Six-time JUNO Award nominated jazz vocalist and pianist Carol Welsman is serving up “A Taste Of Paradise” with this, her newly reimagined single with Randy Bachman.
“I had the good fortune of meeting Randy recently,” Welsman shares, “and, when I heard him sing ‘A Taste of Paradise,’ I immediately included it in my repertoire.”
As founder of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and with multi-Platinum, chart-topping, and multi-award winning status in the sphere, Bachman is ultimately known for his rock-influenced songs — but notes early-life inspiration from guitarist Lenny Breau; it was Breau who introduced him to Bossa nova, and the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim.
The newly released version with Bachman on guitar and vox is a fresh take on the initial version found on Welsman’s recent album, Dance With Me (2020). Her 13th studio offering, the 11-track offering marked Welsman’s foray into Latin jazz; it’s an eclectic collection of International songs arranged among Latin rhythms including salsa, boleros, cha cha cha, Afro Cuban and calypso — all the while keeping within Latin jazz and traditional rhythms.
The selections include popular Latin standards adapted into English, Great American Songbook standards, original compositions, and a duet with multi-GRAMMY winning Latin superstar, Juan Luis Guerra on the title track and first single release, which is an English adaptation written by Carol of his song “Si Tú No Bailas Conmigo” (If You Don’t Dance With Me). Welsman’s co-producer, Oscar Hernández, is a four-time GRAMMY winning composer and arranger who, given his depth of knowledge of the Latin jazz idiom, was commissioned by Welsman to arrange all the music for the recording.
At 35,000+ Spotify streams and rising, award-winning Canadian duo DRAE channel their explosive blues-rock riffs into heady alt-hip hop rhythms and immersive electronic arrangements with this, their new single, “Sleep” — available now.
The track speaks to the concept of looking around, seeing a society rife with hypocrisy and in a dearth of empathy, and saying “I’ve had enough. I’m tired. I’m going back to bed,” the pair say.
“The lyrics are reflective of society, the human experience, and our interactions with each other,” frontman and producer Andre Thibault explains. “They point out a lot of hypocrisy and inconsistencies in the way we behave versus how we expect others to behave.
“So much of growing up in the technological age requires increased human to human interaction but, as we rely heavier on technology, we lose that empathy and compassion that helps our society function.”
With a Toronto Independent Music Award and more than 50,000+ streams to their credit, DRAE have performed at JUNOFest, RBC Bluesfest, Canadian Music Week, Northern Touch Music Festival, and more. “Sleep” arrives ahead of the Ottawa-based duo’s forthcoming album, TARDIGRADE — set for upcoming release via Montreal’s Dance Plant Records — and follows critically acclaimed previous releases TRI (2018), E/Scape (The Live Sessions) (2017), and E/Scape (2016).
“We wanted the song to feel like a rock song,” drummer and percussionist Matt Robillard offers of “Sleep.” “We tried to stay away from samples for the instrumentation as much as possible so the music feels organic, more energetic, and has a very human element to it.”
The video further underscores themes of humanization, Robillard continues. “You can see Andre rapping and singing while surrounded by people in a zombie-like state, shuffling around, engulfed on their phones. Portions were shot the day after Andre started dialysis, having since undergone a kidney transplant this past November.”
Further locations were picked meticulously, Thibault adds. “We even returned to the back area of Raven Street Studios, where Matt and I studied audio engineering.”
With the pandemic casting a long shadow in 2020, Grammy and Emmy Award winning multi-instrumentalist Harry Connick Jr retreated to his home studio during the lockdown and emerged with an album of new music. Long regarded as one of America’s finest vocalists and pianists, the sheer breadth of Connick’s talents has never been more on display than with the forthcoming album ALONE WITH MY FAITH to be released jointly by Universal Music’s Verve and Capitol CMG on March 19th. Connick wrote and arranged all of the songs, played every instrument, and sang every part. Both the album cover and the first video “Amazing Grace” were conceived and directed by Harry’s daughter Georgia Connick. Harry shared his personal journey in creating this singular musical work in his liner notes, re-printed below.
“In March 2020, right after news of the pandemic hit, when my tour was cancelled and I headed home for however long it would last, I decided to record some music. Not only because I wanted to, but because I needed to. With no tour dates in sight, and with everyone’s realities upended and futures uncertain, recording was what was necessary for me to help guide me through the uncharted odyssey in which we all unexpectedly found ourselves. I found myself alone (with my faith!) in my home studio, surrounded by instruments and gear, bursting with an abundance of ideas. I was able to go deep within myself as a musician and a man, uninterrupted by the normalcies of collaboration or human interaction. It was a sort of “musical isolation chamber”, a silent retreat, the silence only broken by the sound of my own voice, the instruments I played and the occasional microphone I inadvertently knocked over, as I’m not the most graceful recording engineer that ever lived!
“Seven months later, after countless tracks and edits, I can say that it was not only the secluded nature of the recording process, but the content of the songs themselves that helped me through this strange period. In fact, this was the first time that I found this level of comfort, peace and truth throughout the process of making music. Because the lyrics are all about the spectrum of faith, I found myself interpreting them in real time – they were allowing me to heal as much as I wanted them to help heal others. I didn’t have to pretend or put myself in another place or time, as one often does as a singer or actor.
“Besides the familiar, traditional songs, I wrote and recorded new music that tells the story of my experience during the lockdown. I, like most of us, felt joy, sadness, doubt, conviction, melancholy and inspiration – all the emotions that faith, or lack thereof, can elicit. Even though many of the songs are Christian, my hope is that they will resonate with people of all faiths, as it gives me great comfort to know that faith is an immeasurably beautiful gift that, with its universal spirit, can help bring us together in the most arduous of times.
“Some notes on the recording process…
“I set up the mics and did all of the tracking.
“I used Logic to track and edit. When I was playing an immovable instrument, like drums or organ, I used Logic Remote, with my iPad as the controller. I sang all of the lead and background vocals, as well as played each of the instruments. In addition to all of the acoustic instruments, I used many electric instruments – basses, guitars, synthesizers, etc. However, there are no “soft synths” on this recording – all synthesizers, keyboards and organs are real. No instruments were “in the box”. After all of the edits were made and all of the tracks consolidated, I sent the files to my good friend, Tracey Freeman, to mix. A couple of weeks later, I rented an RV and drove to New Orleans to finish the mixing process with him at his home studio.”
TRACK LIST (CD/DIGITAL)
1. Alone With My Faith
2. Because He Lives
3. Be Not Afraid
4. Benevolent Man
5. Amazing Grace
6. The Old Rugged Cross
7. How Great Thou Art
8. God And My Gospel
9. Old Time Religion
10. All These Miracles
11. Look Who I Found
12. Thank You For Waiting (For Me)
13. Panis Angelicus
Fifty years after the original performance, NEIL YOUNG announces Young Shakespeare, an as-yet unreleased 1971 live recording and concert film which contains the earliest known live performance footage of Young known to exist. The 1971 Stratford, CT show captures the artists stripped down to the bare essentials—acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica.
Available for pre-order today and out on March 26, 2021, Young Shakespeare features early recordings of “Old Man,” “The Needle and the Damage Done,” “A Man Needs a Maid,” and “Heart Of Gold” which were then over a year away from being released on Young’s classic 1972 record Harvest. Available for pre-order now, the album will be available on vinyl, CD via The Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives (NYA) and music retailers everywhere. A stand-alone DVD of the concert will be available exclusively through The Greedy Hand Store at NYA.
A Deluxe Box Set Edition is also available and will include vinyl, CD, and the DVD and will be available through the NYA Greedy Hand Store and all retailers. Those who purchase the CD, LP or Box set from the NYA Greedy Hand Store will also receive free hi-res digital audio downloads from the Xstream Store at NYA. Order today and receive an instant download of “Tell Me Why.” Click here to view & share the video and here for the album trailer. Additional Instant Download tracks will follow prior to release date.
Just two months after the release of Young’s seminal After the Gold Rush, he sat down for a performance at The Shakespeare Theater on January 22, 1971. The concert was recorded for presentation on German TV later that year but was not publicly available until now. The original 50 year-old analog tapes have been lovingly restored, making available early acoustic recordings of two After the Gold Rush songs, early Harvest tunes, and beloved favorites such as “Ohio,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” “Helpless,” “Down by the River,” and “Sugar Mountain.”
Young wrote on NYA that Young Shakespeare is, “a more calm performance, without the celebratory atmosphere of Massey Hall, captured live on 16mm. Young Shakespeare is a very special event. To my fans, I say this is the best ever…one of the most pure-sounding acoustic performances we have in the Archive.”
NYA is the first totally immersive fan-experience website and remains the only portal for all things Neil Young. Only at NYA can you find Young’s music in the highest possible digital audio resolution alongside a seemingly infinite store of archival files. It’s also the home of Young’s virtual daily newspaper, The Times Contrarian, and The Hearse Theater, home to rare footage and live-streamed shows. NYA is a fittingly sprawling repository for Young; few artists—perhaps none—have explored such a vast spectrum of sounds and styles. Young Shakespeare is a raw reminder of his roots.
Young Shakespeare track listing:
1. Tell Me Why
2. Old Man
3. The Needle and the Damage Done
4. Ohio
5. Dance Dance Dance
6. Cowgirl in the Sand
7. A Man Needs a Maid/Heart Of Gold
8. Journey Through the Past
9. Don’t Let It Bring You Down
10. Helpless
11. Down by the River
12. Sugar Mountain
For the first of nine short films for the “Bad” album, Michael Jackson enlists acclaimed filmmaker and director Martin Scorsese and together they create an epic 18-minute tale of urban and racial challenges in the 1980s inspired by the real life story of Edmund Perry. The “Bad” recording is the second of five consecutive No.1 singles from the album making Michael the first artist to achieve this milestone and in 2014 Rolling Stone ranked this short film second on a list of Michael’s 20 greatest short films.
Jagjaguwar officially announces JAG25, a year-long initiative celebrating the label’s 25th Anniversary as home to some of the most mythical artists in music. Centered around a sprawling series called Jag Quarterly, the four-part project will deliver collections of music, creative endeavors and partnerships that span physical mediums, born through brand new collaborations from artists within and outside of the Jagjaguwar family. Arriving with their own actions and energy, each installment of Jag Quarterly will resurrect a different mantra from the label’s past, and imbue it with new meaning: Dilate Your Heart, This is a Mindfulness Drill, Join the Ritual and the original Jagjaguwar mantra, Sentimental Noise.
From 1996 to today, Jagjaguwar has continually championed artists who have reshaped genres, defied canons and bent the tides of popular music. And given that “Jagjaguwar” came from a Dungeons & Dragons character name generator, it is only appropriate that the label is revered for supporting the seemingly superhuman: singers with extraordinary powers, songwriter-conjurers, noise mongers, demon guitar players and hypnotizing poets like Bon Iver, Oneida, Dinosaur Jr., Lonnie Holley, Angel Olsen, Moses Sumney, Jamila Woods, Sharon Van Etten, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Black Mountain, Okkervil River, Richard Youngs and beyond. To mark its 25-year milestone, Jagjaguwar will show how their story is not about individuals or specific releases in its catalog, but rather the ensuing worlds that are built through sharing and collaborating, creating art and community, growing towards the future together.
Out March 26 digitally and April 9 physically, JAG25’s inaugural Jag Quarterly release Dilate Your Heart includes Jagjaguwar’s first spoken-word album since Robert Creeley’s self-titled record 20 years ago. Featuring works written and read by the acclaimed Bloomington, IN-based poet and educator Ross Gay, the collection is complemented by previously unreleased compositions from Bon Iver, Mary Lattimore, Angel Bat Dawid, Gia Margaret and Sam Gendel, and new visuals by Bon Iver art director Eric Timothy Carlson. Just like Jagjaguwar, Ross Gay remains rooted in Bloomington, even as his work – espousing radical empathy, unabated gratitude and themes of connectedness – has created a space that is open to all and teeming with life.
Each track on Dilate Your Heart is a conversation between artists, and today the opening piece – “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” – launches JAG25 with music from Bon Iver, words from Ross Gay, and a message of thanks from everyone involved.
Dilate Your Heart is available to pre-order here, and new merchandise commemorating JAG25 is available here. More offerings, activations and events for Dilate Your Heartand JAG25 will be announced soon, and additional artists confirmed to participate in the upcoming Jag Quarterly releases include Lonnie Holley, Moses Sumney, Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten and The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, among many others.
Dilate Your Heart means to make room, to let more in: new faces, concepts, fears and gratitude. It means welcoming the endless expansion of one’s community, and since Secretly Co-CEO Darius Van Arman founded Jagjaguwar as a sixth-year college senior – using as seed capital his overtime pay from when he was snowed in for consecutive days at the assisted-living home he worked at in Virginia – the ethos of world-building has brought the label to gold and platinum sales, GRAMMY nominations for Album, Song and Record Of The Year, and multiple A2IM Libera Awards for Label Of The Year.
In 1970, protest singer Barbara Dane and her husband, music publisher Irwin Silber, founded Paredon Records. Read all about its beginnings and legacy 50 years later in The New York Times feature by Jenn Pelly, excerpted below:
“Paredon was a people’s label through and through, releasing music produced by liberation movements in Vietnam, Palestine, Angola, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Greece, Uruguay, Mexico, the United States and beyond.
Taken together, the 50 albums that Paredon released from 1970 to 1985 form a staggering archive of art and dissent, of resilience and sung histories within histories. The music reflects civil rights, women’s rights and anticolonial movements, and illustrates the interconnectedness of these revolutions. Dane had been a venue owner, concert booker, radio D.J., television host and writer. With Paredon, she became a folklorist of resistance.”
And learn more about Paredon at Smithsonian Folkways’ digital 50th Anniversary Exhibition, honoring Paredon’s impact and historic catalog including a historical overview by Dane, a complete discography and album art, playlists, archived photography, and more HERE.
Barbara Dane was born in Detroit in 1927, and grew up alongside the town’s union leaders as they fought for labor rights. Originally intending to be a jazz singer, she encountered sexism and a hostile environment in the music business. She almost went on a tour with Louis Armstrong to Europe, but the managers and promoters decided she was too vocal and independent.
She became involved in organizing, and in 1967, following an illegal trip to Cuba meant to show that not all Americans were on the side of Lyndon B. Johnson’s anti-communist policies, attended the Canción Protesta Encuentro, a gathering of international musicians who did not know each other but were all involved in political movements.
Barbara saw the need for these global voices of the people to be heard, and in 1970, started Paredon in New York City. Some acquisitions were clandestine: that is, the identity of the writers or artists on the other end was unknown, for their protection, and the material was delivered through an intermediary. Others were spoken word albums of important historical movement figures, such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Titles included recordings from the Vietnam conflict – Barbara acquired a tape of a Ho Chi Minh speech at the U.N., for example, in order to show listeners both sides of the conflict – and feminist, anti-racist works, among many others.
50 albums later, in 1991, Smithsonian Folkways acquired Paredon following years of close work together. Paredon was the third label acquired by the Smithsonian after the original Folkways Records catalog was acquired in 1987, and has maintained an integral role in Smithsonian Folkways’ mission to collect and preserve traditional music from around the world. Paredon is joined by Folk-Legacy Records, featuring a plethora of material from the ʼ60s folk revival, in 2019; the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music, in 2014; and more. The material from Paredon will remain in print in perpetuity, like all music in the Smithsonian Folkways catalog. In 2019 Rolling Stone reported on the label’s efforts to preserve traditional music from around the world, offering a glimpse into the way this music is archived.
Today, Barbara, in her 90s, performs in the Bay Area and is working on her memoirs while continuing to support the causes she believes in.
Merry Clayton’s legend is a formidable one: As detailed in the Oscar-and Grammy-winning 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, Merry has graced recordings and stages with legends such as Ray Charles (she became a Raelette at age 16), The Rolling Stones (“Gimme Shelter”), Carole King (Tapestry), Joe Cocker (“Feelin’ Alright”), Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Sweet Home Alabama”), Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, The Who, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley and more.
Now, following a tragic accident that severely altered her life but couldn’t dampen her incredible spirit, Merry Clayton — one of the most acclaimed and recognizable voices of all time — finds redemption and strength in the power of gospel music on her new album Beautiful Scars, out April 9th on Motown Gospel/Capitol Records. Pre-orders are available on March 12th.
Co-produced by lifelong friend, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lou Adler, and legendary Gospel vocalist, instrumentalist and songwriter Terry Young, Beautiful Scars brings Merry back to her roots, growing up singing at New Zion Baptist Church in New Orleans, her father Reverend A.G. Williams Sr. Clayton’s parish. Merry’s early, formative experiences there cultivated her incredible voice, and established her faith – two gifts that have sustained her throughout her life’s journey. Recorded at Henson Studios (formerly the famed A&M Studios where many of Merry’s most historic sessions took place) in Hollywood, Beautiful Scars finds Merry emboldened by His Word, mercy and eternal love — it’s the most heartening and human record she has ever made.
While the inspiring music takes center stage, the story behind Beautiful Scarswas born in tragedy. In 2014, mere months after 20 Feet From Stardom — the phenomenal film in which she stars — won the Oscar for Best Documentary, Merry was involved in a devastating car accident that claimed both of her legs, requiring a five-month hospital stay and four years of diligent rehabilitation.
Merry began discussing the possibility of recording again with Lou Adler while still in the hospital. “I’ve been through the fire and the rain, but I made it through,” she recalls saying. “I want people to know that there is healing and deliverance through anything. But you’ve got to trust God — put yourself in His hands.” To which Adler responded: “That’s all I needed to hear. We’ve got to get you some songs!”
Those songs include new compositions written by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Terry Young (“Love Is A Mighty River,” the final version of which includes Martin’s original piano and vocal demos) and Diane Warren (the stunning title track “Beautiful Scars”), covers of classic songs by Sam Cooke and Leon Russell, and five original songs from Terry Young, who alongside Adler played an integral role in guiding Merry’s creative vision.
One of the album’s most emotional moments comes in the form of an updated version of the Leon Russell classic “A Song for You.” A reprisal of a song Merry sang on her 1971 album, it incorporates a vintage solo recording by her late husband, legendary saxophonist Curtis Amy, who passed away in 2002. After looking back, Merry concludes the album on a hopeful note with “Ooh Child Medley,” a moving finale featuring vocal accompaniment from her granddaughter Kyliyah.
After overcoming her accident that included a five month hospital stay and four years of diligent hard work in rehabilitation, Merry is ready to grace the world with her talents once again in a project flowing with emotion, triumph and tenacity. A document of resilience, joy, and most importantly faith, Beautiful Scars has Merry back doing what God put her on earth to do: sharing her revelatory voice with the world.
MTV today announced Grammy-nominated group BTS is set to perform a special edition of its trailblazing and award-winning MTV Unplugged franchise, “MTV Unplugged Presents: BTS.” The worldwide music event will build off the iconic series with a fresh new take Tuesday, February 23 at 9PM ET exclusively on MTV in the US, and will air around the world beginning February 23.
BTS will bring its own iteration of the iconic Unplugged format to life straight from Seoul, South Korea – offering their fans a front-row seat to never-before-seen versions of the group’s most career-defining hits and songs from their latest album BE (Essential Edition), in intimate settings. BE, first released as the Deluxe Edition last November, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album includes the No.1 hit singles “Dynamite” and “Life Goes On”.
Together, MTV and BTS have created some unforgettable moments and performances, including the group’s debut on the VMAs stage in August, where they performed the first broadcast performance of “Dynamite,” before racking up wins for Best Pop, Best Group, Best K-pop and Best Choreography to bring their career total to six VMA wins. The group also celebrated their first-ever live appearance on MTV’s Fresh Out Live in February 2020 for the release of MAP OF THE SOUL: 7.
Last Fall, Miley Cyrus put her own spin on the series’ traditional format with MTV Unplugged Presents “Miley Cyrus Backyard Sessions.” In Spring 2020, MTV launched “MTV Unplugged at Home” to coincide with the launch of #AloneTogether, a global talent and social media-driven campaign to educate young people on the importance of social distancing in order to flatten the curve of the coronavirus.
BTS, an acronym of Bangtan Sonyeondan or “Beyond the Scene,” is a South Korean boyband that has been capturing the hearts of millions of fans globally since their debut in June 2013. The members of BTS are RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook. Gaining recognition for their authentic and self-produced music, top-notch performances, and the way they interact with their fans, the band has established themselves as global superstars breaking countless world records. While imparting a positive influence through activities such as the LOVE MYSELF campaign and the UN ‘Speak Yourself’ speech, BTS has mobilized millions of fans across the world (named ARMY), topped prominent music charts, performed multiple sold-out stadium shows across the world and has been named as one of TIME 100: The Most Influential People of 2019. The act has been nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the 63rd Grammy Awards and recognized with numerous prestigious awards like the Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards.
