Since quitting The Smiths in 1987, guitarist Johnny Marr has played with a wide variety of acts, from Talking Heads and The The to Electronic, Modest Mouse, The Cribs and even his own short-lived band, Johnny Marr + The Healers. Early next year, though, he’ll finally release his first proper album under his own name.

Having left The Cribs and reunited his early-2000s band The Healers, ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr today offers up a free holiday track recorded with his bandmates: the 3-minute-and-40-second instrumental ‘Free Christmas,’ which can be streamed and/or downloaded here.

This round of tidbits includes stories about The Cure covering Paul McCartney for a new tribute, Johnny Marr quitting The Cribs, the history of The Untouchables’ 1985 album ‘Wild Child’ and rock critic Greg Kot’s 10 favorite Wax Trax! releases.

Today marks the 47th birthday of one of the signature guitarists of his generation: Johnny Marr of The Smiths. In honor of this peerless player, here’s a full ‘Meat is Murder’-era Smiths show, filmed for Spanish television on May 18, 1985, in Madrid.

As feared, Bernard Sumner’s Bad Lieutenant has joined the growing list of bands — including Johnny Marr and The Cribs — to cancel their appearances at the just-underway Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival because a cloud of volcanic ash has grounded thousands of European flights.

Tweet When he’s not working with Modest Mouse, ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has been writing and recording with The Cribs, and, on Thursday, Marr and […]

Turns out Peter Hook’s Freebass may not be the only Stone Roses/Smiths collaboration afoot: Ex-Roses vocalist Ian Brown this week told the BBC he’s planning […]

Record Rack: A weekly round-up of the pertinent new albums, reissues and/or box sets due out Tuesday. ARTIST: Prefab Sprout RELEASE: Let’s Change the World […]

Today’s London Observer features an interview of the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe by Johnny Marr, who’s played on a number of […]