Jennifer Warnes' First New Album in 17 Years Mastered by Bernie Grundman and Pressed on 180g Vinyl LP at RTI!
This is Jennifer Warnes at her finest, with brilliant songs that are personal, direct and intimate. She knows how to break down barriers, and make music that embraces the listener. In these days when we need some solace and compassion, that's a rare gift. Her first new album in 17 years, Another Time, Another Place is one of those special albums where every track stands out, where you don't want it to end, and you can't wait to share it with your friends. It's filled with terrific choices from some of the very best songwriters, including old friend Mickey Newbury, modern giants Mark Knopfler and John Legend, and surprises from the likes of Eddie Vedder, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks.
Joining Warnes on Another Time, Another Place is a cast of brilliant musicians and long-time friends, the cream of the crop from Los Angeles and Austin, where the album was made. That includes drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (Frank Zappa, Sting), percussionist Lenny Castro (Steely Dan, Toto), lap slide whiz Jeff Plankenhorn (Joe Ely, Ray Wylie Hubbard), singer Blondie Chaplin (Brian Wilson, The Rolling Stones), blues stars Sonny Landreth, Ruthie Foster and more. Co-producing with Warnes once again is her great friend and collaborator Roscoe Beck, the long-time bass player and musical director for Leonard Cohen. The pair first met touring with Cohen in 1979, and together made her landmark 1987 album Famous Blue Raincoat, as well as 1992's The Hunter. The album mix is by Grammy Award-winner Noah Snyder.
The album opens with perhaps the biggest surprise, the Pearl Jam favorite "Just Breathe." The Eddie Vedder lyric is the perfect message Warnes wants to send, to slow down, remember the love, and just breathe. Hearing that opening track, having her voice once again embrace us after the years away, is a singular thrill. "Tomorrow Night" is a 1939 crooner number that became a blues hit for Lonnie Johnson and earned covers by Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. "So Sad" comes from the pen of the late Nashville rebel Mickey Newbury, whom Warnes "met through the Smothers Brothers, when I was 20. Newbury was buddies with Kristofferson, two military veterans who wanted to be songwriters. We all loved Mickey. It's my favorite one on the record."
To widen the scope of the album, Warnes added a songbook classic from the '30's, "I See Your Face Before Me." It's been recorded by many, but is perhaps best known for its appearance on Frank Sinatra's classic album In The Wee Small Hours, arranged by Nelson Riddle. It's just another vocal style at which she excels. "I worked with Nelson Riddle back on the Smothers Brothers," says Warnes. "I wanted to sing something that Frank Sinatra sang, just to stand next to him for a millisecond." Warnes doesn't write a lot, but when she does, it's something important for her, from her heart. This time, she included her song "The Boys and Me," written about being on the road with the band. It features vocals from herself, Beck and Mitch Watkins, all veterans of the richly textured Field Commander Cohen tour of '79, and the Famous Blue Raincoat shows.
Also featured on the album is "Once I Was Loved," a gentle John Legend-Marcus Hummon song featuring the Tosca String Quartet arranged by Stephen Barber, where Warnes gets to glide along with the strings. "I Am The Big Easy" is from Ray Bonneville, a tribute to New Orleans and it's easy, greasy sound. Another Hummon original, "Freedom," is "something for our broken world," says Warnes, "dignified and simple." The album closes on a well-known, and well-loved song, Mark Knopfler's "Why Worry" from the Dire Straits album Brothers In Arms. It's the perfect bookend to the set, sharing the same mood and message as "Just Breathe," finding laughter after tears.
Features:
• 180g vinyl LP
• First new album in 17 years co-produced with Roscoe Beck & mixed by Noah Snyder
• Mastered by Bernie Grundman
• Pressed at RTI
• 16-page booklet of lyrics & photographs
• Heavy stock tip-on jacket
- Just Breathe
- Tomorrow Night
- Once I Was Loved
- So Sad
- I See Your Face Before Me
- I Am The Big Easy
- The Boys And Me
- Back Where I Started
- Freedom
- Why Worry