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According to a press release that apparently went out to every media outlet in the world today, Dallas’ own Norah Jones has a new album coming out in November–her fourth overall, and first in two years. After the jump, the press release in full, since it features some Jones quotes on the new, as-yet-untitled release, as well as updates on what she’s been up to in the past two years.
No mention of El Madmo, though, oddly enough. Oh well.
Anyway, before you jump, here’s something of note: Among the songwriters pitching in to help Jones on this one are Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff.
NORAH
JONES TO RELEASE BRAND-NEW ALBUM ON BLUE NOTE RECORDS IN NOVEMBER
2009
Produced by Jacquire King, Album Features New Band Members and
Songwriting Collaborations with Ryan Adams, Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, and
Jesse Harris
August 20, 2009 — New York, NY — Multiple Grammy Award-winning singer and
songwriter Norah Jones will release
her fourth studio album on Blue Note Records this November. Jones wrote nearly
all of the songs in the past two years since completing tours in support of her
2007 global chart-topping, U.S. double-platinum album Not Too Late.
Beloved by fans for her sultry vocals and jazz-informed, piano-driven pop
songwriting, Jones has taken a new direction on the as-yet-untitled album,
seeing it as a chance to experiment with different sounds and an opportunity to
work with a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer
and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and Modest Mouse
among others. Jones also enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including
Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partner
Jesse Harris.“I knew I wanted to try some different things on this album,” Jones says.
“I’d been playing with the same musicians for a long time. We’re all still
friendly and I hope we play together again, but it felt like a good time to work
with new people and experiment with different sounds. As far as a producer, I
wanted someone who could take me out of my comfort zone and find the right
musicians to capture what I wanted to do with this collection of songs. I got in
touch with Jacquire initially because he engineered one of my favorite records
of all time, Tom Waits’ Mule
Variations. He was really eager to do it and we got along really well, which
was important.”
King helped Jones put together a new group of musicians to perform on the
album, including drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill
Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc
Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer).
Jones and King tailored the songs to the musicians’ strengths. “I think the
record sounds different due to the variety of musicians we used,” Jones says, “I
knew I wanted to play with grooves more than I have on previous albums. Some of
these new songs lent themselves to having driving rhythms
underneath.”Another noticeable change on Jones’ upcoming album is that she plays
mostly guitar. “I actually write more on guitar than I do on piano,” she says.
“It just felt more natural for me to play it on these songs.”
Since coming on the scene in 2002, Jones’ has sold a collective 36
million albums worldwide. Her three studio albums, 2002’s eight-time Grammy
Award-winning Come Away With Me,
2004’s Feels Like Home, and 2007’s Not Too Late have each topped the Billboard top 200 album charts in the
U.S. and gone to No. 1 around the world. All three have been certified
multi-platinum, while Come Away With
Me has been certified diamond. Since 2007, Jones has collaborated with a
number of artists, including Herbie Hancock, Talib Kweli, Willie Nelson, Q-Tip,
Irma Thomas, and Andy Samberg’s comedy troupe The Lonely Island. She has also
contributed to various soundtracks, including Ken Burns’ The War, Ethan Hawke’s The Hottest State, and Wong Kar-wai’s My Blueberry Nights, as well as the Fats
Domino tribute album Goin’ Home. In
2007, Jones starred opposite Jude Law in My Blueberry Nights and made a cameo in
this year’s season finale of 30 Rock.
Also this year, Jones was featured as a flagship artist on Apple’s GarageBand,
presenting a tutorial on how to perform her song “Thinking About You.”
More details about Norah Jones’ upcoming album will be announced
soon.
