Juliana, announcing the sale of two new t-shirts at julianahatfield.com:
I won't be touring my new "Juliana Hatfield sings Olivia Newton-John" album, so we won't be selling them on the road.
Orders are now being taken on her official site:
Here's a set of photos by David Young taken at last weekend's Hot Stove Cool Music event at Boston's Paradise Rock Club.
With Freda Love Smith on drums, Juliana peformed a set featuring Some Girls songs together with a preview of her upcoming Olivia Newton-John tribute album. UPDATE - with thanks to Charlie P, here's the full set list:
- Necessito
- Feel It
- Robot City
- Poor Man's You
- Wonder Why
- Short-Fingered Man
- Physical
- Magic
- A Little More Love
- Xanadu
Thanks as always to David (Dry Eye Photography) for sharing his work here.
There's further photos of the event by Joshua Pickering at Innocent Words and a short review with a photo at the Boston Globe.
Prior to the concert, Juliana spoke to Jay N Miller for The Patriot Ledger, where she touched upon the new album:
“I’m not able to conceptualize going in a particular direction, I just have ideas and follow them,” Hatfield explained. “When I have ideas, I make them come to life. I keep moving and keep working. You have to keep working - you’re only here a short time and you have to be open to new possibilities. The idea of doing an Olivia Newton-John record popped in my head, so I went and did it. Unconsciously, I guess it might have been a reaction against the feelings surrounding ‘Pussycat,’ which were disturbed and full of anger. You could see it as the pendulum swinging back. I just wanted to do something that felt good.”
Juliana also talked to Brett Milano for the Boston Herald:
“It’s hard to say why I like her, but I’ve always had a visceral reaction. Something about the sound of her voice and the melodies really hits a pleasure center in my brain,” Hatfield said. “I think there’s also an innocence about her that I’ve always related to. In most of the relationships I’ve had in my life, I tend to be drawn to complicated, troubled people. I saw something in her that was different from that, so I felt an affinity — she was more like the light in the darkness. Her songs are really gorgeous and sweet, and they match my affinity for melodic pop songs, but she acknowledges that there is a dark side.”
Hatfield conceived of the album after a Newton-John concert she’d planned to attend last year was canceled due to the singer’s illness. She’s made the album a partial benefit for Newton-John’s cancer foundation, and received a nice tweet from her in response.
“I really appreciated the welcome from her camp, but I really did this for myself. I love the songs and wanted to record them. That’s really the only reason I ever do anything I do. But I didn’t know how many chords she has in her songs. In terms of their being impressive and challenging to play, there’s some pretty sick songwriting going on there.”
Juliana's new video and first song from her upcoming Olivia Newton-John covers album is released today, via a premiere at npr music.
It was filmed and directed by David Doobinin in NYC, and as this Instagram post from a couple of weeks ago shows there's another one to come:
Juliana has announced her new album of Olivia Newton-John covers. Marvellous!
It will be released on April 13, 2018, via American Laundromat Records, titled "Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John".
Juliana:
I have never not loved Olivia Newton-John. Her music has brought me so much pure joy throughout my life. I loved her when I was a child and I love her still. Her voice and her positive energy and her melodies have stood the test of time and they give me as much pleasure now as they ever did. Listening to her is an escape into a beautiful place. She has inspired me so much personally and I just wanted to give something back; to share some of these tremendous songs, reinterpreted, with love, by me
American Laundromat Records:
One dollar from the sale of every album will be donated to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre (ONJ Centre), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing patients with cancer access to leading medical treatment, breakthrough research, and the best in wellness and supportive care.
Artwork
Track List:
- I Honestly Love You
- Suspended In Time
- Have You Never Been Mellow
- A Little More Love
- Magic
- Physical
- Totally Hot
- Don't Stop Believin'
- Please Mr. Please
- Hopelessly Devoted To You
- Xanadu
- Dancin' 'Round And 'Round
- Make A Move On Me
- I Honestly Love You (Reprise)*
*Track 14 is not on the vinyl LP but included on the digital download card.
Bonus 7-Inch Track List
- Deeper Than The Night
- Heart Attack
Availability
The release date is scheduled for April 13, 2018.
Vinyl, CD, and Cassette versions are available via a multitude of ordering options at American Laundromat Records, with some options also available through Cargo Records UK.
Original Olivia Songs
Here are unofficial Apple Music and Spotify playlists of all but one of the original Olivia songs Juliana is covering. (I made this using songs licensed for streaming in the UK. Hopefully they'll work worldwide)
American Laundromat Records:
We cannot be more excited to reissue Juliana Hatfield's debut album "Hey Babe" on vinyl to celebrate its 25th Anniversary. We took great care to have our friend and long-time collaborator, Sean Glonek at SRG Studios newly master from the original 1/4" analog tapes. The artwork has been recreated from the original LP art but with a little twist thanks to the skill and creativity of award-winning designer, Aaron Tanner of Melodic Virtue. This exclusive limited-edition pressing, in a single-pocket gatefold jacket, was pressed by hand at Burlington Record Plant in Burlington, VT.
Pressing Information:
Mystery Wild Card Color Vinyl (50 pressed) Label Exclusive
Clear Vinyl (100 pressed) Label Exclusive
Translucent Green Vinyl (175 pressed) Label Exclusive
Virgin Black Vinyl (325 pressed)
Translucent "Amethyst" Purple Vinyl (350 pressed)*Please know due to licensing restrictions, we are unable to include digital downloads.
Artwork
Availability
The release date is scheduled for March 23, 2018.
There are all sorts of ordering options based around the aforementioned colours at American Laundromat Records.
Also, Cargo Records (UK) are offering the translucent purple version.
Juliana Hatfield performing at Hot Stove Cool Music in January 2015. Photo © David Young
Mark Shanahan, for the Boston Globe reporting on an upcoming live appearance on February 3, 2018 at Boston's Paradise Rock Club, and a return to an event Juliana played in 2015:
...the benefit for Paul and Theo Epstein’s Foundation to Be Named Later will no doubt be a rocking good time. The show, which takes place Feb. 3 at the Paradise, will feature performances by Juliana Hatfield, Band of Their Own (including Kay Hanley and members of Belly and the Blake Babies), former Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo, and Peter Gammons and the Hot Stove All Stars featuring former Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams and Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper.
Jan 1, 2018 - New York City, NY - City Winery (opening for Joseph Arthur)
Thursday last week saw the first of 3 consecutive nights at Paradise Rock Club, Boston where Blake Babies opened for Letters to Cleo.
Photos courtesy of David Young of Dry Eye Photography.
There are also photos at Vanyaland and YouTube clips across all nights including Out There, Girl In A Box, Baby Gets High, and Star.
Video bumpers for St. Louis local access cable program "Velocity", filmed behind Mississippi Nights, 1995.
Thanks to Carlos for spotting that this random vintage clip was recently uploaded to YouTube
John P Strohm has a new job:
The music industry is changing almost daily with technological advancements, social media and the shifting population of music fans, and no one knows that better than John Strohm. Strohm, a former Birmingham resident and graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford, recently was named president of Rounder Records in Nashville, after years as a musician himself and an entertainment lawyer. But Strohm made a name for himself musically as a member of bands such as the Lemonheads, Blake Babies and Antenna, and help launch the careers of some of today's most successful musicians - including Alabama Shakes, Sturgill Simpson and the Civil Wars.
Patch caught up with Strohm to discuss his new gig as a record executive, what brought him here, and where music is headed as an industry.
Beautiful performances of Choose Drugs and Christmas Cactus here.
Via Tracy Bonham's official YouTube:
Tracy Bonham and Juliana Hatfield practice Tom Petty's Wildflowers backstage at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY Oct 11, 2017 accompanied by Wesley Stace
Juliana has announced that she will be appearing with Wesley Stace over three nights on October, performing "mostly solo and acoustic." One is as support and the other two are multi artist "Cabinet of Wonders" variety shows which have previously seen Juliana perform maybe a couple of songs.
Also, there's three Blake Babies shows coming up in November, opening for Letters to Cleo at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Yay!
"Mostly Solo Acoustic" Performances
October 2017
11 Hudson, NY - Club Helsinki (Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders - appearing with Charles Bock, Tracy Bonham, Dave Hill, Stephen Merritt, Suzzy Roche)
12 Ardmore, PA - The Ardmore Music Hall (opening for Wesley Stace)
13 New York City, NY - City Winery (Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders - appearing with Eric Andersen, Dave Hill, Stephen Merritt, Eugene Mirman, David Myles, Aparna Nancherla, Annalee Newitz)
Blake Babies Performances
November 2017
16 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (opening for Letters to Cleo)
17 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (opening for Letters to Cleo)
18 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (opening for Letters to Cleo)
The same trio recorded Pussycat just 7 months ago. Intriguing.
Here's a set of David Young's photos from last weekend's Bowery Ballroom show in New York, where Juliana, Todd and Dean co-headlined with Jesse Malin.
Thanks as ever to David who now has a site to showcase his concert photography at dryeyephotography.com.
Juliana, interviewed by Emile Menasché for Premier Guitar:
> “Touch You Again” and “When You’re a Star” have very distinctive riffs. Were they part of the song from the beginning?
Riffs usually come later. On “When You’re a Star,” we had the guitar and bass recorded. Then with that riff, it was like a light bulb going on over my head—I ran into the tracking room and recorded it. That happens a lot. The song will be recorded and I’ll hear a riff, melodically, in my head. I just have to transfer it from my brain onto the guitar.
> Do the vocal melodies come first?
Not always. Sometimes songs start with just chord progressions. But usually, once I have any kind of chord progression, the melody comes also. I often have melodies written ahead of the lyrics, which makes lyric writing more difficult because I have to fit them into these melodies.
I’ll get attached to sounds and then it takes a while for me to wrench my brain away from that and realize it’s okay to get unstuck. There were a couple of songs on the album where I was really stuck. “Everything Is Forgiven” moves around a lot. It was hard to fit words into that melody.
Sometimes I have a title and a melody, and I’m like “I’ve gotta get this goddam title in there!” “When You’re a Star” had to use those words: “When you’re a star, they let you.” It was like a puzzle. I figured out the only way to make it work was to change the order of the words around.
It's an excellent article split over 3 pages that covers many aspects of the Pussycat recording process from studio setup, guitar tuning, and song construction.
Also, given a little time has passed there's some retrospective thoughts on the lyrics and themes of the songs.
Juliana's acoustic session for WFUV recorded back in April is now available to watch and listen at:
www.wfuv.org/content/juliana-hatfield-2017
The songs are There's Always Another Girl, Touch You Again, and Wonder Why.