Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers recorded 10 covers of songs penned by artists who influenced and inspired him for Vignettes, his debut solo album. Vignettes is slated for release on Dualtone this Friday, October 30.
Schultz added his own spin to songs by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Coldplay, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, Derek & The Dominos, Jim Croce, Bob Dylan, The Felice Brothers and Warren Zevon for Vignettes. Wesley tracked the LP last month at Sun Mountain Studios in Boiceville, New York with producer Simone Felice and producer, mixer and engineer David Baron. He was backed on Vignettes by Baron on piano with special guest contributors including Cindy Mizelle, James Felice, The Webb Sisters and Diana DeMuth.
“The way I envisioned this album,” explained Schultz, “was as if you had all these songs represented by little houses on a street, and then a tornado ripped through the town and tore them all the way down to the studs and foundation… that’s what you’d have with every one of these songs after I re-imagined them. I was also trying to create something that doesn’t ask anything from the listener — it’s simply a companion, a friend in both good times and bad. Like how I listen to James Taylor’s greatest hits, often, and it just seems to soothe me.”
Here’s more from Schultz about his debut solo album:
This album is pulling from a lot of different threads of my past. ‘My City in Ruins,’ ‘Boots of Spanish Leather,’ ‘The Ballad of Lou the Welterweight,’ those are all songs I was covering in bars, way back when I was living in Brooklyn in 2008. That was within days of when I’d written ‘Ho Hey’ and ‘Life In The City’ and ‘Flowers In Your Hair,’ all in this same little apartment. It was a rich time for me creatively and these covers were sort of informing my songwriting, just studying all these different artists.
I was introduced to a lot of music through other artists, listening to their covers and then going backward. So part of this record is the joy of exposing something that you know is beautiful, while trying to make it your own so that they both can stand on their own two feet. It’s almost like you’re showing people your personal playlist, your inspiration.
You try to make your own medicine sometimes. I think music is medicine. For me, the intention in making VIGNETTES was so simple – what would I listen to right now, in these times? And this music is what I felt like I needed.
Watch Wesley introduce Vignettes in the behind the scenes look at the album below:
Vignettes Tracklist
- My City Of Ruins (Bruce Springsteen)
- Downtown Train (Tom Waits)
- Green Eyes (Coldplay)
- If It Makes You Happy (Sheryl Crow)
- Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby (Counting Crows)
- Bell Bottom Blues (Eric Clapton/Bobby Whitlock)
- Operator (Jim Croce)
- Boots Of Spanish Leather (Bob Dylan)
- The Ballad Of Lou The Welterweight (The Felice Brothers)
- Keep Me In Your Heart (Warren Zevon)
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