Pegi Young Premieres New AlbumRaw with The Los Angeles Times
Album out February 17 via Baltimore Thrush Records
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Credit: Jay Blakesberg
On February 17,Pegi Youngheads out on her own with a new albumRaw, a collection of songs about love, loss and forgiveness. The album will be available digitally and physically viaBaltimore Thrush Recordsand is currently available for pre-order via Amazon and iTunes (includes instant downloads of "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind," "Too Little Too Late," and "Trying To Live My Life Without You").
Today,The Los Angeles Timespremiered the album in its entirety. “I hope that others who have gone through loss, who have gone through heartbreak — be it divorce, death or other forms of loss — will be able to connect with it,” Young told The Los Angeles Times' Randy Lewis. “I’m not the only one to go through late-in-life divorce; I’m not the only one to suffer a major heartbreak. And I won’t be the last.”
Recently,Entertainment Weeklypremiered the video for the song "Trying To Live My Life Without You."
Previously,NPR Musicshared an impassioned cover of Ray Charles' "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" and called the album, "...a searching, tough and vulnerable memoir that bravely explores all the corners of heartbreak, from blunt-force anger to sorrow to brief winks of humor."
Pegi Young’s compelling and personal new album Raw is a mix of original songs written with storied Muscle Shoals musician Spooner Oldhamand artfully executed covers.
Young wrote most ofRaw in the wake of her 2014 separation and divorce from Neil Young, to whom she’d been married for over thirty-six years. The album was announced with an interview feature withRolling Stone that explained the story behind the album.
The songs aren’t all expressions of anger. The first track to be released from Raw was "Too Little Too Late”, a raw and poetic psalm of regret. The album’s emotional palette ranges from"Gave My Best to You"and Pegi’s take on "These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”, both conveying resilience and sass, to a gorgeous stripped-down version of Don Henley’s "The Heart of the Matter," which explores the grace of forgiveness. As a whole, the album is a journey from shock to rage, from sadness to strength, but not necessarily in that order.
Young says, "I’ve begun to look at this record as a soundtrack to the seven stages of grief," she says. "And each song could be sung by either party."
In addition to Spooner Oldham, Young's band The Survivors features Muscle Shoals-based guitaristKelvin Holly (a veteran of Little Richard’s band), drummerPhil Jones (Tom Petty, Joe Walsh), and bassist Shonna Tucker(Drive-By Truckers), who’ve added soulful muscle to the sonic texture.
Excited about the prospect of sharing her new music and playing out live, the singer/songwriter/philanthropist/environmentalist and new grandmother jokes "I just might be eligible to win a nomination for 'Oldest Best New Artist Award' this time out."
Pegi Young & The Survivors will tour in support ofRaw later this year and will perform at the 2017 SXSW Music Conference.
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