Ann Wilson - Hope & Glory

The world has long known Heart's Ann Wilson as one of the greatest and most enduring vocalists of her generation. Yet on her ultimately hopeful and glorious solo debut for Zoë/ Rounder Records, Wilson is likely to stun even her lifelong fans with what could fairly be called the mother of all cover albums.

On Hope & Glory, Wilson manages to reinterpret and reinvent some of the greatest songs of the past forty years that powerfully and poignantly reflect the here and now, including classics from the Sixties (Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising," The Animals' "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place," and The Youngbloods' "Get Together"), and Seventies (Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," John Lennon's "Isolation," and Elton John's "Where To Now, St. Peter") to gems of a more recent vintage like "War Of Man" by Neil Young and "Jackson" by Lucinda Williams. Hope & Glory concludes with one heartbreakingly moving new song written by Ann herself, "Little Problems, Little Lies," yet one listen to the album demonstrates that Wilson has made each of the songs here very much her own and utterly relevant to our world today.

"Just about every single song was a complete thrill for me to sing because at some point I was a kid out there loving them, or a young adult loving them, or in a few cases a grown-up loving them," Wilson explains. As for the powerful ways the songs on Hope & Glory resonate with current events, Wilson says, "The thing is, I've been itching to make some sort of comment about our times, but I didn't want to do it in a way that was really abrasive and just shouting for the sake of shouting. I wanted to bring people some of the most beautiful poetry from different eras when they were facing a similar predicament and apply it to now."

The thematic way that Hope & Glory addresses matters of war and peaces gives the album a coherence and passion missing from the vast majority of cover albums. "Most people don't really succeed with cover albums because they just try and redo the songs," says Wilson. "I was so lucky to work with Ben Mink because he would never just do that or settle for that."

Hope & Glory - recorded in Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, New York, Nashville and Las Vegas - also features impressive guest turns from an eclectic group of high profile artists, including Elton John, Gretchen Wilson, k.d. lang, label mate Alison Krauss, Wynonna, Shawn Colvin, Deana Carter, and Rufus Wainwright. In addition to those special guests, Ann's sister and longtime musical partner in Heart, Nancy Wilson, makes a number of appearances on assorted tracks, as do two current members of Heart, drummer Ben Smith and bassist Ric Markmann and a number of players who had worked with Ben Mink on many of his projects.

Hope & Glory - Track Listing:

1. "Goodbye Blue Sky" with Nancy Wilson (Written by Roger Waters - Popular version by Pink Floyd)
2. "Where to now St. Peter" with Elton John (John/Taupin - Elton John)[3]
3. "Jackson" with k.d. lang (Leiber/Wheeler - Lucinda Williams)
4. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" with Wynonna Judd (Mann/Weil - The Animals)
5. "Immigrant Song" (Page/Plant - Led Zeppelin))[3]
6. "Darkness, Darkness" with Nancy Wilson (Jesse Colin Young - The Youngbloods)
7. "Bad Moon Rising" with Gretchen Wilson (Fogerty - Creedence Clearwater Revival)
8. "War of Man" with Alison Krauss (Neil Young)
9. "Get Together" with Nancy Wilson, Deana Carter & Wynonna Judd (Powers - The Youngbloods)
10. "Isolation" (Lennon)
11. "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" with Rufus Wainwright & Shawn Colvin (Dylan)
12. "Little Problems, Little Lies" (Ann Wilson)

Purchase Ann Wilson's fab solo CD, Hope and Glory, and support The Sound Cellar.

Heart - Ann and Nancy Wilson - Artist of the Month

Great New Album From Heart
The rock and roll classic album, Dreamboat Annie, is
performed live in it's entirety plus classic rock encores

(Click to go to Heart's Official website)

On April 17, 2007, the iconic rock group Heart took the stage at The Orpheum Theatre in front of a live audience to perform their spectacular debut album Dreamboat Annie in its entirety for the first time, for a DIRECTV special. Dreamboat Annie is the first release in Shout! Factory’s new DVD/CD series “Legendary Albums Live™,” which will feature unforgettable bands performing their quintessential albums live, in sequence, and in their entirety. Dreamboat Annie, released in 1976, was the foundation of Heart’s legacy and went on to sell over 3 million copies. Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, the creative spark behind Heart, wrote all of the songs on the album, including the hits “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man.” As part of the “Legendary Albums Live™” program, fans of the band will also be treated to rousing renditions of songs by The Who and Led Zeppelin, and an interview with the band in which they will put the album in historical context.

CD/DVD Track Listing

1. Magic Man
2. Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)
3. Crazy on You
4. Soul of the Sea
5. Dreamboat Annie
6. White Lightning and Wine
7. (Love Me Like Music) I’ll Be Your Song
8. Sing Child
9. How Deep It Goes
10. Dreamboat Annie (Reprise)

Encores

11. Mistral Wind (Originally from the Heart album Dog and Butterfly)
12. Goodbye Blue Sky (Originally by Pink Floyd)
13. Black Dog (Originally by Led Zeppelin)
14. Misty Mountain Hop (Originally by Led Zeppelin)
15. Love, Reign O’er Me (Originally by The Who)

Purchase Heart's great new CD and DVD from the Sound Cellar and support our broadcast!

Kelly Sweet - We Are One

The Sound Cellar is now featuring tracks from Kelly Sweet's fab new album "We Are One."

About Kelly:

You know the feeling. We’ve all had it. Chills run up and down your spine, and the hair stands up on the back of your neck. The reaction is so strong, you can actually feel it moving through your body.

Somehow - and it is inexplicable - the melding of voice, talent, words, and melody have come together to create a sublime moment. It’s as if the singer was privy to your most intimate thoughts and feelings. A deep connection is forged between listener and vocalist: you have become soul mates. The pleasure - the feeling of oneness - is so intense, you listen over and over. Such is the experience of hearing 18-year-old singer Kelly Sweet for the first time. The opening “oohs” of “We Are One,” the title track from her debut album coming from Razor & Tie in March 2007, stop you dead in your tracks. Hushed and hymn-like, Sweet’s voice creates a lush world of beauty. Fittingly, the song’s lyrics urge listeners to take comfort in the community of all souls. “I am you, you are me, we are one,” Sweet sings in her supernaturally crystalline voice. Simple words imbued with the uncommon wisdom of a singer who seems to have lived a thousand lifetimes in her short time on earth.

Read more at Kelly-Sweet.com.

You can support The Sound Cellar
by purchasing Kelly's new CD from
Amazon by clicking on the link below.

Lucinda Williams - West

We're featuring tracks from Lucinda Williams' new album West. Check it out, it's a wonderful record.

Thanks!

You can support The Sound Cellar's broadcast by purchasing West from this link to Amazon.

John Hammond's New Album "Push Comes To Shove"

John Hammond is February's featured artist.

2007 from Back Porch Records

It’s a precious few artists who reinvent themselves at the age of 64, but blues luminary John Hammond proves himself the ultimate untraditional traditionalist as the dozen stellar songs on Push Comes To Shove illustrate. Produced by G Love (the innovative and soulful Philly singer/guitarist and longtime Hammond fanatic), Push Comes To Shove is a dynamic step up from In Your Arms Again, Hammond’s 2005 effort. Push Comes To Shove marks an increased output in Hammond’s original compositions - he penned five of the CD’s 12 songs - and there’s a bold collaboration with Dutton in the hip hop-tinged blues of “Tore Down” as well as a handful of personalized renderings of traditional blues numbers, a musical modus operandi that has earned Hammond multiple Grammy nominations since his 1962 self-titled Vanguard Records debut. Since that bow, Hammond has made 31 records, often touring year-round, learning from and playing with musical greats and friends including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Duane Allman, Michael Bloomfield, J.J. Cale, Tom Waits, The Band and many, many others. Those unparalleled experiences and authenticity shine through brightly on Push Comes To Shove.

Producer G Love who counts Hammond as one of his own main musical influences, and was still in high school when he first snuck into a club to see his idol live, was beyond thrilled when the call came to produce Push Comes To Shove. And he knew what he wanted from Hammond: “My objective was for him to include more originals,” says G Love. “In 30 records, he hadn’t done any writing until a few years ago. [Hammond’s first original composition appeared on 2003’s Ready For Love, he then penned two more original songs on 2005’s In Your Arms Again]. There are now five of John’s songs on this record and the title track is quintessential John Hammond. To me, it symbolizes what the record is about. It's raw, it's dirty, it's blues, but it still has a funky edge to it.”

Hammond’s wife Marla, who executive produced the album, is a big inspiration for and booster of her husband’s original material, though Hammond says humbly, “I’m new at songwriting; I’m just getting the hang of it. I recently discovered this aspect of myself. I was always a little bit intimidated writing songs because I knew so many people who wrote so well and it just flowed through them. For me, I knew so many great songs; I didn’t feel my calling was necessarily songwriting. That said, the last few years, thanks to coaxing from Marla, I’ve found my voice and it’s been delightful.” Of the songs he chooses to record, Hammond explains, “I don’t like the word ‘cover.’ It doesn’t resound in my brain. When you do a song, you make it your own. The songs I chose to go along with the tunes I wrote for Push Comes To Shove were songs I felt I could make my own and add my dimension to. Some are traditional -- there’s one by Junior Wells (“Come On In This House”) and Little Walter (“Everything Gonna Be Alright”); artists I’ve worked with and admired. I got all inside of these songs. I’ve been a blues singer for 44 years; I’ve recorded so many songs, and sung so many titles, I’ve absorbed a lot of the genre.”

And he’s absorbed straight from the source. Of the album’s title and title track, Hammond says: “I worked on and off for years with a drummer named Charles Otis, a musician who played with Little Richard and Frogman Henry; a real New Orleans cat. Charles had all these expressions and ‘isms,’ and he was a true mentor. He’d say stuff like ‘I’m a very nice person but when push comes to shove, I can be extremely dangerous.’” Several of those Otis phrases inspired titles to songs on Push Comes To Shove. Hammond gives major credit to his band for the stellar sound and feel of the songs on Push Comes To Shove. “The band we put together, Stephen Hodges on drums, Marty Ballou on bass -- I’ve recorded and toured with them, we’re a tight unit. We added Bruce Katz on piano and organ; he’s a gem who has added all these extra dynamics, he’s the newest member. It was terrific to have all these guys in the same room and everyone admiring everyone else. That’s the way it’s supposed to be; when you feel good about your playing and your ideas and everybody is on the same page. And Garrett Dutton, [aka G Love] was certainly no slouch! We had the ingredients for doing exactly what we hoped to do. Marla’s idea of using G Love as producer really had a ring to it.”

You can read the rest of the story about the album here.

A Country Boy Can Survive

Hank Williams Jr. is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of his classic track "A Country Boy Can Survive" with a remastered and remixed version of the song. This legendary cut is as relevant today as it was when written back in 1981 and remains a staple on radio. The song and artist bridge generations -- in just 4 weeks, it has generated 250,000 plays on MySpace. A video for the song had never been shot -- until now --and is set to premiere on CMT in mid-January.

The Sound Cellar is pleased to announce that "A Country Boy Can Survive" is being featured on its broadcast.