and to do what needs to be done to best serve it. We both dig on mood and texture. Being a drummer originally, I approach the guitar from a rhythmic angle a lot of the time, and I am always drawn to interesting and unconventional melodic passages. I like the idea of making sense out of a group of notes that shouldn't make sense — with varying results. Hoss loves his toys; he's always coming up with strange sounds and interesting, bizarre, sparkly lead lines that I could never dream up. Oh yeah — and we both love delay, delay, delay, delay, delay, delay … ”

To learn more about Karnivool, visit www.karnivool.com.au and http://www.myspace.com/karnivool.

Sammy Hagar, Latin superstar Luis Fonsi, and Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger show us their App-itude

Just a few days after its highly anticipated release, the Gibson Guitar iPhone App is already ranked as Apple’s # 1 Top Free App in the Music category with well over 100,000 downloads in the first few days. With the continued surge of interest from music enthusiasts the Gibson Guitar iPhone App continues to climb and is currently ranked 15th overall for Apple’s Top Free Apps.

The free to download Gibson Guitar iPhone App is available exclusively for all Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users directly from the Apple App Store.

The Gibson Guitar iPhone App includes a number of special features, such as a traditional chromatic tuner that starts in “All Notes” mode that tracks whatever is played. Owners of the App can choose a tuning on the “Mode” page so the tuner will only track notes for that particular tuning. Also included is a standard chromatic tuner, a simple tuner that allows less advanced users to tune to Standard tuning Open G, Open D etc by touching the key. For iPhone users, the Gibson headstock inlay will automatically change color indicating if the string is sharp, flat or in tune. For iPod Touch users they can turn the “Play Notes” option on so they can hear the appropriate tuning since they do not have a microphone facility.

The Gibson Guitar iPhone App also features a standard metronome that allows users to choose a specific BPM or tap the screen three times to automatically set the tempo. Other key features of the app include over 30 chord charts with finger markings to help the user with mastering the chord. For those who prefer to learn new guitar riffs, licks or chord sequences via video tuition can now have that option from their Gibson Guitar iPhone App. The app will be updated frequently with new video content so users can improve their technique from the comfort of their home.

For those who want to keep up with everything Gibson Guitar related including the announcement of new products, artist activity, news stories, interesting and factual features, exclusive contests and special events to name a few can now do this via the Gibson.com option.