New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Sony Music Masterworks) "This album feels like the most important creative outpouring of my life so far," says songwriter
Allison Pierce, who is launching the second half of her distinguished career by teaming with producer Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne, Paul McCartney). "It feels like the most genuine expression of who I am, musically and personally."
Year of the Rabbit(May 5, Sony
Music Masterworks) marks
Allison Pierce's first album as a solo artist, following two decades with her sister in the acclaimed duo, The Pierces. Recorded in analog straight to magnetic tape, the album was mostly performed by
Allison and Ethan at Hollywood recording mecca Sunset Sound (much in the same spirit as Johns produced Ray LaMontagne's debut LP, Trouble). The only outside contributors were Gabe Witcher, who supplied fiddle on two tracks, and Greg Leisz, who played pedal steel on another.
"Over the years, I'd write these songs knowing they weren't
Pierces songs, and I collected them in anticipation of the day when I could record them myself," says Pierce. "I'd envisioned the whole thing, so I was ready, and waiting patiently for the opportunity to make it."
Listen to the first single "Evidence" here on Spotify. "Any good story has a villain, and the more epic the story, the more epic the villain—it makes the story complete," says Allison, on her retelling of the Original Sin.
"It was intense,"
Allison says of the experience, "because Ethan is trying to capture something that's really intimate, and the more vulnerable, the better. Sometimes I'd feel like a take wasn't my best musical performance, but Ethan would say, "No, no, no, this is the magic.' He hears something that's special, something that would appeal to the emotions of the listener."
As for the album title? In Chinese astrology, rabbit is the symbol for hope. For Pierce, it also means transformation. "The rabbit in Alice in
Wonderland was what took her from her mundane world into the spiritual and mystical realm, where she was transformed."
Sony
Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, OKeh, Portrait and Masterworks Broadway. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.
Track listing
Evidence
Sea of Love
Drink One for You
To the Grave
It Is Well With My Soul
A Kiss Before You Go
Bed of Nails
Peace Like River
Tour Dates (Opening for The Wind And The Wave)
