We have tragic news to report from the world of music.
Cleetis Mack — the pioneering hip hop artist best known for his work with Digital Underground — has passed away.
News of Mack’s death comes courtesy of a statement issued by representatives of his former group:
Producer Cleetis Mack arrives at the Smooth Pre-BET party at Club A.D. on June 23, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
The reps tell TMZ that the loss of Mack “leaves a void in our Digital Underground family and in our hearts that can never truly be filled.”
The statement notes that Mack was “more than a part of the movement — he was part of the soul behind it, bringing warmth, loyalty, and quiet strength to everyone around him.
“He will always be remembered by his humility, love, and spirited energy, qualities that lifted those around him and made a lasting impression on all who knew him.”
Digital Underground was founded in 1987 by original members Shock G (Gregory Jacobs), Chopmaster J (Jimi Dright), and Kenny-K (Kenneth Waters).
Mack joined the group in 1993, first performing on the single “Wussup Wit the Luv,” which also featured a young Tupac Shakur.
Though Digital Underground was best known for their 1990 hit “The Humpty Dance,” Mack had not yet joined the group at that juncture.
But it’s a testament to his immense talent that he was recruited for membership after DU had achieved international fame.
Within minutes of the news of his passing, Mack’s name became a trending topic across social media platforms, as friends and fans paid tribute.
Mack’s cause of death and his age at the time of his passing are both unclear at this time.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
Our thoughts go out to Cleetis Mack’s loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.
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Some may say country music is best enjoyed from big stages with packed festival crowds, but those who’ve experienced Backstage Access Presents could argue that there’s something special about hearing it in the heart of Napa Valley, surrounded by stunning vineyards, good wine, and an intimate crowd.
Held April 14–16, the inaugural three-day destination event brought this setting to life, thanks to the vision of seasoned music industry executive and experiential strategist, Bobbii Jacobs, who has spent more than three decades building connections across every corner of the music industry.
With this latest venture, a hand-selected guest list of artists, media, brands, and industry leaders came together to enjoy live music, shared meals, and relaxed moments with views beyond compare. This space naturally resulted in meaningful conversations and sparked creative connections throughout a carefully curated string of experiences.
Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Alexander Rubin
The week kicked off at Sleeping Giant in Napa with a Music Industry Luncheon featuring acoustic performances from Bradley Gaskin, Allie Colleen, Cyndi Thomson, and more, setting the tone for what was to come. As guests enjoyed their family-style meal, each of the acts took turns showcasing new music and sharing meaningful stories behind their work.
Speaking to Country Now before sitting down with his guitar in hand, Bradley Gaskin shared his appreciation for being included in the event, noting how meaningful opportunities like this are for him as an artist working hard each day to achieve his dreams.
“Me being a singer-songwriter from small town Alabama, anytime somebody reaches out…The whole goal as a kid growing up being a songwriter and an artist is to go out and play and perform for people. And so being invited and being part of such a cool thing is right up my alley,” he explained.
Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
From there, guests headed over to Round Pond Estate Winery for a Golden Hour Reception, to enjoy a new scenery along with estate wines, regional bites from Hook & Cleaver Ranch and performances from Alex Lambert, Thelma & James, Liam St. John, and The 502s. Just as the sun set over the open fields surrounded by vineyards stretching as far as the eye could see, each artist took the stage one by one in the rustic barn venue, delivering stripped-down performances that paired perfectly with the golden-hour backdrop.
As guests enjoyed the music, they also made the rounds to explore the delicious eats, take advantage of the photo ops and shop a curated selection of brand partners.
Thelma & james, Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
Husband and wife duo, Thelma & James, revealed they are no strangers to the beautiful Napa Valley area and were eager to return, this time as part of the Backstage Access Presents lineup. Sitting in front of the crowd, they delivered a more intimate rendition of songs in their catalog including their latest, “Alternate Ending.”
“We had some of our favorite people writing with us that day and it kind of just fell out of the sky for us. It was like one of those magic writes,” the duo’s Jake Etheridge shared of the track.
His wife and duo partner, MacKenzie Porter, added, “We didn’t have the title or the idea or anything. We just were working on something else and then it kind of shifted into that song and we turned it in and our team really loves it. And I think people have been enjoying it.”
Jake Hoot; Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
Later on, music echoed through the space of the private industry dinner at Louis Martini. The underground cellar, lined with towering barrels, featured a long communal table stretching the length of the room, with an intimate stage set at the very front.
One of the night’s performers, Jake Hoot proudly showcased stories ranging from love songs to a letter to the state of Colorado and more. He took in everything the space had to offer noting, “Stepping down in that cellar and doing our soundcheck, it just felt like those halls were made for music.”
Ty Myers, Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
When day two came around, artists including Kruse Brothers, Julia Cole, Emily Ann Roberts, Matt Stell, and Ty Myers took part in the “Pickin’ & Playin’” luncheon at Regusci Winery.
Roberts, who was a first-time visitor to Napa Valley, said the simplicity of singing with just her and her guitar was a nice change of pace compared to her usual full-band shows because it reminded her of the early days of performing.
“I started playing shows just with me and my guitar, sitting on a stool for tips, anywhere where they would let me come and play. And so anytime I get to get back to the basics, I think it’s really special. And in this environment, you don’t really need all that much to have a special moment. Just a simple guitar and a vocal will do the trick.”
Emily Ann Roberts, Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
Each delivering their sets in between hitting the golf course, Ty Myers and Matt Stell reflected on the experience, highlighting the mix of great food, wine, and connection.
“Had some great meals, some great wine, great fellowships, people that I’ve met because I’ve been out here before a time or two and get to see people that I consider friends and then make some new ones. And then we got to play some music the last couple nights,” Stell shared.
Myers added, “Destination spots to play music and are never going to let you down.”
Matt Stell, Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
The day continued with a wine tasting experience at Mark Herold Winery. As guests sipped on wine and enjoyed light bites, Cooper Riley, Sacha, Brett Kissel, and FILMORE all took the mic. Riley put it perfectly when he said, “There’s no better place than wine country. I mean it’s just beautiful. Beautiful scenery and great wine, great food. Really it doesn’t get much better than that.”
The live music continued into the night with Mainstage at the Mansion Gardens showcasing a mix of rising acts like Kalsey Kulyk, Madden Metcalf and Jacob Hackworth as well as hitmaker Parker McCollum.
Metcalf was eager to introduce Backstage Access Presents attendees to “all the songs that really described me as a person” from his debut EP, Saltwater Southern. Meanwhile, Hackworth did not hold back in expressing his excitement over stepping into a new setting with a fresh set of hears on songs like his radio debut, “What Took You So Long.”
“It’s a bunch of new faces, new people, and I’m excited for them to get to hear my music. I love concerts from the perspective of a listener to being able to perform them, and I think it’s always amazing. So I’m excited.,” Hackworth shared.
Parker McCollum gave the listeners a chance to really get to know him as he cracked jokes, interacted with individual audience members and even showcased a few brand-new unreleased songs, alongside his fan-favorites such as “Big Ole Fancy House.”
Jacob Hackworth, Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan WanekaParker McCollum; Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Will Bucquoy
The final morning took place at Pahlmeyer with a vineyard brunch featuring acoustic performances that spanned beyond country music and tapped into true artistry from Tom Siletto, Kasey Tyndall, Maggie Rose, Shinedown, and Grace Potter. Prior to these performances, Hannah Dasher brought her fun-loving energy to the stage where she did a live cooking demonstration for her delicious blueberry biscuit recipe pulled straight from her Stand By Your Pan cook book.
“Since I balance the fender and the frying pan, I’m getting to do both,” she said previewing the event, before adding that she was “tickled” to be a part of the week.
Hannah Dasher, Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
A select group stuck around for the final event, Wine, Women & Song at Whetstone Wine Cellars, closing out the first-ever Backstage Access Presents experience in Napa Valley. The intimate afternoon was filled with even more wine and a real sense of women supporting women, as the artists shared personal stories through song.
Photo Courtesy of Backstage Access Presents / Ryan Waneka
By the time the last glass was poured, it was clear Backstage Access Presents had delivered on its promise to show that country music feels just as powerful, if not more, in a quieter setting surrounded by true music lovers with a shared openness to learn, connect, and grow.
Luke Combs continues his latest success streak, fueled by his new music and his My Kinda Saturday Night Tour.
According to a press release, Combs is adding to his history-making run by becoming the first artist ever to land two different solo songs at No. 1 on the Billboard and Mediabase country radio charts at the same time. The milestone comes as “Sleepless in a Hotel Room” holds the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for a third consecutive week, while “Days Like These” earns him his 21st straight No. 1 on the Mediabase Country Aircheck chart. This extends his own record for the most consecutive No. 1s to start a career.
Luke Combs; Photo by David Bergman
Additionally, “Days Like These” is also currently No. 2 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, giving Combs the distinction of being the first artist to hold the top two spots at the same time, and the first to achieve the feat twice, following “Fast Car” and “Love You Anyway” reaching Nos. 1 and 2 together in 2023.
Both “Sleepless in a Hotel Room” and “Days Like These” appear on Combs’ latest album, The Way I Am, which arrived earlier this spring. The project debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200, earning 100,700 equivalent album units in its first week.
On the touring side, Combs’ My Kinda Saturday Night Tour continues to break records, with each stop setting new attendance highs. Most recently, he made history at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, drawing 97,367 fans for the largest show of his career to date. He’s also brought massive crowds to Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, Charlottesville’s Scott Stadium, Ames’ Jack Trice Stadium, and South Bend’s Notre Dame Stadium.
Luke Combs; Photo by David Bergman
The tour is scheduled to hit The University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, May 2 and run through August 2 with a run of shows at Wembley Stadium in London.
Combs was recently honored with a TIME100 cover story that included a tribute by Ed Sheeran. He is also nominated for three awards at the 2026 ACM Awards: Entertainer of the Year, Male Artist of the Year and Artist-Songwriter of the Year.
Luke Combs Confirmed Tour Dates
May 2—Knoxville, TN—Neyland Stadium*
May 9—Norman, OK—Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium*
May 15—Green Bay, WI—Lambeau Field*
May 16—Green Bay, WI—Lambeau Field* (SOLD OUT)
May 29—Montreal, Quebec—Parc Jean-Drapeau*
May 30—Montreal, Quebec—Parc Jean-Drapeau* (SOLD OUT)
June 5—Toronto, Ontario—Rogers Stadium*
June 6—Toronto, Ontario—Rogers Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
July 4—Gothenburg, Sweden—Ullevi‡ (LOW TICKETS)
July 7—Paris, France—Accor Arena§ (LOW TICKETS)
July 11—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Johan Cruijff ArenA‡ (SOLD OUT)
July 18—Ireland—Slane Castle‡ (SOLD OUT)
July 19—Ireland—Slane Castle‡ (SOLD OUT)
July 24—Edinburgh, U.K.—Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium+
July 25—Edinburgh, U.K.—Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium+ (SOLD OUT)
July 31—London, U.K.—Wembley Stadium# (SOLD OUT)
August 1—London, U.K.—Wembley Stadium# (SOLD OUT)
August 2—London, U.K.—Wembley Stadium#
*with special guests Dierks Bentley, Ty Myers, Jake Worthington and Thelma & James
‡with special guests The Script, Ty Myers and The Castellows
§with special guests Ty Myers and The Castellows
+with special guests The Teskey Brothers, Ty Myers and The Castellows #with special guests Thomas Rhett, Ty Myers and The Castellows
Musgraves is making good on a gig offer she extended after The Mariachi Brothers were released from ICE custody last month. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Musgraves is making good on a gig offer she extended after The Mariachi Brothers were released from ICE custody last month. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Declining natural gas production from offshore platforms in Cook Inlet is forcing Alaska’s urban utilities to turn toward importing liquefied natural gas. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Alaska utilities have warned of sharp price hikes when they start importing liquefied natural gas in the coming years to replace dwindling supplies of locally produced gas that’s traditionally been used for home heating and generating electricity.
The first LNG tankers aren’t expected to arrive for a few years.
But increases in the prices paid by consumers are starting to land now.
This month, Hilcorp, urban Alaska’s leading local gas producer, is hiking by 14% the price it charges the electric utility in the Matanuska-Susitna region north of Anchorage — to $9.00 per thousand cubic feet, from $7.89.
More increases scheduled over the next two years will bring the price to $11.75 by 2028 — a 49% jump from the rate in early 2026, before the effective date of a revised contract approved by the Mat-Su utility’s board in recent months.
The utility members’ electric bills will rise by more like 5% each year, since gas prices are only one part of the utility’s operating costs. But by 2028, that still will translate into a monthly hike of more than $20 for typical consumers, according to utility correspondence with regulators.
Utility officials said the amended contract with Hilcorp gets them an extra year of guaranteed gas, when the alternative is a shortfall in supply that could force the utility to generate power with even more expensive diesel fuel.
But the officials also acknowledged that prices for consumers are likely only headed in one direction: up.
“We’re really seeing this as a gradual approach to the unfortunate increase in what Alaskans may see in fuel costs,” Kim Henkel, chief fiscal officer at Matanuska Electric Association, known as MEA, said in an interview earlier this year.
Officials with Hilcorp, urban Alaska’s dominant local gas supplier, said in a prepared statement that its amended contract with MEA reflects a “collaborative approach.”
The deal represents a “deliberate investment approach with our utility partners to bring forward existing production and provide a bridge while longer-term solutions are pursued,” the statement quoted Luke Saugier, Hilcorp’s top Alaska executive, as saying.
MEA isn’t the only utility whose ratepayers are facing imminent price hikes as a result of urban Alaska’s dwindling gas supplies.
In Fairbanks, the local electric utility has no natural gas plants of its own. Historically, as much as 30% of its power has been generated by other utilities’ gas plants farther south and shipped north along a transmission line.
Power lines run toward Mt. Susitna outside Anchorage. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Now, with no excess gas, those lower-priced power sources have dried up, and Fairbanks’ utility has been forced to boost its dependence on its own expensive diesel generation.
Residential prices there have risen nearly 50% since a low in 2020, to roughly double the national average.
Meanwhile, customers of urban Alaska’s main heating utility, Enstar, could also pay $12 a month more if the company moves forward with a proposed acquisition of a new storage reservoir. Enstar says it could fill the reservoir with both locally produced gas in the short-term, as well as imported LNG when cargoes start arriving.
With its own supplies tightening, Enstar says, the $240 million storage project would also add to its capacity to pipe gas out to home and commercial heating customers — as flows become increasingly difficult to sustain with less fuel produced by local companies at any one time.
Additional price increases are almost certain in the coming years when Enstar, and Anchorage and the Mat-Su’s electric utilities, begin replacing their locally supplied fuel with imported liquefied natural gas — expected to cost at least 50% more than what Enstar currently pays Hilcorp for local gas.
“I hate to be the one crying wolf,” John Sims, Enstar’s president, said in an interview. But such steep increases in the cost of energy, he added, are “the start of an economy that just doesn’t work any more.”
One problem, Sims said, is that local gas producers like Hilcorp have seen the prices that the utilities expect to pay for imported LNG, which have been revealed publicly in utility consultants’ reports. “Now I’ve got no leverage,” said Sims, whose company is investor-owned. “They know what the alternative cost is going to be.”
For now, it will be hard for the urban utilities to stem further price increases because of their deep dependence on fossil fuels — and decades of foregone decisions that could have been made to diversify and boost efficiencies, according to Phil Wight, an energy historian and utility expert at University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Urban Alaska’s four major electric utilities could have done more to cooperate on power plant construction and ongoing generation, so that only the most efficient plants were used, Wight said.
They also, added Wight, could have started construction on large-scale renewable projects when substantial federal tax credits were available. But no major projects are set to be built in the state before the credits phase out — and urban Alaska still runs on some 80% fossil power.
“We have these systemic structures that make it hard for us to really get out of this paradigm,” Wight said, adding: “We’re going to be in this pit for a while.”
Nathaniel Herz welcomes tips at natherz@gmail.com or (907) 793-0312. This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Herz. Subscribe at this link.
