![]() ![]() Ward kicked off the next decade with a deeply atmospheric set called Migration Stories and a Billie Holiday covers album Think of Spring most recently. Over the following decade, Ward split his time between projects, releasing a 2009 album with indie supergroup Monsters of Folk, several high-profile albums with Deschanel including She & Him’s Columbia-issued 2014 set Classics, and critically acclaimed solo releases like 2009’s Hold Time, 2012’s A Wasteland Companion, and 2018’s What a Wonderful Industry. Ward established himself with warm, analog-minded releases like 2003’s Transfiguration of Vincent and 2006’s Post-War before joining forces with singer/actress Zooey Deschanel to form the highly successful indie pop duo She & Him in 2008. Ward became one of the defining voices of the American indie landscape in the 2000s, earning fans and critical acclaim for his distinctive brand of breezy West Coast Americana which pulled from folk, country, blues, pop, and experimental indie rock elements. There’s an unusual Bowie choice, “I Can’t Give Everything Away” from Blackstar, and a live rendition of Daniel Johnston’s ‘Story of an Artist.’” -By James Cushingīoth as a solo artist and as one-half of She & Him, M. Eight of the album’s ten songs are Ward originals. On “Too Young to Die,” the women’s voices in First Aid Kit spread a light frosting over the melody, and their Beach Boys-like chorus on “Engine 5” makes the song sound like an instant hit. The album’s guest stars - First Aid Kit, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case, Jim James, others - enliven the album with surprises. Supernatural Thing is an open-hearted, inviting album. Ward’s lyric delivery has that slight rawness the ear loves, and his voice has quiet dignity and great tenderness. Supernatural Thing’s original songs sound freshly pulled from the ground, with a little earth sticking to them. What Ward shares with Harry Smith’s artists and Neil Young is a context of musical and human values: authenticity and intimacy. Ward has clearly mastered the whole vocabulary of American popular music and made serious decisions about how to employ it for his own ends. Ward is one of the special contemporary artists who invite such questions. Was it 1952, and was I listening to a track from the Harry Smith Anthology? Was it 1972, and was I eavesdropping on the recording session for After the Gold Rush? No, it’s 2023, and M. Ward’s Supernatural Thing, I asked myself what year it was. The Vinyl configurations include: 2 LPs with printed inner sleeves, in a Gate- fold jacket. “I never knew where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do with my voice,” she says, “but I just wanted to do it so bad.” When her voice jumps an octave, it’s almost visible, like sparks at night. Since escaping the labels of country and Americana, the gorgeous train-whistle vocals of her early career sit submerged in her later style, where their ghost can appear any minute. Gathering power year after year, Neko sings with the fierce abandon of a newborn infant crying in a basket in the woods. With a career spanning over twenty years, she has famously collaborated with The New Pornographers and Case/Lang/Veirs in addition to releasing many critically acclaimed solo albums, including ‘Fox Confessor Brings The Flood’, ‘Middle Cyclone’ and most recently 2018’s ‘Hell-On’. Wild Creatures is a career retrospective album containing twenty-three of Neko Case’s most impactful tracks from her discography, and will now be available on CD and 2x LP. The album includes guest backing vocals by Jeremy Ivey, Jesse Malin, Buddy Miller, Angel Olsen, Margo Price and Tommy Stinson. Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart was produced by Williams, Overby and Ray Kennedy, who also engineered. Williams is in great form as heard on her new single “New York Comeback,” written by Williams, Tom Overby and Jesse Malin, with Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen on backing vocals. Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart marks a triumphant return from one of our most revered artists and songwriters. Later that November, Williams suffered a stroke that partially impaired some of her motor skills on the left side of her body, forcing her to learn to walk again and taking away her ability to play the guitar. In 2020, a tornado damaged her new home in Nashville, followed two weeks later by the beginning of the COVID lockdown. The last couple years have been challenging for Williams. 2023 will be a special year for Williams: she turned 70 in January and on April 25th will release her long-awaited memoir Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You (Crown, a division of Penguin Random House LLC). Three-time Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams will release her highly anticipated new album Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart on June 30th (Highway 20 Records/Thirty Tigers). ![]()
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