(MPG) Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jack Schneider announces that his sophomore LP Streets Of September will come out on September 19. Produced by Matt Andrews (Gillian Welch, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dawes), the album finds Schneider reflecting on his experience battling a mysterious life-threatening illness and reaffirms the enduring power of storytelling in the face of loss and transcendence. To accompany the announcement, he shared his new single "Stone's Throw Away," a warm rootsy cover of the Barbara Keith deep cut that further establishes Schneider as a modern folk storyteller in the same vein as the troubadours of the 1970s. Atwood Magazine shared the song, saying it "evokes the golden warmth of American Beauty-era Grateful Dead and the tender roots storytelling of The Band" lauding it as "a triumph of Jack Schneider's own artistry - a dreamy, enchanting revelation full of heart, humility, and a whole lot of soul."
Following years on the road as Vince Gill's rhythm guitarist, Schneider will play a series of shows with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band later this month ahead of his AMERICANAFEST debut on Sept. 7 at the Analog and a Nashville album release show at the bluegrass mainstay The Station Inn on Sept. 23. He will also support Marty Stuart later this year before heading out with Australian guitar wiz Tommy Emmanuel on his extensive tour next April.
"Last year, on a trip to New York while performing a Country Music Hall of Fame benefit with Vince Gill and Emmylou Harris, I went record shopping with Maple Byrne - Harris' longtime road manager and guitar tech - when he pulled out a self-titled Barbara Keith record from the stacks," shares Schneider. "I bought the record at his insistence and found myself dumbfounded that such a singular artist has been largely unknown for such incredible work. Being raised in Atlanta, a particular lyric in 'Stone's Throw Away' stuck out to me, so I worked up a demo with my producer Matt Andrews. It was important to both of us that we honored the song itself as a unique entity, so that our version and Barbara's would be able to co-exist. I wanted to breathe new life into the song and find my own voice as a translator in the process."
Serving as both a personal reflection and a tribute to the people and places that shaped him, Streets Of September features a mixture of profoundly honest original material and revelatory interpretations. Schneider reimagines a Carole King-penned Everly Brothers cut, honors a personal hero with his rendition of "Bright Eyes" by Michigan songwriter Dick Siegel and turns friend and frequent collaborator Camille Thornton's "Gulf of Mexico" into a treatise on his own mortality. Schneider wrote or co-wrote the rest of the album's tracks including the bittersweet first single "How In The World," which was written with Gill.
The common thread that ties it all together though is Schneider's desire to honor what's come before him and who made him who he is today while simultaneously cherishing the present. With this album, Schneider is celebrating life's transitory nature rather than fearing it - five years after complications stemming from Epstein Barr landed him in the hospital not knowing if he would survive.
"Streets Of September is a collection of songs that, to me, honor the beauty of being alive and creating something out of thin air in the moment we have before us," shares Schneider. "It is about holding that something that someone else has created and ensuring that it lasts beyond the scope of their final breath. It is an ode to brevity, and the wonder that can be found there: to be appreciated for a moment before it is washed away."
Serendipity is a word that surrounds Schneider and everyone in his orbit. In fact, he wasn't even supposed to be making a new record, but when a friend cancelled a recording session he was scheduled to produce, he figured it was a sign to use the studio time to record another LP. In addition, Schneider was even able to pay the ultimate tribute to his late mentor Steve Weisberg, who played on his favorite album of all time An Evening with John Denver, by playing the same guitar Weisberg used on the album on what turned out to be 50 years to the day it was used.
Streets Of September was recorded live to tape at Burns Sound in Burns, TN with an all-star band of Nashville's finest including Dom Billett, Jared Manzo, Tony Harrell, Andrea Zonn and Eddy Dunlap. It follows his critically-acclaimed debut LP Best Be On My Way, which featured Gill along with Stuart Duncan among others. Over the course of the last 10 years, he's also shared the stage with folks like Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, Chris Stapleton and Sting, recorded songs with wildly diverse artists from Camila Cabello and FLETCHER to David Rawlings, and toured with Americana mainstays like The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. His prowess as a guitarist and musician has long been proven, now he's ready to be seen as an artist in his own right, and the universe seems to agree.
Streets Of September Tracklist
1. Streets Of September
2. Footprints In The Sand
3. Crying In The Rain
4. How In The World
5. Stone's Throw Away
6. Renee
7. Bright Eyes
8. Gulf of Mexico
Tour Dates
August 28 - Atlanta, GA - Atlanta Symphony Hall %
August 29 - Durham, NC - Carolina Theatre %
August 30 - Roanoke, Va - Dr Pepper Park At The Bridges %
September 7 - Nashville, TN - AMERICANAFEST @ Analog at Hutton Hotel
September 12 - Austin, TX - The Paramount Theater ^
September 23 - Nashville, TN - The Station Inn
September 28 - Decatur, GA - Eddie's Attic
October 28 - Nashville, TN - The Station Inn
November 15 - Decatur, AL - Princess Theater ^
April 8 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater *
April 10 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre *
April 12 - Boise, ID - The Egyptian Theatre *
April 15 - Bend, OR - Tower Theatre *
April 17 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre *
April 21 - Redding, CA - Cascade Theatre *
April 22 - Sacramento, CA - Crest Theater *
April 23 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theater *
April 24 - San Francisco, CA - Palace Of Fine Arts Theatre *
April 25 - Anaheim, CA - City National Grove of Anaheim *
April 26 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Fremont Theater *
April 28 - El Cajon, CA - The Magnolia *
April 29 - Mesa, AZ - Mesa Arts Center*
April 30 - Tucson, AZ - Fox Tucson Theatre *
May 1 - Albuquerque, NM - KiMO Theatre *
May 3 - Tulsa, OK - Cox Business Convention Center *
% supporting Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
^ supporting Marty Stuart
* supporting Tommy Emmanuel
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