With her new Change in the Weather: Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty, the Grammy-nominated artist is at the nexus of re-invention and tradition. The album, to be released on September 13, 2019 by Blue Élan Records, reframes 12 songs curated from the Creedence Clearwater Revivalleader's catalog in Magness' soaring, soul-centered style. She follows a lineage of classic singers who have made albums devoted to exploring the work of a single writer within the Great American Songbook-such historic recordings as Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwinand Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.
First single, the title track "Change in the Weather," is available now. Listen
HERE.
Explaining how the concept for an album of iconic Fogerty covers came about, Magness said, "Kirk Pasich, the founder of Blue Élan, suggested that we record 'Long As I Can See the Light,' and I loved bringing myself to that song, so it was a natural evolution to Change in the Weather.
John Fogerty is a brilliant writer. His material is very rich and provides a real highway into the heart of his songs, which is wonderful for me as a singer. Their backbone is his storytelling, which is spare and direct, and absolutely American in its imagery and themes. And those themes endure."
Magness once again collaborated with Grammy-nominated producer Dave
Darling on this, her fifteenth album. Exploring Fogerty's songbook; from the familiar Creedence hits "Bad Moon Rising" and "Lodi" which is reimagined here as a blues-rock workout with a nod to
Memphis soul and features Los Angeles-based Outlaw Country singer-songwriter Sam Morrow. All the way to numbers from Fogerty's solo career, like the title cut and "Don't You Wish It Was True," which appears here as a duet with triple-Grammy-winner and American music icon Taj Mahal.
It was on the 2016Grammy-nominated Love Wins Again when Magness decided to include that passionate version of Fogerty's gospel-fueled "Long As I Can See the Light." That album continued her emergence as a songwriter, which began with 2014's Originaland came into full bloom with 2018's Love Is an Army. It followed a 2017 EP, Blue Again, on which Magness, who has won seven Blues Music Awards including B.B. KingEntertainer of the Year, and received 28 nominations, returned to her roots with a collection of songs from that genre's back pages. Notably she is only the second woman, following blues giant Koko Taylor, to receive the
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award. It was presented to her at the
Memphis ceremonies by King himself and Bonnie Raitt.
"One of the things I love about this album is that people already connect with so many of these songs," Magness observes."I connect with these songs. And for me, connecting with people is one of the reasons I love to sing ... I have to sing. I know we're really all part of one big community and, at the heart of everything that unites and divides us, we still have so much in common and so much that we can share. If music like this can bring us all together a little more, then I'm more than happy to be a vehicle for it."Lessons for a beautiful life, hard learned by Magness.
Although Magness is already in the midst of a creative roll, releasing an album annually and touring the world, 2019 promises to be another banner year. In addition to creating Change in the Weather:
Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty, she is publishing her highly anticipated memoir, Weeds Like Us, in June. While the albums showcase Magness' immense musical talent, Weeds Like Usexplains why she says that "Blues is a lot more than my vocation. It's been my salvation." She lost both parents to suicide as a child and was placed in a dozen foster homes. But, inspired by the encouragement of her final foster mother and a galvanizing performance by the legendary bluesman Otis Rush, she found stability and salvation-and, ultimately, triumph-in music.
Track Listing - Change in the Weather:
Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty:
1. Change In The Weather
2. Lodi (featuring Sam Morrow)
3. Someday Never Comes
4. Wrote A Song For Everyone
5. Don't You Wish It Was True (featuring Taj Mahal)
6. Have You Ever Seen The Rain
7. Bad Moon Rising
8. Blueboy
9. Fortunate Son
10. Déjà Vu (All Over Again)
11. A Hundred And Ten In The Shade
12. Lookin' Out My Back Door
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