New York, NY (Top40 Charts) MYSTIC BOWIE'S TALKING DREADS will release its debut single, "Once In A Lifetime," tomorrow - Friday, May 4 - on iTunes, Amazon, and all digital retailers. Check out PARADE's exclusive video premiere of the song HERE. The release of the full length debut album titled MYSTIC BOWIE'S TALKING DREADS, will feature reggae spins on classic
Talking Heads songs, due June 15 (pre-orders will be available this Friday HERE). In conjunction with the album release, the group will hit the road with U.S. tour dates starting May 24 in Buffalo, New York through
September 2 in Salisbury, MA (with additional dates to be announced).
The Talking Dreads album will feature a lineup of legendary reggae figures including singer Freddie McGregor; ska guitar master Ernest Ranglin (Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Monty Alexander); Soul
Train Award nominated Tarrus Riley ("Start Anew," "
Good Girl Gone Bad"); and saxophone great Dean Fraser. The album also includes drummer Kirk
Bennett and Lincoln Thomas, McGregor's longtime guitarist. Cindy Wilson of the
B-52s special guests on a duet with Mystic for "Heaven."
As a former member of the Tom Tom Club, a band that included former
Talking Heads founders Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, Mystic Bowie infuses fresh life into Talking Heads' classic catalog with his high octane mix of roots reggae, ska and lover's rock.
The album will include 11
Talking Heads songs with Mystic's own unique, Jamaica-fied spin; plus two additional tracks, including: "Love Goes to Building On Fire," "Slippery People" (Feat. Tarrus Riley): "Burning Down The House," "Houses In Motion," "This Must Be The Place," "Once In A Lifetime," "Pulled Up," "Life During Wartime" (Feat. Freddie McGregor); "Crosseyed And Painless;" Grateful Dead's "Shakedown Street," "Psycho Killer," "Piece of My Heart," "
Heaven" (Feat. Cindy Wilson).
Says Salon of a recent Talking Dreads live performance: "Talking Dreads covers
Talking Heads songs as shimmering one-drop reggae jewels…swapping out urbanity for roots and sincerity."
Since introducing his musically revolutionary Talking Dreads project at the High Times
Music Festival in Negril in 2015, the Jamaican-born singer has performed at more than 100 shows across North
America - spinning the heads of initially skeptical
Talking Heads fans, and getting everyone grooving along to the rhythms and jubilant spirit of his native island.
Mystic's close personal and professional relationship with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth began when he joined the Tom Tom Club as a singer in 1996. He appeared on their 2000 album THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FUNKY and performed with them for nearly 20 years.