Glen Hansard Releases New Album THIS WILD WILLING Today

Emotive Dublin busker and songwriter Glen Hansard is thrilled to release his fourth solo album This Wild Willing today; order it HERE. This Wild Willing marks an inflection point in Hansard's career, a turning where he marries the sonic inventiveness of the best of his work in his former band The Frames to the discipline he's found as a lyricist in his solo career.

Hansard has also shared a new music video for the album track "Brother's Keeper"; watch it HERE. "This song is set in autumn when the season is turning, the air is fragrant, and the lowering sun makes the shadows long," Hansard said of the song and the video's inspirations. "The swallows are gone, the brambles grown sweet, and the birds are fattening up for winter. It's my October song, my favourite month in Ireland. Walking the back road in the early evening, preparing for wintering out."

Improvisationally recorded in Paris, Hansard collaborated not only with long-time Hansard associates Joe Doyle (bass) and ROMY (piano, vocals, string arrangements) on This Wild Willing but also with the classically trained Iranian musicians the Khoshravesh brothers and Dublin electronic musicians Deasy and Dunk Murphy (Sunken Foal). This is an album guided and formed by the twin totems of resolve and surrender - the resolve to see a thing through alongside a willingness to surrender, to trust in that which lies outside yourself - the other musicians in the room, your lover, your healer, your audience.

Hansard recently performed in select, intimate spaces across the US in the weeks leading up to the new album's release. This included the Paste Studio, the offices of Billboard Magazine and the rare book room of the legendary Strand Book Store in New York City, the BLUEGRASS UNDERGROUND caverns outside of Nashville and finally he held court in the round at Thalia Hall in Chicago for both a performance and a spirited discussion with WXRT's own Marty Lennartz. Currently touring Europe, Hansard will return to the States in late May; all upcoming tour dates are listed below.

"All a song wants is to be heard," Hansard has said of This Wild Willing. "I hope something in this music can be of use to you. I know it has been of great use to me to make it. Beauty is in the ear of the behearer."

US TOUR DATES
5/29 - Boston, MA - The Orpheum*
5/31 - Philadelphia, PA - Merriam Theater*
6/1 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre*
6/3 - Washington DC - Lincoln Theatre*
9/4 - Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre*
9/6 - Chicago, IL - The Chicago Theatre*
9/7 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theater & Ballroom*
9/9 - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre*
9/10 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle*
9/12 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues New Orleans*
9/13 - Austin, TX - Stubb's*
9/14 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater*
9/16 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre*
9/17 - Santa Fe, NM - Lensic Performing Arts Center*
9/19 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre*
9/20 - Salt Lake City, UT - Eccles Theater*
9/22 - Missoula, MT - The Wilma*
9/24 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre*
9/25 - Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall*
9/27 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic*
9/28 - Dana Point, CA - Ohana Music Festival*

* Glen will be partnering with PLUS1 for his upcoming US tour. PLUS1 is an initiative that channels the collective energy of a concert to catalyze social change. By partnering with performing artists, PLUS1 raises and grants millions of dollars to high impact nonprofits addressing our most serious global challenges around Access, Equity, and Dignity. The work begins with a $1 per ticket add-on that makes fundraising simple and seamless. Beyond the dollar, PLUS1 supports artists as educators and advocates, fueling their passion, reach & impact. To date, PLUS1 has raised and granted over $7 million, and served as the connective tissue between over 100 artists, millions of their fans, and 100s of leading social justice organizations tackling global injustice.

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
4/12 - Derry, United Kingdom - St. Columb's Hall
4/13 - Derry, United Kingdom - St. Columb's Hall
4/15 - London, United Kingdom - Barbican Centre
4/16 - London, United Kingdom - Barbican Centre
4/27 - Paris, France - Casino de Paris
4/29 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Koninklijk Theater Carré
4/30 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Koninklijk Theater Carré
5/2 - Kobenhavn, Denmark - Amager Bio / BETA
5/4 - Stockholm, Sweden - Skandiascenen
5/6 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal
5/8 - Cologne, Germany - K?lner Philharmonie
5/9 - Frankfurt Am Main, Germany - Alte Oper
5/11 - Brno-?abov?esky, Czech Republic - 5th Anniversary of SONO Centrum
5/13 - Warszawa, Poland - Palladium
5/14 - Warszawa, Poland - Palladium
5/16 - Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast
5/17 - Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast
5/19 - Berlin, Germany - Admiralspalast
5/29 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
6/15 - Firenze, Italy - Firenze Rocks Festival w/ Eddie Vedder
6/17 - Firenze, Italy - Firenze Rocks Festival w/ Eddie Vedder
7/3 - Dublin, Ireland - Special Guest of Eddie Vedder
7/24 - Luzern, Switzerland - Blue Balls Festival
7/26 - Gardone, Riviera, Italy - Anfiteatro Del Vittoriale

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