Rodney Crowell - Airline Highway - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Esteemed musician, songwriter and author Rodney Crowell has teamed up with New West Records to TARPAPER SKY, his new self-produced album. It comes fast on the heels of OLD YELLOW MOON, Crowell's critically lauded collaboration with Emmylou Harris, which won a 2013 Grammy Award and was named 2013 Album of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Crowell has pushed the boundaries of country, folk and roots music since long before the term Americana was coined as a genre, making a name for himself and gaining respect as both a songwriter and as an artist.

2023 . Says Rodney Crowell InchIt's just me and the band in a room together, loose and live and having fun.Inch Produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, The Chicago Sessions is indeed a throwback to Crowell's early days of making records, but it's no nostalgia trip. The songs here are vital and timely, touching on everything from love and mortality to race and religion, and the performances are nothing short of intoxicating, fueled by raw guitars, honky-tonk piano, and tight, punchy drums. Tweedy wields a light touch as a producer, his influence subtle yet unmistakable, and engineer Tom Schick's mixes are dynamic and alive, alternately rich and spacious in all the right places with a spotlight fixed firmly on Crowell's warm, weathered vocals throughout. Put it all together and you've got a masterful, cross-generational collaboration that manages to feel both fresh and familiar all at once, an incisive, engaging collection that balances careful craftsmanship with joyful liberation at every turn.Inch

I guess you could call it a lost album,Inch says Rodney Crowell. InchI stumbled upon it in my vault at home. I'd forgotten about it completely.Inch He's referring to Then Again, which he recorded and shelved two decades ago before moving off into new directions. Since then, the album has been biding it's time, waiting for the moment when it's songs would hit hardest. And they hit incredibly hard now, largely because age and experience have granted Crowell a richer perspective. InchI'm glad I put it on the shelf, because now is the time for it. It may not be the time for it for the rest of the world, but it's time for it for me. That's why I wanted to call it Then Again. I thought that was a clever way of saying that what was happening then is happening now. Once lost and now found, Then Again is something the Rodney Crowell of the 2000s could never have predicted but something the Rodney Crowell of the 2020s recognizes instinctively a work of nuance, insight, and sensitivity that considers death but celebrates life. InchI'm trying to understand that this spirit of mine is going to leave this body and go off somewhere else. I've got a pretty good idea that it's going to be someplace good, but I still need to perfect some part of my spiritual journey here before I check out. I can see that in these songs now.