LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/
Verve Records) - Long established as one of America's premier interpreters of pop standards and classics from the Broadway songbook, vocal icon
Linda Eder takes a 180 degree turn, unveiling "The Other Side of Me" on her eagerly awaited
Verve debut. Produced and arranged by Eder and veteran songwriter/keyboardist Billy Jay Stein, the 12-track collection, due
September 30, brings the singer back to her often overlooked country roots, offering a looser, more intimate country-pop sound that's ideally suited to the thoughtful, mostly introspective songs she's chosen for the project.
"This is really me getting back to my natural musical self, the person I was before Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand entered my life and I went the Broadway route," she says. "This is the kind of music that moved me as a kid, when I first started playing my guitar and learning how to write songs, so it's a natural direction for me. There was no record of past performances to measure up to, just my own words, my own history, and my own voice. I have finally been given the chance to strip away the costume and sing without the voice of others in my head. I've traveled a long road to find my way back home and I have found it. "The Other Side of Me" is my voice."
Taking a very different approach to gathering the right material for the project, Eder includes personally charged, instantly infectious tracks like "Pieces," the gospel influenced pop/rocker "Make Today Beautiful" and the beautiful and poignant, parent-to-child ballad "If I Could." The passionate mid-tempo declaration "Back To Life" was written by megahit pop songwriter Kara DioGuardi, who has penned smashes for Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne, among many others. On Eder's own composition "Waiting For The Fall," the singer tackles her own innermost thoughts and insights gained after her divorce and while raising her child as a single mother. Eder also delivers sensitive and soulful interpretations of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and Emily Saliers' (of the Indigo Girls) "Ghost." Unleashing her deepest emotions, Eder makes it easy for both female and male listeners to relate to the hardships and life lessons she has experienced.
The critical praise for "The Other Side of Me" has already begun, with Jonathan Widran from All Music Guide declaring: "The utter brilliance of the renowned vocal great's first official foray into rock-edged country music should shutter for good the adage that an artist must stick to a single genre to be marketable and successful. Over the years, the world got so used to her glowing interpretations of Broadway standards - and her keen ability to carry on the grand traditions of Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand - that any deviation might have been seen as risky or crazy. While Eder will always be welcome performing with fellow Broadway aficionados Michael Feinstein and Marvin Hamlisch, this stellar journey of the heart should find her making reservations to take the stage at the CMA Festival in Nashville any year now. This is a side of the singer that should stick around for a long time."
