Legendary songwriter, recording artist and performer Paul Simon will release his 14th studio album – In The Blue Light – on September 7. Produced by Simon and Roy Halee, who have worked together since the 1960s, the album features a talented cast of musicians who have joined Simon to lend fresh perspectives on 10 of the artist’s favorite (though perhaps less-familiar) songs, drawn from his unparalleled body of work.
Revisiting his repertoire, Simon has selected songs originally appearing on There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973), Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), One-Trick Pony (1980), Hearts and Bones (1983), The Rhythm of The Saints (1990), You’re The One (2000) and So Beautiful Or So What (2011), refreshing and transforming the compositions through new arrangements and collaborations.
Among the many musicians joining Simon on In The Blue Light are jazz icons trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd. Two of the compositions recorded with the New York-based chamber ensemble sextet yMusic, “Can’t Run But” and “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,” are being brought to the stage each night as show-stopping highlights on Simon’s Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour.
Simon explains in the album’s liner notes, “It’s an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to revisit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals.
“Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn’t recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home.”
The release of In The Blue Light on September 7 coincides with the final leg of Homeward Bound – Farewell Tour in September, including four performances in the New York City area and culminating with the Final Performance on September 22 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Having created a distinctive and beloved body of work that includes 14 studio albums, plus five studio albums as half of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon is the recipient of 16 Grammy Awards, three of which-Bridge over Troubled Water, Still Crazy after All These Years, and Graceland-were Album of the Year honorees. In 2003, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Simon & Garfunkel, and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
During his unparalleled career, Simon has achieved 29 Top 40 singles in the U.S. alone, with 14 of those reaching the Top 10 or higher, including “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (which reached #1), “Kodachrome,” “Loves Me Like A Rock,” “Mother and Child Reunion,” “Late In The Evening,” “You Can Call Me Al” and many others. With Simon & Garfunkel, he wrote and performed the #1 singles, “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and numerous other timeless hits.
Paul Simon is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, both as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and as a solo artist. Simon was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2002 and was named one of Time magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World” in 2006. In 2007, Simon was awarded the inaugural Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011. And in 2012, he was named the recipient of the prestigious Polar Music Prize along with classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Paul Simon’s In The Blue Light track listing:
One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor
Love
Can’t Run But
How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns
Pigs, Sheep and Wolves
René and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War
The Teacher
Darling Lorraine
Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy
Questions For The Angels
