Renowned singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell detailed a new album, The Chicago Sessions, produced by Jeff Tweedy and due out on May 5 via New West Records. Crowell previewed the record with a Tweedy-co-write, “Everything At Once,” which also features the Wilco frontman.
Recorded at Wilco’s The Loft studio in Chicago, Tweedy helmed Crowell’s aptly named Chicago Sessions with engineering/mixing from Tom Schick. The record contains contributions from three players Rodney brought to Chicago — guitarist Jedd Hughes, pianist Catherine Marx and bassist Zachariah Hickman — along with drummers John Perrine and Spencer Tweedy. The latter is Jeff’s son.
While most of the material on The Chicago Sessions is freshly penned tunes from Crowell, the singer-songwriter did return to two songs from the 1970s. Emmylou Harris originally recorded Rodney’s “You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good,” in 1977. The other is a song by fellow Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt, “No Place To Fall.”
“The first time I heard that song, Townes was sitting across the table from me at Guy and Susanna Clark’s house,” Crowell recalled. “He said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a new song for you,’ and it’s been imprinted on my psyche ever since. I wanted to record it as an homage to somebody that I learned a lot about songwriting from.”
Crowell’s connection to the rich country singer-songwriter tradition was something that appealed to Tweedy.
“The way that Rodney writes is deeply connected to a classic era of country songwriters that I’ve always loved. In my estimation, it’s as close as I can get to working with Townes Van Zandt or Felice and Boudleaux Bryant — people who crafted songs with a very specific sensibility. And I like being near that.”
Crowell enjoyed working with Tweedy as well, especially co-writing on lead single “Everything At Once.”
“It occurred to me that Jeff and I are both songwriters, and we ought to write something together for this album. We could have harmonized on it and gone down an Everly Brothers route, but ultimately we decided to just sing in unison and throw it out there like an all-skate. I love that we didn’t get too precious about it.”
Watch the official music video for “Everything At Once” below featuring performance footage from The Loft:
The Chicago Sessions Tracklist:
- Lucky
- Somebody Loves You
- Loving You Is the Only Way to Fly
- You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good
- No Place to Fall
- Oh Miss Claudia
- Everything at Once (feat. Jeff Tweedy)
- Ever the Dark
- Making Lovers Out of Friends
- Ready to Move On
