A special thanks to all y’all who joined us for Club Passim’s Songwriter’s in the Round recently. What a lively crowd you were in the comments! We had a helluva time swapping stories and tunes. Thank you to Scarlet Keys and Rene Pfister for joining me, and thanks, as always to Matt and the Passim team for doing a great job.
Ahhh….! The Cole Porter project! The maestro’s songbook wrapped in the loving arms of fiddle, mando, my old Gibson, classic upright piano, and the lusting and longing of that dobro.
Valentine’s Day release of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” digital single and video. Enjoy the video on this page! Find it for downloading to your listening library on Itunes, Apple Music, Amazon, and wherever digital downloads are found. And if you’re someone who loves to share music with your friends, find the single on Spotify to include on your own curated playlist.
On May 1st Keith Sewell (Lyle Lovett’s Large Band) and I will be releasing our duet of Cole’s “Night and Day.” Making this bluegrass-y version with us are the incredible team of Sierra Hull (mando), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Viktor Krauss (upright). Keith sang his heart out and played some silky banjo as well. We’re excited!!
This album is a dream come true. The first single release “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” features Jerry Douglas and Duke Levine. Current tracks we’re working on: “You’re The Top” my duet with my pal Catherine Russell, “From This Moment On,” featuring Matt Rollings and Stuart Duncan, “True Love,” my duet with the incomparable Cliff Eberhardt, coming out on Cole’s birthday, June 9th, “Begin The Beguine,” featuring Larry Campbell and Mr. Randy Brecker, and “In the Still Of The Night;” a powerhouse team of Larry Campbell, Jerry Douglas, Viktor Krauss and Stuart Duncan. These folks can, uh, play. Guest duet for Still of the Night…still under wraps! I’m busy recruiting other heroes and heroines to guest on this album, and am truly humbled by the collaborations. One thing about a pandemic, people are home a lot more and eager to record!.
We’ve also been recording songs for the new JB album. Go to the Music Player at the top of the page and listen to “If You Were Here,” featuring the stunning work of Stuart Duncan, and “We Ain’t Dead Yet,” featuring Jerry Douglas, and “Thruway,” featuring Duke Levine and Richard Hammond. We leaked these unmastered yet final mixes to the Spotify page, so wander over, follow us, and take a listen. Some archival music as well from previous records, and some playlists we’ve landed on with the “Under My Skin” track.
Speaking of dobro players, I seem to collect them cuz I love the instrument so much. My pal Abbie Gardner (Red Molly) is guesting on the Cole tune “After You.” Blue Room stalwart and my brother Larry Saltzman will of course appear on tracks on both albums, and as previously mentioned, the one and only Cliff Eberhardt dueting and playing dobro on “True Love,” perhaps Cole’s most perfect composition.
We all pine for the shows we’ve missed as performers and fans in the past few months, two wonderful shows at Club Passim, another summer at the Birchmere, several fundraising shows to rock the vote. The livestreaming from my Brooklyn parlor has been beautifully attended, so thank you, all of you, for showing up, and for contributing to some pet causes.
We mourn the dreams on hold, the love at arm’s length, the ways and means to feed our families and pay our way.
We hold our collective breath, metaphorically, for the times they are a-changing. I’m booking outdoor shows for July and I hope to see you there! Get thee to your vaccine center and open your hearts to the world that soon will be reviving itself. The way out is becoming visible, but the months at home do take their toll, don’t they?
Patience, like never before.
And now, a new chapter in our country that I, for one, welcome with simultaneous tears and smiles.
That show at the Cutting Room NYC – massive blowup to raise money for 2020 Fair Fight – back in January – seems like a million years ago, doesn’t it? And those house concerts throughout the southern route? We’ll reschedule! We promise!
Let us proceed with hope, with patience, with love and gratitude for what we have, what we may have, and what we may yet achieve, never forgetting the many thousands we have lost, and the challenging work ahead to reach across divides, face our historic faults and fears and rise up in brave new ways.
Head stays clear. Heart stays open. Driven by love, not fear.
