Hey now! Thanks for checking in on me here in this tiny corner of cyberspace
Writing from DC where I’m in the midst of a two week tour with Bonnie Bishop in support of her truly amazing new album “The Walk”. Produced by the legendary Steve Jordan (Blues Brothers, Keith Richards’ X Pensive Winos, SNL, Clapton, Mayer, etc) the album is stunningly good and a real departure from her previous work. The Walk is a seven song journey that clocks in at about 45 minutes. Each song cross-fades into the next, melding together to form a suite of music that has a universal message of hope and redemption for all who stay on their path through trials and tribulation. Bonnie is a stone singer—extremely gifted—and a great songwriter (she won a grammy a few years back for a tune of hers that Bonnie Raitt covered). Those two forces align to make “The Walk” a spiritual experience. Just a wonderful piece of art. Check it out!
Speaking of stone stingers, it was an honor to work with Shakey Graves for a Next Waltz session a few months back. We covered “A World So Full Of Love”, a gem of a tune by Roger Miller. Many of Miller’s iconic tunes have a playful, almost silly quality to them (i.e. “Chug A Lug”, “King Of The Road”, “Dang Me”, “Do-Wacka-Do”) but this particular song captures a whole other sentiment, one of sadness and loneliness. Alejandro’s vocal absolutely nails it! Check it out
The last three weeks of October will be spent off the road and in the studio. First, with The Watters who will be working on their third album. We’ve been running a lot of the new material in live shows this summer and it’s fantastic. Things will surely be elevated to a new level with J.J. Johnson (Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Mayer, Doyle Bramhall II) on drums for the session. J.J. is one of the greatest drummers on the planet and a wonderful person. After that session wraps up, BOH will be headed to Portland, OR for two weeks to work on our next album with another incredible artist/producer, Tucker Martine. Tucker has an incredible discography as a producer and engineer…Modest Mouse, Sufjan Stevens, Avett Brothers, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Aoife O’Donovan, Bill Frisell, The Decemberists, Tift Merrit, Marco Benevento, Mudhoney to name a few. Everybody in the band is stoked for this opportunity and looking forward to see how and where Tucker steers the ship. Personally I’m also thrilled to spend a few weeks back home in the Pacific Northwest. More to come on this soon!
Peace, prosperity and health to you and yours,
TN
Photo of the Rodney Crowell session back in June