Nancy Wilson

Originally released in December of 1963, Yesterday's Love Songs/Today's Blues was the eighth in a long series of albums Nancy Wilson was to make for Capitol Records over a period of 20 years. During that time, she became one of the label's most artistically and commercially successful artists. The album was also made during the time when major recording companies were turning out sessions featuring black female singers with a gospel and/or blues background, singing standards and pop hits backed by a large orchestra, usually with strings. Columbia Records had Aretha Franklin, Everest used Gloria Lynne, and Capitol, Nancy Wilson. Here, teamed with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra and his arrangements, Wilson wends her way through 17 standards and traditional pop songs with a good balance between ballads and up-tempo numbers…

With the decline in Heart's popularity in the 1990s, its guitarist/singer/songwriter Nancy Wilson made a first, tentative stab at a solo career by scoring the 1996 film Jerry Maguire and appearing on the soundtrack album. While working on the score, she began turning up at the hootenannies at the folk club McCabes Guitar Shop in Los Angeles, and the result is this album, which represents a second toe in the water for her…

With her band Heart, Nancy Wilson has recorded 16 albums and sold over 35 million albums worldwide. Within that history-making career, You and Me represents something special, as it is Nancy Wilson’s very first solo studio album.

With her band Heart, Nancy Wilson has recorded 16 albums and sold over 35 million albums worldwide. Within that history-making career, You and Me represents something special, as it is Nancy Wilson's very first solo studio album. The title track 'You and Me,' as with several of the songs on the album, reunites Wilson with longtime collaborator Sue Ennis, who co-wrote many of Heart's classics with Nancy, and sister Ann. 'You and Me' highlights the intimate feel of the album. Nancy's singing is forward in the mix, her voice is spare, and the minimal production makes it feel like she's right there in the same room with you. Like all the legendary music she's created with Heart, 'You and Me' is an emotional, intimate conversation between a musician and an audience.

With her band Heart, Nancy Wilson has recorded 16 albums and sold over 35 million albums worldwide. Within that history-making career, You and Me represents something special, as it is Nancy Wilson's very first solo studio album. The title track 'You and Me,' as with several of the songs on the album, reunites Wilson with longtime collaborator Sue Ennis, who co-wrote many of Heart's classics with Nancy, and sister Ann. 'You and Me' highlights the intimate feel of the album. Nancy's singing is forward in the mix, her voice is spare, and the minimal production makes it feel like she's right there in the same room with you. Like all the legendary music she's created with Heart, 'You and Me' is an emotional, intimate conversation between a musician and an audience.

This fine album was sadly lost in the shuffle when it was released the same year as another Nancy Wilson album, The Swingin's Mutual!, her highly successful collaboration with the George Shearing Quintet. This is a shame, because Something Wonderful is one of Wilson's best albums, and her tastiest, with famed big-band arranger Billy May. Only 23 years old at the time, Wilson had a commanding blues- and soul-drenched jazz voice that was fully formed at the time of this recording, and unlike so many young singers, she was already committed to communicating lyrics rather than just showing off her vocal chops. This is beautifully illustrated in the narrative gem "Guess Who I Saw Today," which justly went on to become one of Wilson's signature tunes…