Paula Cole Announces US Tour Dates, New Album 'American Quilt' Out Now

Today, Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Paula Cole announced a run of US tour dates. Following the release of her acclaimed album American Quilt, the Grammy-winning songwriter and producer is embarking on a 23-date tour, beginning on August 8 at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and concluding at Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine on November 18. Twelve evenings will be a double bill with songwriter Madeleine Peyroux. Tickets are currently available for purchase here.

"I'm thrilled to share the road with Madeleine Peyroux who is a beautiful artist, someone who has lived her art and understands the insides of a song," writes Cole. "We are both celebrating our iconic albums, performing songs from 'This Fire' and 'Careless Love'. For my solo performances I'll highlight songs from American Quilt and hand-pick from my deep catalog. I look forward to reconnecting with my wonderful fans and meeting new listeners at these shows, as a communion that may help remind us of the importance of what we share.

Released in May, American Quilt has been acclaimed by outlets including Rolling Stone, USA Today, and No Depression. Forbes.com writes, "Cole is back with the powerful and gritty American Quilt..." American Songwriter also praised album writing, "Throughout, the 11-track collection contains the folkloric roots of American music. Cole's radiant vocals pull the underlying humanity of a nation divided."

Watch Cole's stunning live performance videos for "Wayfaring Stranger," "Black Mountain Blues," and "God's Gonna Cut You Down."

With a musical catalog defined by honest and deeply personal lyrics carried by her powerful, radiant voice, Cole has always had a gift for discerning the underlying humanity in stories from her own life as well as those around her, and channeling those emotional elements into captivating music. On American Quilt, Cole applies this natural insight to American history and musical roots traditions by interpreting a selection of classic songs - each of which provide an entry point for rediscovering the overlooked stories and figures that populate America's interwoven cultural lineage.

The album was produced by Cole, who was the first woman nominated (without collaborators) as Producer of the Year at the 1997 Grammy awards. She garnered a total of seven Grammy nominations that year and won "Best New Artist" for her second album and major-label debut, This Fire, with its timeless hits, "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" and "I Don't Want to Wait" (later the theme song for hit TV series Dawson's Creek). Today, as a visiting scholar at Berklee College of Music, Cole tells "all my female students, 'Start thinking like a producer, think about how you want the whole track to sound, be a voice.'"

"Together these songs make an American Quilt," says Cole, "a patchwork of heritage, a stitched-together-history of culture both painful and beautiful. I hope the listener will step inside the canoe and float down the Missouri River of their mind. I hope they will hear the gospel of the country, and taste the liquor in the speakeasies. I hope they will feel the freedom in the jazz of the cities, heed the call to morality in the spirituality of a day's hard work, and the call to the Great Beyond from the Appalachians."

As on previous albums, Cole was joined by a longtime "family" of musicians, including esteemed drummer Jay Bellerose and guitarist Kevin Barry, collaborators since the trio's days at Berklee. American Quilt follows 2019's acclaimed album of originals, Revolution, deemed by PopMatters as "an exceptional piece of work, a timely reminder of how soulful and perceptive a writer and singer Cole is and has always been."

Tour Dates:

08/08 - Cleveland Heights, OH @ Cain Park

08/10 - Ocean City, NJ @ Ocean City Music Pier

08/27 - Rockport, MA @ Shalin Liu

08/28 - Natick, MA @ Natick Center for the Arts

09/10 - New York, NY @ City Winery

09/19 - Manchester, NH @ The Rex Theatre

09/22 - Harrisburg, PA @ Whitaker Center*

09/24 - Tiffin, OH @ The Ritz Theatre*

09/25 - Dekalb, IL @ Egyptian Theatre*

09/26 - Chicago, IL @ City Winery

09/27 - Minneapolis, MN @ Pantages Theatre*

09/28 - Stevens Point, WI @ Stevens Point Country Club

09/30 - Kansas City, MO @ Helzberg Hall (at Kauffmann Center)*

10/01 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville*

10/02 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse*

10/08 - Seattle, WA @ Benaroya Hall*

10/13 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre*

10/14 - Ronhert Park, CA @ The Green Music Center*

10/15 - Berkeley, CA @ Freight & Savage*

10/16 - Beverly Hills, CA @ Saban Theatre*

11/04 - Hoover, AL @ The Library Theatre*

11/05 - Hoover, AL @ The Library Theatre*

11/11 - Portland, OR @ The Old Church

11/18 - Brownfield, ME @ Stone Mountain Arts Center

* With Madeleine Peyroux

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

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