NASHVILLE |
FROM: LATHUM NELSON/MITCH SCHNEIDER
STEVEN SEAGAL
GATHERS LAST OF THE LIVING BLUES LEGENDS TOGETHER TO RECORD ALL-STAR ALBUM IN MEMPHIS
Renowned music manager and label-owner Miles Copeland has announced that his client STEVEN SEAGAL has gathered the most vital remaining architects of blues music in the world to record an all-star album in Memphis that will mark SEAGAL’s U.S. debut, with a release date targeted for the first half of 2006. As the blues community mourns the recent loss of R.L. Burnside, Little Milton and Gatemouth Brown (all of whom were scheduled to participate), this gathering will preserve the legacy of significant American artists and their treasured musical talents.
In addition to producing the project, the actor and life-long Delta Blues musician will sing and play guitar with such blues pioneers as Iverson “Louisiana Red” Minter, Ruth Brown, Bo Diddley, James Cotton, Willie “Pine Top” Perkins, Willie Smith, Calvin Jones, Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin, Koko Taylor, Tom Brill, “Big” George Brock, David “Honeyboy Edwards,” Robert Lockwood, Jr., “Homesick James” William Henderson and Henry Townsend.
Alternating recording sessions between Memphis’ House of Blues and Sounds Unreel studios, the blues assembly will perform a number of standards plus a few of SEAGAL’s originals. Details re the album’s 2006 release are forthcoming.
“As a devoted musician and student of the blues, I wanted to document the important contribution each of these amazing artists has made to our musical heritage,” says SEAGAL. “I regret that many of the great blues icons are no longer with us, but have no doubt that their spirit will continue to inspire all of us for generations to come.”
Under Copeland’s direction, SEAGAL is also making plans to release his album SONGS FROM THE CRYSTAL CAVE in the U.S. (later in 2006) after the blues album hits the streets. The music encompasses blues-inflected world pop, “incorporating singer-songwriter elements, dance-hall and Indian instrumentation,” as noted by the Los Angeles Times (5/29/05). Featuring such self-penned songs as “Don’t You Cry,” “War,” “Better Man” and “My God,” SONGS FROM THE CRYSTAL CAVE was already released in France–where it was a #1 seller–and will be available throughout Asia in the coming months before the blues album’s international release. In fact, demand for the music has already prompted a six-country tour of Asia that will happen during the first quarter of 2006.
###
