The First Live Performance Of His New Album Can't Take A Hint With Judith Owen, Alice Russell, Danny Thompson and Charlie Wood
Spinal Tap, Le Show and Simpsons star Harry Shearer's new release Can't Take A Hint isn't his first album but it is the first to feature a world-class cast of musical collaborators.
He is joined by some of these in its world premiere live performance at Under The Bridge on November 23, 2012.
Acclaimed vocalists Judith Owen and Alice Russell, legendary bassist Danny Thompson and Memphis keyboard player Charlie Wood will perform the album alongside Harry in this one off UK concert.
Released by Courgette Records, Can't Take a Hint features giants of pop, R&B and jazz whom Shearer has got to know in his travels.
These include Dr. John ("Autumn in New Orleans"), Glee's Jane Lynch ("Like a Charity"), The Fountains of Wayne ("Celebrity Booze Endorser"), Jamie Cullum ("A Few Bad Apples"), Alice Russell ("Trillion Dollar Bargain"), Judith Owen ("Your Thing"), Danny Thompson ("Cold Is The Bone") and others.
Supporting these vocalists, the album also features a who's who of instrumentalists and producers including guitar stars Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Steve Lukather, Beach Boys/Brian Wilson musical director Jeffrey Foskett, producer John P. Fischbach, guitarist Bruce Gaitsch, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, session ace CJ Vanston and keyboard trailblazer Charlie Wood.
Can't Take a Hint, which follows Grammy-nominated albums Songs Pointed and Pointless (2007) and Songs of the Bushmen (2008), differs from its predecessors in that it isn't limited to one topical theme. Rather Shearer, Le Show's master of satire, tackles various issues of the day - from the foibles of celebrity to the Bridge to Nowhere, from the cost of war to weather extremes in Shearer's beloved Crescent City.
With the exception of a couple of what Shearer refers to as "song songs," most of the tracks are comedic musical sketches of the kind he produces for Le Show, which has been heard on public radio since 1983 and more recently as an iTunes podcast. Regular listeners to Le Show have heard a few of these songs over the past year or two but they have not been commercially available until now.
Friday 23rd November 2012
Under The Bridge, London SW1
Standard tickets are £20 and are available from www.underthebridge.co.uk (Dates and information subject to change.)
The £40 VIP package includes:
- Access to Under the Bridge's VIP area
- Bowl food and complimentary drink on arrival
- Access to VIP Bar
- Post show Harry Shearer meet and greet
About Harry Shearer:
Actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author and radio host Shearer, in addition to Le Show and his work on The Simpsons, is known for a stint on Saturday Night Live, radio comedy group the Credibility Gap, his films A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration (both collaborations with Christopher Guest), and for actual tours with his comedy band Spinal Tap (Shearer is bass player Derek Smalls).
Shearer's most recent project is a new TV comedy drama based on real-life recordings from President Nixon's Oval Office. Written by and starring Shearer as Richard Nixon, "Nixon's the One" aired on Sky Arts this spring. He will return to the UK shortly to star in and produce five more episodes of "Nixon's the One", that he has written in conjunction with Hat Trick for the Sky Network.
Harry Shearer is revered for his bitingly satirical songs and impersonations. He was nominated for a Grammy for his CD Songs of the Pointed and the Pointless. His album Songs of the Bushmen (also Grammy nominated) was an incisive musical impeachment of the Bush administration with impersonations in song of the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove. His last album, Greed & Fear, was a searing satirical attack on Wall Street in the wake of the world economic meltdown. Shearer's musical collaborations with his wife, singer/songwriter Judith Owen, and her manager Bambi Moé, led to the launch of Courgette Records (a nod to the infamous airport scene from This Is Spinal Tap).
Prior to these recordings, Shearer recorded and toured in both Spinal Tap and the Folksmen. The Unwigged Tour in 2009 featured Guest, McKean and Shearer performing the music of both Spinal Tap and the Folksmen.
Can't Take A Hint is available on Amazon and iTunes.
For the latest information, please go to:
Harry Shearer Official Website