Rise

Format

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  BELLA534VLong Player  £18.00
  X

  Limited Blue Vinyl

Label

Bella Union

Karl Blau

Introducing Karl Blau

It all started with cutting a 7# single, a cover of the 1969 Tom T. Hall hit #That#s How I Got to Memphis#. Blau, whom Martine had come to know from sessions with Laura Veirs among others, asked if he could try singing it. #I knew what a special artist Karl was, but I had no idea what a powerful interpreter of songs he was,# Martine says. The collaboration, pairing Blau#s deeply sonorous voice with Martine#s warm, modern arrangements, recast the Nashville hit in a new light. #He was able to communicate the essence of the song in such a moving way that we started dreaming of making a whole record based around our excitement for that collaboration.# The result was the single and, now, Introducing Karl Blau. Martine and Blau worked for years on shaping the narrative of the record. #I feel like I am starring in this country-western movie, written and produced by Tucker, and it tells a story,# says Blau. A sense of emergence from the shadows of loss, loneliness, infidelity, and melancholy runs throughIntroducing Karl Blau. #We#ve threaded a story through the record,# says Blau. #My character is moving through this dark place, but there is always this light of hope.# The record, all covers, is a crate-digger#s feast of forgotten hits and deeper cuts most of them from the Nashville country-soul renaissance in the late 1960s and early 70s # Tom T. Hall, Bobby Bond, Allen Reynolds. Other songs are from the Bee Gees (To Love Somebody), Link Wray (Fallin# Rain), or Townes Van Zandt (If I Needed You). The project was a labour of love for Martine, the son of a Nashville songwriter who grew up listening to many of these songs. As for the title, Introducing Karl Blau, Martine says #In spite of Karl#s prolific catalog of records I still feel that not nearly enough people have had the opportunity to hear this man. With any luck this album will help change that.#

Tracklist

• 1. That’s How I Got To Memphis
  2. Six White Horses
  3. Fallin' Rain
  4. Let The World Go By
  5. If I Needed You
  6. Woman (Sensuous Woman)
  7. Dreaming My Dreams
  8. To Love Somebody
  9. Homecoming
  10. No Regrets