Acclaimed singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash will release her 12th studio album, entitled ‘The List’, on Manhattan Records on October 6th, 2009.

This stunning work features Cash’s contemporary interpretations of 12 classic songs culled from a list of essential country tunes that her legendary father Johnny Cash gave her in 1973, and filtered through her own unique, sophisticated perspective.

Known primarily for her stellar songwriting, Cash showcases her incredible voice on The List — her first-ever covers record. As a result, the album is Rosanne Cash like you’ve never heard her before as she embraces her heritage and sings for the pure love and beauty of these songs which have shaped who she is as an artist.

The idea for The List came about while Cash was on tour promoting her 2006 studio album, the critically heralded, Grammy-nominated Black Cadillac — a reflective song cycle about the loss of her father, mother Vivian Liberto, and stepmother June Carter Cash.

During the well-received multi-media event Black Cadillac: In Concert, Cash told audiences how, when she was 18, her father became alarmed that his daughter appeared to lack a deep understanding of country music (having been obsessed with The Beatles and steeped in Southern California rock and pop music). Johnny gave her a list of the “100 Essential Country Songs” and told her that it was her education and she should learn them all.

“The list was far-ranging and thorough,” Cash says. “It was assembled from my father’s intuitive understanding of each critical juncture in the evolution of country music. There were old Appalachian folk ballads, and the songs of Jimmie Rodgers and Woody Guthrie. The influence of gospel and Southern blues were crucial. Then he segued into rockabilly and the birth of modern country music by way of Hank Williams, and up to the present, which was then 1973. He also included a couple of his own songs. I endeavored to learn them all and it was an education,” she says. “I looked to that list as a standard of excellence, and to remind myself of the tradition from which I come. This album enables me to validate the connection to my heritage rather than run away from it, and to tie all the threads together: past and future, legacy and youth, tradition the timelessness.”

Through her stylish interpretations, Cash manages to transcend genre on The List, proving that these songs deserve a permanent place in the American Songbook.

Produced and arranged by Grammy-Award winner John Leventhal (Cash’s husband, who also contributes striking guitar work throughout), The List includes Cash’s covers of songs by The Carter Family (“Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow”), Hank Williams (“Take These Chains From My Heart”), Jimmie Rodgers (“Miss The Mississippi and You”), Hank Cochran / Patsy Cline (“She’s Got You”), Merle Haggard (“Silver Wings”), and Bob Dylan (“Girl From the North Country,” famously done by Dylan and Johnny Cash in 1969).

The album also features a host of special guests whom Cash admires, including Bruce Springsteen (on “Sea of Heartbreak”), Elvis Costello (on “Heartaches by the Number”), Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy (on “Long Black Veil”), and Rufus Wainwright (on “Silver Wings”).

The List is the first album Cash has made since she underwent surgery in 2007 for a benign brain condition, from which she has fully recovered. When it came time to record a new album, Cash was happy to step back from the heavy themes of Black Cadillac and do a covers record that showcased her voice. It also has enabled her to finally share with the world the list of songs her father passed down to her alone.

“If my father had been a martial arts master, he might have passed a martial arts ‘secret’ on to me, his oldest child,” Cash says. “If he had been a surgeon, he might have taken me into his operating room and pointed out the arteries and organs. If he were a robber baron, he might have surveyed his empire and said, ‘Honey, some day this will all be yours!’. But he was a musician and a songwriter, and he gave me The List.”

Buy Music:

Rosanne Cash on amazon.com

Rosanne Cash on amazon.co.uk

The track-listing for The List is as follows:

1. “Miss the Mississippi and You”
2. “Motherless Children”
3. “Sea of Heartbreak” (w/ Bruce Springsteen)
4. “Take These Chains From My Heart”
5. “I’m Movin’ On”
6. “She’s Got You”
7. “Heartaches by the Number” (w/ Elvis Costello)
8. “500 Miles”
9. “Long Black Veil” (w/ Jeff Tweedy)
10. “Silver Wings” (w/ Rufus Wainwright)
11. “Girl From the North Country”
12. “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow”

For more about Rosanne Cash and The List, please visit:

Rosanne Cash Official Website

Elvis Costello is set to release his new album, ‘Secret, Profane & Sugarcane’ on Universal June 1st, 2009. The record was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded by Mike Piersante during a three-day session at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studio.

Elvis Costello on amazon.co.uk

Elvis Costello on amazon.com

Joining Costello were Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass), some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, Bluegrass and beyond.

Several of these songs, including “Down Among The Wines and Spirits”, were given their first public performances during Costello’s acclaimed solo appearances as part of “The Bob Dylan Show” in late 2007.

Watch “The Scarlet Tide” video:

The album includes ten previously unrecorded songs. “Sulphur to Sugarcane” and “The Crooked Line”, were co-written with T Bone Burnett while, “I Felt The Chill” marks Costello’s second recorded songwriting collaboration with Loretta Lynn.

Costello revisits two songs from his catalogue in string band style. Both songs were originally written for Johnny Cash. “Hidden Shame” was indeed included on Cash’s album, ‘Boom Chicka Boom’.

The album title makes reference to “The Secret Songs”, Costello’s unfinished commission for the Royal Danish Opera about the life of Hans Christian Andersen.

Seeking a new connection from the author to the Anglophone world, Costello wrote about the Andersen’s relationship with the world famous singer, Jenny Lind in “She Handed Me A Mirror” and “How Deep Is The Red”.

“She Was No Good”, relates some of the chaotic details of Lind’s famous “All-American” concert tour of 1850, which was promoted by P.T. Barnum. In its aftermath, “Red Cotton” imagines Barnum reading an Abolishionist pamphlet, while manufacturing cheap souvenirs of the adventure.

These four episodes were newly adapted for the instrumentation of this record.

Indeed these are first Costello compositions to be predominantly rooted in acoustic music since his 1986 album, ‘King Of America’, which was produced by T Bone Burnett. He also produced the 1989 album, ‘Spike’.

T Bone adds his distinctive Kay electric guitar to several of the numbers, the only amplified instrument on the recording.

Jim Lauderdale takes the close vocal harmony part throughout the record and Emmylou Harris contributed a third vocal part on the chorus of “The Crooked Line” on the final day of recording.

The record concludes with the waltz, “Changing Partners”, a song made famous by Bing Crosby.

The cover artwork of ‘Secret, Profane & Sugarcane’ is an ink drawing by the renowned cartoonist, illustrator and author, Tony Millionaire.

Elvis Costello first recorded in Nashville with George Jones in 1979 and returned to the city for ‘Almost Blue’, his 1981 album of classic country covers.

He returned to the city in 2004 to record a duet rendition of “The Scarlet Tide” with Emmylou Harris.

This song, co-written with T Bone Burnett, received an Academy Award nomination for Alison Krauss’ rendition in the motion picture, “Cold Mountain” in 2003.

Select US tour dates featuring musicians from the album — dubbed “The Sugarcanes” — will follow in June and August, 2009.

‘SECRET, PROFANE, & SUGARCANE’ TRACK LIST:

1. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
2. Complicated Shadows
3. I Felt the Chill
4. My All Time Doll
5. Hidden Shame
6. She Handed Me a Mirror
7. I Dreamed of My Old Lover
8. How Deep is the Red
9. She Was No Good
10. Sulfur to Sugarcane
11. Red Cotton
12. The Crooked Line
13. Changing Partners

Due to the division of the music over four sides, the vinyl edition will contain two additional tracks, a arrangement of Lou Reed’s “Femme Fatale” and Costello’s sequel to the old Appalachian murder ballad, “Omie Wise”, entitled, “What Lewis Did Last.”

Elvis Costello Official Website
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This week has belonged to Duffy. The talented Welsh songstress walked away with three Brits on Wednesday, including the showpiece award of Best Album for ‘Rockferry’. Congratulations to Duffy on her remarkable Brit Award feat and Grammy Award which she won earlier this month.

Not content with Brit Awards and Grammy’s, Duffy now has a flower named after her. The cleverly coined ‘Duffydil’ will be unveiled at the RHS show in Cardiff, April 14th.

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Il Divo head out on their all-conquering World Tour tomorrow, at Manchester’s MEN Arena. The UK leg of the tour features 2 dates at London’s O2, Feb 27th and 28th.

The new show is staged and choreographed by William Baker (Kylie Minogue) on a state of the art set, which offers fans the chance to sit within the staging and watch the show.

No doubt the show will feature tracks from their No.1 album ‘The Promise’ which has sold 3million records in just over 2 months, including 500,000 in the UK.

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Following Robert Plant & Alison Krauss‘ 5-award haul at the Grammy’s their album ‘Raising Sand’ has bounded up the US chart to No.2 this week. The Fray’s new self-titled album is still in the US Top Five this week at No.4.

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Karima Francis will open up for James Morrison on his forthcoming UK Tour. The tour overlaps her own UK tour, so she will be joining James Morrison on selected dates only. Karima’s single “Again” out March 9th has moved up to the Radio 2 A-List.

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Xenomania’s new soulful pop quintet Vagabond will be the main support for the whole of the James Morrison tour. Look out for their debut single “Sweat (Until The Morning)” out May 11th. They have just come back from LA where they shot the video for their single with Paul Minor who’s worked with Muse, Glasvegas and Editors.

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Elvis Costello will be doing a run of UK dates in April with the Brodsky Quartet, which features a show at London’s Barbican Centre, April 23rd.

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Just Jack’s hot single “Embers” was added to Radio One’s Playlist this week and is Sara Cox’s Record Of The Week. Jack plays a few club dates next month, catch him at London’s Cargo, March 10th, which will no doubt feature tracks from his new album ‘All Night Cinema’, out April 6, 2009.

Good afternoon. What a week it’s been! What with Obama’s Presidential procession and the world-haltering Inauguration, oh, and the Brit Award Nominations.

Here’s a look at the week that has been.

MBC artists received 6 nominations for this year’s Brit Awards on Tuesday. Duffy picked up four nominations (British Female Solo, British Breakthrough Act, British Single and British Album), a feat only matched by Coldplay.

Will Young celebrated his 30th birthday on Tuesday in true style with a nomination for British Male Solo. Will has been in Iceland filming the video for his excellent new single “Let It Go”, released March 2nd.

After scoring his first-ever UK No. 1 last year, Neil Diamond will battle it out for the International Male Solo award at the Brits next month.

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MBC artists were also on hand to welcome Barack Obama into the White House on Tuesday. Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright and Il Divo all played in what was a musical feast of epic portions, spread over 10 Inaugural Balls.

Elvis Costello headlined at the Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball on Tuesday evening. While Rufus Wainwright performed with Cyndi Lauper at the Gay Inauguration Ball, and Il Divo played at the Purple Ball.

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Il Divo embark on their World Tour next month. Starting off at Manchester’s MEN Arena, Feb 21st, 2009, the world’s most successful operatic quartet will play 11 UK dates.

They will visit 30 European countries along the way, this will be followed by a 3 month North American tour, before heading to south America, Australia and Asia later in the year.

Il Divo’s new show will be staged and choreographed by William Baker (Kylie, Jamiroquai). The state of the art set also offers fans the chance to sit within the staging.

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Just Jack’s hot new single “Embers” has been picking up more airplay. Lily Allen played the track when stepping in for Zane Lowe on his Radio One show this week. “Embers” is set for release March 30th, with his stunning new LP ‘All Night Cinema’ to follow in April.

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‘Rachel Getting Married’ opens today. Robyn Hitchcock stars as a wedding guest in the film and also plays “Up To Our Nex”, a track written for the movie. The song also features on Robyn Hitchcock’s excellent LP ‘Goodnight Oslo’, out Feb 9th.

Robyn sets out on his UK tour in February, which includes an unmissable date at London’s Union Chapel (Feb 12th).

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Karima Francis wowed the crowd at London’s Barfly on Monday. Karima performed an intimate acoustic gig, which featured a must-be-heard stripped-down version of Kings Of Leon’s “Use Somebody” and “Again” from her debut album ‘The Author’.

Delta Spirit tore through an incredible set at Water Rats on Monday, finding enough time to swap instruments on the way. Their hook-laden single “Trashcan” was released on Monday too.

The Fray return on Monday with the release of their stunning new single “You Found Me”. The track has been playlisted on Radio One and is featured on hit show ‘Lost’.

They are playing a special sold out date at the Scala, Feb 10th. They will be announcing details of a UK tour very shortly, so stay tuned.