New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Black Hen Music) - Black Hen
Music announces the October 20 release date of a CD tribute to the music of seminal blues group the Mississippi Sheiks, Things About Comin' My Way, featuring all-new recordings from such blues and roots stars as John Hammond, Geoff Muldaur, Bruce Cockburn, Bill Frisell, the North Mississippi Allstars, Madeleine Peyroux,
Danny Barnes,
Kelly Joe Phelps and the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The CD also includes a song featuring an elaborate string arrangement by Mississippi native and elusive pop icon Van Dyke Parks. Black Hen
Music is distributed in North America by Burnside Distribution.
'I've been a huge fan of The Mississippi Sheiks for the last 10 years,' says Black Hen Music president Steve Dawson, who produced most of the tracks on the album, played various instruments throughout and also performs a song on the tribute. 'Their unique sound, instrumentation and the fact that they played with such intensity on their recordings all really jumped out at me. Ultimately, my reason for putting this tribute together was to pay respect to the great body of material they produced in their short lifespan, and show how the songs themselves stand up so well over time. I was never interested in re-creating the music. I was looking for good interpreters who could capture the essence of the songs in a kind of portrait. I wanted to work with people who could celebrate the music and the songs.'
The tracks on Things About Comin' Way were recorded in three big sessions, including one with a house band to back up several of the artists, which gives the album an organic consistency to the sound and feel of the songs. The big session done in Seattle featured a group comprised of jazz legend Wayne Horvitz (John Zorn) on piano, Keith Lowe (Bill Frisell, Fiona Apple) on bass and Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Peter Gabriel) on drums.
Between 1930 and 1935, brothers Sam, Lonnie and Armenter Chatmon, who along with Walter Vinson formed The Mississippi Sheiks, recorded nearly 100 singles that would define this band as one of the most popular string bands of all time. They recorded for three major record companies, toured consistently throughout the south and into the north, including New York City and Chicago, and even performed by invitation for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 'Sitting on Top of the World,' arguably the band's most famous song, has been recorded by such diverse artists as Ray Charles, The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins, Howlin' Wolf, Carl Perkins, Doc Watson, Van Morrison, Jack White and Bob Dylan, among many others. In 2008, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
To support the release of Things About Comin' My Way, Black Hen Music is organizing a number of special concerts throughout Canada featuring many of the artists on the album, with the hope to perform several in the U.S. as well.
Things About Comin' My Way complete track listing:
1) It's Backfirin' Now - The North Mississippi Allstars
2) Things About Comin' My Way - Ndidi Onukwulu
3) Stop and Listen - John Hammond
4) Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down - Bruce Cockburn
5) Bootlegger's Blues - Oh Susanna (arrangement by Van Dyke Parks)
6) Sitting On Top Of The World - The Carolina Chocolate Drops
7) Too Long - Danny Barnes
8) Jailbird Love Song - Jim Byrnes
9) That's It - Bill Frisell
10) Please Baby - Madeleine Peyroux
11) Livin' In A Strain - Kelly Joe Phelps
12) Lonely One In This Town - Steve Dawson
13) The World Is Going Wrong - Geoff Muldaur and the Texas Sheiks
14) We Both Are Feeling Good Right Now - Del Rey
15) Somebody's Gotta Help You - Bob Brozman
16) He Calls That Religion - The Sojourners
17) I've Got Blood In My Eyes For You - Robin Holcomb
For more information, visit www.blackhenmusic.com.
