Rodney Crowell

Rodney Crowell – The Chicago Sessions (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:13 minutes | 865 MB | Genre: Country Rock, Americana
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records, LLC

Take a look at the cover of Rodney Crowell’s brilliant new album, The Chicago Sessions, and you might recognize a familiar callback to the legendary songwriter’s 1978 debut. “In a lot of ways, this album feels like that very first record to me,” Crowell reflects. “When my daughter Chelsea suggested we lay the artwork out similarly, the connection made perfect sense. There’s something very simple, very innocent about it. It’s just me and the band in a room together, loose and live and having fun.”Produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, The Chicago Sessions is indeed a throwback to Crowell’s early days of making records, but it’s no nostalgia trip. The songs here are vital and timely, touching on everything from love and mortality to race and religion, and the performances are nothing short of intoxicating, fueled by raw guitars, honky-tonk piano, and tight, punchy drums. Tweedy wields a light touch as a producer, his influence subtle yet unmistakable, and engineer Tom Schick’s mixes are dynamic and alive, alternately lush and spacious in all the right places with a spotlight fixed firmly on Crowell’s warm, weathered vocals throughout. Put it all together and you’ve got a masterful, cross-generational collaboration that manages to feel both fresh and familiar all at once, an incisive, engaging collection that balances careful craftsmanship with joyful liberation at every turn.
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Rodney Crowell – Tarpaper Sky (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 42:11 minutes | 457 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records

Esteemed musician, songwriter and author Rodney Crowell has teamed up with New West Records to release Tarpaper Sky, his new self-produced album. It comes fast on the heels of Old Yellow Moon, Crowell’s critically lauded collaboration with Emmylou Harris, which won a 2013 Grammy® Award and was named 2013 Album of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Crowell has pushed the boundaries of country, folk and roots music since long before the term Americana was coined as a genre, making a name for himself and gaining respect as both a songwriter and as an artist.

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Rodney Crowell – Christmas Everywhere (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:06 minutes | 421 MB | Genre: Country, Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records

My childhood memories of Christmas aren’t warm and fuzzy. The holidays were more of a nuisance for my parents than cause for celebration. This is not to say that on behalf of their only child they didn’t give the season a halfhearted try. There were Christmases when I found under the tree an electric football set, a Daisy pump air-rifle and a basketball goal that never got nailed up. But, there were also mornings when apples, oranges, hickory nuts and a hammer signified that year’s bounty. Which is to say that Christmas in our household was mostly a wait-and-see proposition. I was finally ready to record an album of original Christmas songs. With Dan Knobler producing and some very gifted musicians and vocalists lending their talents, the making of the album Christmas Everywhere ranks as some of the most enjoyable recording sessions I’ve ever experienced. The record was close to being finished when it occurred to me that to set the tone for the albums mostly irreverent subtext, I needed to compose a lyrical prelude. In honor of Clement Moore, who wrote the poem we all know as, “The Night Before Christmas,” I came up with a short piece called “Clement’s Lament (We’ll See You in The Mall)”. Tania Hancheroff and Kim Keyes stopped by the studio and performed the tune with Jordan Lehning’s orchestral backing and the album was pronounced complete. Seasons Cheer, – Rodney Crowell

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Rodney Crowell – Close Ties (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:37 minutes | 875 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records

Americana has had a banner few years, to put it mildly, and the roots of its current incarnation can be traced back to Rodney Crowell. The Texas-born songwriter has collaborated with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Waylon Jennings, all while maintaining a solo career that’s netted him two Grammys and an induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. It’s fitting, then, that Crowell’s new album Close Ties unfolds like a history lesson, both of his personal mythology and the music that shaped it. Produced by Jordan Lehning and Kim Buie, the 10-song collection considers Crowell’s influences while looking to the future, each song delivered with Crowell’s slight growl and poet’s eye for detail. Also, the album features guest appearances from Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow and John Paul White.

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