The Writer 2020

The cool, crafty title of Nils new album 'Caught In The Groove' says it all about his studio and onstage state of mind. A decade and a half after riding his first #1 hit 'Pacific Coast Highway' into contemporary jazz history as Billboard's Song of the Decade 2001-2010, the relentlessly prolific composer, guitarist and producer continues to create instantly infectious, sonically adventurous tracks for himself and numerous artists eager to vibe with the energy of his Midas touch. He has scored numerous chart hits including 'Summer Nights', 'Let's Bounce', 'Georgy Porgy', 'Ready to Play' 'Catnap', Straight Down the Line' and 2011 Song of the Year 'Jumpstart'. Now it's time to gear up for the impact of Caught In The Groove's funky, high octane lead single Good Times Are Better'. Nils is also enjoying ongoing success on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Songs chart as co-writer and co-producer of pianist Lisa Addeo's 'Listen to This', the first new title to reach the pole position in 2020.

"Take Root Among the Stars", quoting the words of the great science fiction writer Octavia Butler, here is Roots Magic’s third installment for Clean Feed. Cut by the Italian quartet, here and there augmented by a couple of special guests, historical wind player Eugenio Colombo and vibes maestro Francesco Lo Cascio, this new album comes as a further step into the borderland between Deep Blues and Creative Jazz. The new repertoire includes reworked tunes by Skip James, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Charles Tyler and Ornette Coleman plus new works on some of the band’s favorite composers, Charley Patton, Phil Cohran, John Carter, and Sun Ra…

Drive-By Truckers’ 12th studio album and first new LP in more than three years – the longest gap between new DBT albums – The Unraveling was recorded at the legendary Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, TN by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price) and longtime DBT producer David Barbe. Co-founding singer/songwriter/guitarists Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood both spent much of the time prior doing battle with deep pools of writer’s block. “How do you put these day to day things we’re all living through into the form of a song that we (much less anybody else) would ever want to listen to?” says Hood. “How do you write about the daily absurdities when you can’t even wrap your head around them in the first place? I think our response was to focus at the core emotional level. More heart and less cerebral perhaps.”

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered, with a libretto by poet/writer Nathaniel Bellows, is a celebration of, and an elegy for, the natural world—animals, plants, insects, the planet itself—an appeal for greater awareness, urgency, and action. Originally commissioned by Trinity Church Wall Street, this recording features the English vocal ensemble Gallicantus conducted by Gabriel Crouch.