Grammy-award winning producer, songwriter and musician John McEuen has just announced his plans to release his sixth solo album titled Made In Brooklyn with Chesky Records. The 16-track collection of signature originals and songs from yesteryear was created in similar fashion to the landmark Will The Circle Be Unbroken and will appeal to all genres and all generations. Made In Brooklyn is scheduled for a release on 30th Sep., 2016.
Much like the iconic Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken album (initiated by McEuen in 1971), John convened an exceptional group of musicians in Brooklyn, all of whom have been instrumental in molding American Music in their own right. Together they created a “music-to-your-ears” audio feast purposefully produced to enable the listener an “in-studio experience.”
With the Circle projects, my brother Bill’s production method put all the players in a circle, with all the mics mixed live to two tracks. The highest quality method at the time. It made listeners feel like they were sitting in the front row of a small concert. The Chesky technology utilises just one special binaural mic and the performers circle around it; the listener feels like they’re in the band – John McEuen.
Made In Brooklyn, part of Chesky’s Binaural + Series, is poised to rank among the audiophiles’ top “must-have” recordings. Borrowing from an old-fashioned, live production method, all musicians were strategically positioned in a reverberant church (in Brooklyn, NY) for a single-pass recording. The live performances were captured in high-resolution (24-bit/192kHz) with the single “Dummy Head” microphone system, affectionately named “LARS.” (Lars’ ear microphones are specially calibrated to recreate the spatial characteristics of human hearing to offer a spacious, lush and multi-dimensional listening experience).
Put on a set of headphones and you’ll hear the three-dimensional sound Chesky recordings have become known for. Made In Brooklyn is exquisite; you’ll hear some of the most natural and pure cool music ever recorded. We’re extremely proud of John’s project as an example of musical perfection with the binaural process – Norman Chesky, President of Chesky Records.
Made In Brooklyn showcases signature originals (such as “Miner’s Night Out,” “Acoustic Traveller” and “Jule’s Theme,”) while paying homage to John’s roots with “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” (Flatt & Scruggs), “I Still Miss Someone,” (Johnny Cash), “She Darked The Sun” (Bernie Leadon/Gene Clark) and Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy.” The contemporary, fresh rendition of “Mr. Bojangles” (one of McEuen’s all-time favourite songs) spotlights David Bromberg’s vocal performance, Andy Goesling on clarinet and David Amram on flute. A special gem is “My Favorite Dream,” a never-heard nor recorded Felice and Boudleaux Bryant song brought to John by their son, Del Bryant. In McEuen’s opinion, “this is a tune that has been overlooked and will become a new classic standard.”
Just as the Circle album reached across lines of acoustic, Bluegrass and country, and appealed to folks from all walks of life, I believeMade In Brooklyn will too – John McEuen.
Making early introductions to the project, Chesky Records will release the debut single “Excitable Boy;” the track will be available via all major retail digital and streaming outlets on August 26, 2016.
Made In Brooklyn Features:
- John McEuen – producer, guitar/mandolin/banjo/fiddle/vocals
- David Bromberg – An icon on acoustic guitar and slide and other magical notes/vocals
- Steve Martin – Plays banjo on the Warren Zevon’s Dirty Life and Times
- David Amram – At 85, this American jazz/folk/classical treasure has recorded and performed
with everyone who’s anyone. David plays pennywhistle, flute and percussion - John Cowan – New Grass Revival’s lead vocalist, Cowan, is McEuen’s all-time favorite lead singer
- John Carter Cash – (Johnny and June’s son) The two Johns pay homage to his father with I Still Miss Someone
- Martha Redbone – Martha and John wrote the music for “I Rose Up,” a classic 1807 poem of England’s William Blake
- Jay Ungar – A fiddle virtuoso, composer of Ashoken’s Farewell
- Andy Goessling – Plays clarinet/mandolin/zither/sax/dobro; a member of Railroad Earth
- Matt Cartsonis – Matt’s acrobatic and acerbic vocals are the perfect match to his guitar and
mandola talents - Skip Ward – Dubbed the “top bass man” in the New York area
- Kevin Twigg – Plays drums and percussion
- Lars – Lars is all ears…
Made in Brooklyn will be available from 30th September 2016 via all major digital retail outlets and HD Tracks. Pre-sale begins 26th August 2016; purchasers who take advantage of the pre-order, will receive “Excitable Boy” as an instant gratification track.
About John McEuen:
Over the course of his 50-year career, multi-instrumental “String Wizard,” John McEuen has performed more than 9,500 concerts, covering more than three million miles globally with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and as a solo performer. McEuen has recorded over 40 albums (6 solo)–four platinum and five gold–garnering awards that include Grammys, Emmy nominations, CMA and ACM awards and IBMA Record of the Year honours. As a musician, McEuen has built a lasting legacy including his seminal work on the Will the Circle Be Unbroken album, recognised as “the most important record to come out of Nashville” (Rolling Stone) and “the most important record in country music” (2004 ZAGAT survey).
Beyond performing, McEuen has produced more than 300 concerts throughout his career (the first in 1965 in Long Beach Calif. with Bob Dylan). In 2010, his record production of The Crow (Steve Martin) won a Grammy for “Best Bluegrass Album.”
McEuen has a rich history in creating, producing and preserving original, traditional folk and acoustic music and taking it to new audiences. McEuen’s The Music of The Wild West was honoured with the Western Heritage Award; he scored a Grammy Award nomination for String Wizards II and earned the Uncle Dave Macon Award for “excellence in preservation and performance of historic music.”
John is show host of the popular “Acoustic Traveller” radio show on Sirius/XM’s The Bridge (now in its 8th year) and is the CEO of Syndicatednews.net, a music and political news website.
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