New York, NY (Top40 Charts) To everything there is a season. For Paul Kelly, it's time to get the electric guitar out of the case to create one of the most powerful albums of his career, Life Is Fine, which is due out in North
America on Gawd Aggie/Cooking Vinyl via The Orchard on August 11, 2017. To kick off the release,
Kelly has premiered his highly colorful new video for "Firewood and Candles" on Yahoo!
Music at https://yhoo.it/2uWfZWp
Life Is Fine has already received acclaim in the U.K. from top publications MOJO and Uncut, yielding 4/5 and 8/10 ratings respectively, with MOJO stating that the "Australian treasure's 23rd album could be his best."
The album finds
Kelly collaborating with a band of longtime musical friends, capturing all the excitement of them playing live in the studio, and delivering a record that crackles with an energy reminiscent of his finest '80s output.
Kelly agrees about the comparison with the albums he made with the Messengers, such as
Gossip and So Much Water So Close to Home. "I was aware of that as we were making it,"
Kelly says. "The guitar riff at the start of "Firewood and Candles" (the first single/focus track/video) is like a Sunnyboys song. Those kind of guitar lines, nothing fancy but really strong, are like the ones Steve Connolly used to play with the Messengers. I can see a lot of parallels to those records I was making then.''
Sonic diversity rules on the new collection, from the R&B grooves in the sizzling opener, "Rising Moon," to jumping rockers ("Firewood and Candles," "Rock Out on the Sea"), to fun tracks ("Leah: The Sequel") to exquisite and rich tunes (such as "Letters in the Rain," "Petrichor"). Life Is Fine is one of Kelly's strongest and most evocative albums, another treasure to sit proudly on the shelf beside any of his earlier classics.
North American audiences will get the experience the new album live as well as enjoy older favorites when Paul tours the continent with a full band — his first such North American tour in 13 years, since the Ways & Means album. The shows start on
September 17 at Washington, D.C.'s Hamilton and finish October 22 at the Roxy in Los Angeles.
The lyric for the album's title tune and concluding track, with lines like "If that water hadn't been so cold I might have sunk and died," sounds exactly like something
Kelly might have written. Yet it is by the American poet Langston Hughes, who died in 1967. "A friend of mine sent me the poem 18 months ago,"
Kelly says, "and it looked like a song lyric. Recording it we took a more folky approach, without drums, so I wasn't sure if it would fit on this record. It was the lyric that helped get it over the line."
Kelly continues, "At first I worried about Life Is Fine as a title because life is not fine for everyone. But I like the original meaning of fine, as in life is a fine thread. We never know what is going to happen the very next minute, or what is just around the corner.''
Paul Kelly: North American tour dates:
Sun., Sept. 17 WASHINGTON, DC The Hamilton
Tue., Sept. 19 TORONTO, ON The Mod Club
Wed., Sept. 20 MONTREAL, QC Petit Campus
Fri., Sept. 22 BOSTON, MA Brighton
Music Hall
Sat., Sept. 23 NEW YORK, NY The Highline Ballroom
Sun., Sept. 24 SELLERSVILLE / PHILADELPHIA, PA Sellersville Theater
Tue., Sept. 26 RALEIGH, NC Stag's Head
Music Hall
Wed., Sept. 27 ATLANTA, GA City Winery
Fri., Sept. 29 DALLAS, TX Sons of Herman Hall
Sat., Sept. 30 AUSTIN, TX 3ten
Mon., Oct. 2 TOMBALL, TX Main Street Crossing
Wed., Oct. 4 NASHVILLE, TN City Winery
Thu., Oct. 5 LOUISVILLE, KY Zanzabar
Sat., Oct. 7 DETROIT, MI Magic Bag
Sun., Oct. 8 CHARLESTON, WV The Clay Center for the Arts — Mountain Stage (NPR) taping
Tue., Oct. 10 EVANSTON / CHICAGO, IL SPACE
Wed., Oct. 11 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Cedar Hall
Fri., Oct. 13 DENVER, CO Daniels Hall
Sat., Oct. 14 SALT LAKE CITY, UT The
State Room
Mon., Oct. 16 VANCOUVER, BC Imperial
Tue., Oct. 17 PORTLAND, OR Doug Fir Lounge
Wed., Oct. 18 SEATTLE, WA The Crocodile
Fri., Oct. 20 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Slims
Sun., Oct. 22 LOS ANGELES, CA The Roxy
SELECT DISCOGRAPHY:
Life Is Fine (August 11, 2017) - Gawd Aggie/Cooking Vinyl America
Death's Dateless Night w/Charlie Owen (October 7, 2016) - Gawd Aggie/Cooking Vinyl America
Seven Sonnets And A Song (July 29, 2016) - Gawd Aggie/Cooking Vinyl America
Paul
Kelly presents - The Merri Sessions (2015) - Gawd Aggie
Conversations With
Ghosts (2013) - Australia only
Spring And Fall (2012) - Gawd Aggie
The A to Z Recordings (2010) - Gawd Aggie
Songs FromThe South: The Best of Paul
Kelly Vols. 1 & 2 (2009) - Gawd Aggie
www.paulkelly.com/au
https://www.facebook.com/paulkellyofficial
twitter.com/paulkelly
https://www.youtube.com/user/paulmauricekelly
