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Life in Music inspired by Joe Henry


dinsdag 30 december 2014

The upcoming Rodney Crowell/Emmylou Harris album

Like many of us on some social media, Rodney Crowell  also spoke about his highlights of 2014. He ended his beautiful written story with some insights on the upcoming album.

The album will be called "The travelling kind", and will be released next spring.


Lastly, I’m hoping the duet album Emmylou and I recorded this past summer, with Joe Henry producing, is as good as I think it is. I can’t speak for Emmy, but for me, it’s a record I’ve always wanted to make. “The Traveling Kind” comes out in the spring.


Happy New Year,
Rodney



 

vrijdag 26 december 2014

Worthy : Pre-listen a track

You can pre-listen a first track of Bettye LaVette's new album Worthy (Produced by Joe).  More info

It's her version of Dylan's 'Unbelievable'



Listen to Bettye's version on  www.rollingstone.com

Worthy will be released on January 27. 



woensdag 24 december 2014

RCA studio A saved

Earlier on I blogged about the uncertain future of Historic RCA studio A in Nashville.

RollingStone.com brings us the news that it is saved from Demolition.

Today saw a happy ending to a story that's galvanized passionate responses from musicians the likes of Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl — the fight to save Nashville's RCA Studio A. According to the Nashville Scene, Curb Records founder Mike Curb has teamed up with Tennessee philanthropists Chuck Elcan and Aubrey Preston to buy the studio in a deal that closed this afternoon.


Are you wondering now what the Link with Joe Henry was again ?

It's this amazing rendition of 'Sunday Morning Coming Down'.




maandag 22 december 2014

Live from High Fidelity Podcast

Live from High Fidelity has a fantastic podcast, with, an almost 3 hour long, conversation with Joe Henry and Jay Bellerose.



Divided in 2 parts, you can listen to a wonderful conversation between these 2 friends/musical brothers and hosts Tom DeSavia & Eric Gorfain. Hear them speak on how they met, how it all began and evolved for them.

But also a wonderful insight on the inspiration, creation and recording of Joe's album 'Reverie', and the story behind writing Richard Pryor's Biography.

The podcast is availably at iTunes.
(The 2 parts are the podcasts released on 12/21/14)

vrijdag 19 december 2014

End of the year press

Lots of praise for Joe Henry these days to be found in the press.


about Invisible Hour : 

NPR
Ann Powers calls Joe Henry's 13th album "A meditation on unmarriage, on life and death, on all the big issues. It's enriched by his incredible literary knowledge. There's a song that references Melville, a song that references Alice Munro. I can sink into this album for days and weeks on end."

Josh Hurst
 ....It is also his masterwork—and given how much I like his other albums, that’s saying quite a bit.

Routs and Branches
 Such beautiful and evocative work, self-produced and pared to its essence.  It's almost as though Henry has drifted into a genre all his own over the past decade.  More than any other album on this list, Invisible Hour is pure poetry.

www.ilmascalzone.it 
I wonder if the time is ripe for the music of Joe Henry to receive the recognition it deserves. One might say that, if it wasn't with albums such as "Scar" and "Civilians",time may not ever mature....
........(Invisible hour is) simply inevitable as each disc of Joe Henry is.


http://loosehandlebars.wordpress.com/
I suppose he inhabits a style somewhere between Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Whilst he has a background in what is termed these days as Americana he manages to mix in jazzy touches that delightfully embellish the songs. “Invisible Hour” is an LP that I have found myself lost in whilst on my constitutionals with our faithful hound, little realising what time has passed.

nippertown
Joe Henry’s Invisible Hour is so relentlessly, ridiculously beyond good that speaking about it reduces me to gibberish. It is my Top 10 for 2014. I don’t mean to say that it is at the top of the list, no, it is the entire list. - See more at: http://www.nippertown.com/#sthash.hCk2rR2q.dpuf
Joe Henry’s Invisible Hour is so relentlessly, ridiculously beyond good that speaking about it reduces me to gibberish. It is my Top 10 for 2014. I don’t mean to say that it is at the top of the list, no, it is the entire list.
Joe Henry’s Invisible Hour is so relentlessly, ridiculously beyond good that speaking about it reduces me to gibberish. It is my Top 10 for 2014. I don’t mean to say that it is at the top of the list, no, it is the entire list. - See more at: http://www.nippertown.com/#sthash.hCk2rR2q.dpuf
Joe Henry’s Invisible Hour is so relentlessly, ridiculously beyond good that speaking about it reduces me to gibberish. It is my Top 10 for 2014. I don’t mean to say that it is at the top of the list, no, it is the entire list. - See more at: http://www.nippertown.com/#sthash.hCk2rR2q.dpuf

about the Wexford Carols :

 kleinezeitung.at
When dealing with the old songs Joe Henry succeeds again to set the arrangements to the right level. To create the harmonious atmosphere for the sung stories in songs like shepherds, angels, the Three Kings, "The Virgin Queen of Bethlehem" and "The Darkest Midnight in December". Scarcity and wealth, the emotions properly dosed in balance. The fine singers and instrumentalists facilitate Henry's task of course enormously.

about Bitter Tears Revisited

https://paulkerr.wordpress.com/tag/joe-henry/
First thing to say here is that Look Again To The Wind is a perfect Christmas present for anyone who has any interest in American country music. Like the soundtrack to Oh Brother Where Art Thou it’s crammed full of excellent songs, excellently played by some of the best artists around. As a concept it’s interesting, as an album it’s little short of magnificent. 

 www.sfchronicle.com
Half a century later, Cash’s vision retains its power, offering a welcome reminder of why the album might endure despite digital technology’s fragmenting force.  

About Worthy

Bluesmagazine.nl
(Blogger note : As far as I know, Thankful 'N Thoughtful was not produced by Joe, but by Craig Street.)

Again praise to this much sought-after producer, who can be verry selective and careful in picking new projects. Over and over again he seems to be capable of delivering an absolute top product.

Random

Jeff Schwachter
My dream: An acoustic tour on heels of an album of new acoustic Dylan songs with Bob playing them all on guitar with Joe Henry producing and playing on the affair.

donderdag 18 december 2014

Joe's favorite roadside eats.

hometown-pasadena.com has a review of a cooking book which apparently has a small Joe Henry contribution.

It's the book Fiore Market Cafe Fresh Cookbook. 
Fiore Market Cafe is a restaurant in South Pasadena.

The last third of Fresh is a series of Q&A profiles with regular Fiore patrons, such as singer songwriter Joe Henry and Melanie Ciccone. Phil Donohue and South Pasadena resident Afton Figueroa list their favorite, most “delectable roadside eats.”

donderdag 11 december 2014

On "Bitter Tears Revisited"

The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting view on 'cover projects'. like Bitter Tears Revisited. 

The more rewarding cover albums shine a light on forgotten or overlooked gems, like a recent project revisiting a potent but little-remembered concept album exploring the plight of American Indians, “Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited” (Sony Music Masterworks). 

More than reclaiming a lost masterpiece, the album requires a reappraisal of Cash’s ties to the era’s politically conscious folk music scene. In a fascinating twist, the music industry and the cresting civil rights movement rejected Cash’s attempt to link the two causes. Half a century later, Cash’s vision retains its power, offering a welcome reminder of why the album might endure despite digital technology’s fragmenting force. 

“I’ve been reading for years and years the demise of the album as a format, but I don’t buy it, and I don’t pay any heed to it,” says “Bitter Tears Revisited” producer Joe Henry. “I don’t work on any project that isn’t meant to play as a full album. Not everybody listens to records in real time beginning to end in sequence. Not everybody’s going to listen the way we wish they did. But anyone who’s willing to meet the work that way should be rewarded for it.”

woensdag 10 december 2014

JH interview about 'Furious Cool'

Austin, Texas based KUT news has an interview with Joe on the book Furious Cool, a biography of Richard Pryor. Joe wrote it together with his brother David Henry.
The book was released last year. 






woensdag 3 december 2014

Joe Henry & Sam Phillips to perform in LA

Joe Henry and Sam Phillips will be performing together in Largo at the Coronet in LA.






The shows are entitled : "Alone and Together -Sharing a band and the evening-"

The shows will be on February 21 and 22.

Tickets for the 21th
Tickets for the 22nd



It's not the first time Joe and Sam wil do something together, in 2003 Joe produced Sam's unreleased album 'wedding in Cherokee county'.  

Joe Henry's favorite Christmas music.

 On Patheos.com : Jeffrey Overstreet is giving several musicians a platform to talk about their favorite Christmas albums.
First in line : Joe Henry.

Read it here.

dinsdag 2 december 2014