JD Souther To Release Tenderness On May 12

Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, iconic musician and actor JD Souther releases his new album Tenderness via Sony Music Masterworks. Produced by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Herbie Hancock), the album will be available on May 12, 2015 and supported by select tour dates across the country and internationally.

JD Souther is both a legendary and mysterious figure in American popular music," says Chuck Mitchell, SVP of Sony Music Masterworks. "He's a self-described 'classicist' who, in his new work, draws a through line between the first great songbook of Porter, Kern, etc., and his own generation's massive impact on the art of the song. The result is an album that brings a new and fresh perspective to this amazing singer-songwriter's contributions."

Now there are many ways to listen to music, and my intention is, as always, that each song tell its own story," adds Souther.  "However, Tenderness is designed as a set.  I invite you to enjoy it this way."

JD Souther proves once again why he's an American treasure," says Irving Azoff, the music industry icon whose company manages Souther. On Tenderness, Souther balances his pop and jazz sensibilities paying particular homage to his earliest influences, the geniuses of the 20th Century Great American Songbook, while maintaining the signature qualities that have made him one of the true contemporary giants of American song. Souther is best known penning countless hits for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, James Taylor, Don Henley, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks and Dunn and others; while establishing a cult following as a performer with the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band and as a solo artist.

As an actor, he has appeared in the TV Shows Thirtysomething and Nashville, among others. A passionate animal lover and advocate, JD is also involved with Best Friends Animal Society.

Track Listing:
   • Come What May   

   • Something in the Dark   

   • This House   

   • Let's Take a Walk   

   • Dance Real Slow   

   • Show Me What You Mean   

   • Horses in Blue   

   • Need Somebody   

   • Downtown (Before The War) 

Linda Ronstadt's Duets Scheduled For April 8 Release

Rhino Records is bringing together 14 of Linda Ronstadt's biggest collaborations with the likes of Aaron Neville, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, Dolly Parton and James Ingram along with a previously unreleased collaboration with Laurie Lewis, for a new collection that was created with help from Ronstadt and her longtime manager, John Boylan.  Duets will be available on April 8.

The album will arrive just days before Ronstadt is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10. The honor recognizes her role as a pioneering female artist and pays tribute to her exceptional musical legacy, which has earned 12 Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and one Emmy. Last year, Ronstadt released her best-selling memoir Simple Dreams and also revealed that she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which left her unable to sing.

Several songs on this collection are also Grammy winners. Ronstadt won her first in 1976 for a cover of Hank Williams’ “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)” that featured Emmylou Harris and appeared on what many consider her masterwork, Heart Like a Wheel (1974). Another Grammy-winner featured on Duets is “Somewhere Out There,” which Ronstadt recorded with James Ingram in 1986 for the soundtrack to An American Tail.

Duets also includes two of her most successful collaborations, both of which feature Aaron Neville. The Grammy-winning songs “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life” originally appeared on Ronstadt’s triple-platinum album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind (1989).  In 1976, she and Don Henley sang the Warren Zevon-penned track “Hasten Down The Wind,” which was the title track to Ronstadt’s Grammy-winning, #1 album. It was her third consecutive million-selling album, an accomplishment no other female artist had achieved at that point.

Duets also spotlights a number of Ronstadt’s more recent collaborations, like “Sisters” with Bette Midler, which appeared on Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook (2003). That same year, Ronstadt partnered with Carl Jackson on “The New Partner Waltz,” for the Grammy-winning tribute album Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: Song of the Louvin Brothers. Duets also includes three tracks from Adieu False Heart – a Grammy-nominated album Ronstadt recorded in 2006 with Cajun-music singer Ann Savoy – including a cover of the 1966 hit, “Walk Away Renée.”

Track Listing
1.                  “Adieu False Heart” with Ann Savoy
2.                  “I Can’t Get Over You” with Ann Savoy
3.                  “Walk Away Renee” with Ann Savoy
4.                  “The New Partner Waltz” with Carl Jackson
5.                  “I Never Will Marry” with Dolly Parton
6.                  “Pretty Bird” with Laurie Lewis*
7.                  “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)” with Emmylou Harris
8.                  “Hasten Down The Wind” with Don Henley
9.                  “Prisoner In Disguise” with J.D. Souther
10.               “I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” with James Taylor
11.               “Don’t Know Much” with Aaron Neville
12.               “All My Life” with Aaron Neville
13.               “Somewhere Out There” with James Ingram
14.               “Sisters” with Bette Midler
15.               “Moonlight In Vermont” with Frank Sinatra

Country Music News Updates On Tim Robbins, Shania Twain, JD Souther, Suzy Bogguss and Alabama

This Friday morning, there is more country music news around the web than I am able to do complete stories on, so I'm going to give some teasers and then send you to some other sites for some more details. Usually, we'll do full stories on such items, but we didn't want these pieces of information to go unannounced.

* Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins has signed with 429 Records and will release his album, Tim Robbins And The Rogues Gallery Band, on July 19. You can read a little more about the project HERE or view his website at http://www.timrobbins.net/.

* After getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this week, Shania Twain's next trick will be releasing her first single in over six years during the finale of her Oprah Winfrey Network show Why Not With Shania Twain. It's titled "Today Is Your Day."

* JD Souther may not be a mainstream country radio name today, but ask any songwriter and he's placed there up with the greats. He was the pen behind many of the great hits by the Eagles and has other cuts by acts like the Dixie Chicks and Trisha Yearwood just to name two. More recently, he co-wrote with the boys from One Flew South on their album Last of the Good Guys. Souther has a brand new album called Natural History and it features his own interpretations of many of his greatest hits.

* It's been WAY too long since we heard new music from Suzy Bogguss- good news is that wait is over. Bogguss has a new CD and companion Songbook that will be released on July 18, 2011 at all Cracker Barrel Country Stores. This looks like a serious keeper.

Folk songs are the scrapbook of the American experience, but as music education fades from our public schools, she worried; these beautiful melodies are in danger of being overlooked. She resolved to record these timeless songs in an updated but reverent way.

The hardcover, 96-page book is filled with illustrations, fascinating historical stories about the songs, easy to read sheet music arrangements for piano, voice and guitar as well as personal insights and anecdotes from Bogguss

* In an interview with Bradenton.com, Alabama member Jeff Cook reveals tentative plans for an Alabama reunion tour and possibly even an album into 2012.

We’re talking about doing maybe 20 shows next year,” said Alabama cofounder, singer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Cook during a recent phone interview. “I feel sure that if we do dates we’ll have a recording to go with it,”