Video: In The Studio With Rick Rubin And Ray Stevens

ZZ Top! Of course! The trio will celebrate its 40th anniversary by herding into the studio with Rick Rubin later this year, after they wrap up a co-headlining tour with Brooks & Dunn. The band is aiming a sound more "La Grange" than "Sleeping Bag" (aw, can't they do both?), and Rick Rubin does seem the painfully obvious choice for a high-profile authenticity move. The band has also signed to Rubin's American Recordings, which heightens the prospect that its forthcoming album will get his full attention, rather than being one of eight projects he watches through a large telescope from [...]

I loved Ray Stevens when I was a kid. One year for my birthday—right after second grade—I was given a tape of Ray Stevens' Greatest Hits which featured such classics such as The Streak, Ahab the Arab, Along Came Jones, Gitarzan, and Shriner's Convention. Though the songs had all been recorded in the studio, a laugh track was added in post production—it was similar to watching a sitcom. And now

• Ray Stevens - Santa Claus Is Watching You (long)