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Kings Of Leon's Jared Followill and his girlfriend Martha Patterson are engaged, according to reports. The bass player, 25, apparently proposed to Patterson, a 21 year old model, last month on April 11. Rolling Stone reports that the pair have only been dating a few months. Followill confirmed the news earlier today via his Twitter account, joking: It's true! I'm engaged! CANNOT wait to finally lose my virginity. Following his online revelation, The Strokes' Nikolai Fraiture responded: "Congrats man! You're gonna love it!"

Robert Plant has announced details of three live dates for this summer. Plant will debut his new band, Sensational Shape Shifters, at: ** Gloucester, Guildhall - May 8 ** HMV Forum, London - July 12 ** WOMAD, Wiltshire - July 29 Apart from Plant, the line-up for the Sensational Space Shifters is: Juldeh Camara (JuJu) ritti (one-stringed African Violin), kologo (African Banjo), talking drum, vocals. Justin Adams (JuJu, Jah Wobble) guitar, bendir, vocals John Baggott (Massive Attack, Portishead) keyboards Liam "Skin" Tyson (Cast)

Like many music fans of a certain age, John Peel turned me on to a lot of music I may otherwise only have stumbled upon much later, if at all. I remember, for instance, in July 1969, listening to his Top Gear show one weekend and hearing something that lit me up like a burning house. It didn’t sound like much else he played that afternoon and as I recall he was afterwards not altogether enthusiastic about it, as if he as wondering why, beyond the fact that it was new and wouldn’t have yet been widely heard, he’d even bothered playing it.

Simi Stone was a member of the now apparently retired The Duke & The King, alongside Simone Felice. Tonight she’s opening for Simone at the Bush Hall, a solo turn that starts with Simi on fiddle, playing a lament that sounds like it may have been first heard a century ago, a keening in the Appalachians or somewhere similarly remote and steeped in mystery and drizzle.

Alabama Shakes' frontwoman Brittany Howard has spoken about how her life has changed since her band have become more well known. The "Hold On" singer says her life has taken a "surreal" turn since her band began to get noticed, and she explains that she finds it a bit strange having celebrity fans.

Bob Dylan will be rewarded with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the United States, according to a report in the New York Times. The White House said in a statement that President Obama had named 13 recipients of the medal, which is granted to “individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”