Esteemed musician, songwriter and author *Rodney Crowell* has teamed up
with *New West Records* to release *Tarpaper Sky*, his new
self-produced album on *April 15, 2014*. *Tarpaper Sky* comes on the heels
of *Old Yellow Moon*, Crowell’s critically lauded collaboration
with Emmylou Harris, which won the *2014 Grammy Award for Best Americana
Album* and was also named *2013 Album of the Year* by the Americana Music
Association.
Crowell has pushed the boundaries of country, folk and roots music 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. Celebrating 40
years of making music, Crowell has created an album that harkens back to
some of his most revered and loved works.
For *Tarpaper Sky*, Crowell assembled most of the players who graced
his breakthrough
album *Diamonds & Dirt *(1988). The album marks a reunion with his musical
accomplice *Steuart Smith*, who was an integral part of his overall sound
during the late ’80s. Together in one room, the musicians recorded
live-to-tape, sharing ideas and developing arrangements as a group.
Crowell called it *Tarpaper Sky*, an allusion to the rickety house with a
bad roof in which he spent much of his Houston childhood. The songs are
full of warmth and familiarity as if it were a favourite record you would
have worn out years ago. Highlights include the bittersweet “Long Journey
Home”, the lively “Fever on the Bayou” (the album’s radio focus track) and
the raucous barroom drive of “Frankie Please” that rocks like a jukebox
classic. As a whole, the songs on the album resonate with the themes
Crowell’s fans have come to expect – vivid characters, heartbreak, and the
unrelenting exploration of life’s lessons.
As one of the most admired songwriters in America, Crowell has had songs
covered by everyone from country legends (Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings,
George Straight), to today’s current country stars (Keith Urban, Tim
McGraw) as well as by rock (Bob Seeger) blues (Etta James) and even
electronic artists (Royksopp). He’s had songs in the top 10 in every decade
since the 1970s as an artist and a songwriter, and has balanced commercial
success as an artist by maintaining a high level of integrity. A two-time
Grammy Award winner, member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and
recipient of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the
Americana Music Association, Crowell continues to add to his body of work
and is as fresh, relevant and creative as ever.
