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| JONATHA BROOKE (THE WORKS: WOODY GUTHRIE) |
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| We are sorry but JONATHA BROOKE
is not due to perform for a while. |
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www.jonathabrooke.com
www.myspace.com/jonathabrooke
http://uk.youtube.com/jonathabrooke
www.last.fm/music/Jonatha+Brooke
www.wrasserecords.com/Jonatha_Brooke_120/biography.html
album ... THE WORKS ... out now!
On Saturday, February 14th, Jonatha joins Bob Harris on his BBC 2 radio program. The show airs at 11PM in London. If you miss it, the performance/interview will be available for listening for one week on the BBC2 site.
For more info:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bobharris/
THE WORKS is a very special record, with words by WOODY GUTHRIE...music by Jonatha...with help from Joe Sample, Steve Gadd and Christian McBride...guest appearances by Keb'Mo', Derek Trucks, Glen Phillips and Eric Bazilian.
The Works...
I don't think I've ever had such a creative high working on a record. I was inspired from the first trip to the Woody Guthrie Archives. Something magical happened and the melodies and the combinations of lyrics and prose just came together. I loved researching and hanging out with Nora, hearing stories about her dad. I definitely found a very different Guthrie than I expected. There is just so much nuance and beauty. And the musicians took the music beyond anything I could have dreamed. I know this record will speak to everyone.
The Works, Jonatha Brooke's seventh solo release, is a full-length album of previously unheard lyrics by Woody Guthrie, set to original music written and performed by Brooke. Brooke is one of a select group of artists to be invited into the Guthrie Archives to create new works from his vast collection of lyrics, prose, poetry and artwork. Brooke co-produced The Works with the legendary Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones). Recorded over a two-month period in New York City, several acclaimed musicians including keyboardist Joe Sample (Eric Clapton, B.B. King), bassist Christian McBride (Sting, Diana Krall), drummer Steve Gadd (Paul Simon, Eric Clapton), and steel guitarist Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Wilco), joined Brooke in the studio. The album features duets with artists Keb' Mo' on 'All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me'; Eric Bazilian on 'There's More True Lovers Than One' ; Glen Phillips on 'Sweetest Angel'; with a special guest appearance by Derek Trucks playing slide guitar on 'New Star.'
Jonatha Brooke: The Works(Wrasse)
Robin Denselow The Guardian
Friday 6 February 2009
Woody Guthrie died in 1967, but his influence on the US music scene is as great as ever. He was an extraordinary songwriter, tackling personal and political themes, but always mixing anger and outrage with optimism and good humour. Although his recording career ended in the late 40s, he kept writing during the years when he was too ill to perform, and his lyrics (though not the intended melodies) have been preserved in the Guthrie archives. Billy Bragg and Wilco
were invited to write new tunes for Woody's songs in the late 90s, and now it's the turn of singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke. She's backed by a batch of celebrated musicians including Joe Sample on keyboards and Steve Gadd on drums, with extra vocals from bluesman Keb' Mo'. The result is a sophisticated set, with none of Guthrie's (or Bragg's) rough edges, but the
lyrics make it special. Madonna On the Curb is a story of poverty, suffering and unexpected beauty, There's More True Lovers Than One is a thoughtful song of lost love that ends up like a Springsteen rock ballad, while My Battle is a slow, personal reflection with the chorus: "I will never dread the day I will die, 'cause my sunset is somebody's morning sky." There aren't too many lyrics like that.
BIOGRAPHY...
Jonatha Brooke's Musical career began in the late 80's with fellow songwriter Jennifer Kimball while at college. The pair later formed the band "The Story", and after writing their debut album "Grace in Gravity" the pair became signed to the label Elektra Records in the early 90's. The music at this point was predominantly Folk fused with Pop, but when Jonatha and Jennifer went their separate ways in 1994, Brooke started writing more commercially styled songs. She released a steady stream of albums throughout the 90's (Plumb, 10 Cent Wings, Steady Pull). Jonatha has also become well known in the music she contributed to, and played in the Disney film "Return to Never Land". In the film she covered the song "Second star to the right" and contributed to the song "Ill Try". 2008 Saw Jonatha develop her most ambitious project to date, an album called "The Works" in which Jonatha has exclusively taken lyrics from Woodie Guthrie's poems and songs. The alum features beautiful lyrical content, with a cast of respected jazz and rock musicians (Joe Sample, Christian McBride, Steve Gadd). The album is available from our site from 16th February. |
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