From a recent email...:
Island Records are excited to announce that October 24th heralds the release of an important new album.
THEA GILMORE & SANDY DENNY release "Don't Stop Singing", a collaboration across the generations between Thea and Sandy.
Thea Gilmore the Oxfordshire born singer/songwriter, has blazed a fiercely independent trail through her music and her spirit for over a decade. Known for her crystalline English voice and her brilliant lyrics, she has charted four albums and toured extensively throughout the UK, US and Canada. Her higher profile fans include Bruce Springsteen and Joan Baez and she has collaborated on record and onstage with a vast array of artistes including Mike Scott, Martha Wainwright, Sting, The Zutons, The Cowboy Junkies and Peggy Seeger.
Sandy Denny enjoyed worldwide acclaim through the late 60s and 70s, as a member of Fairport Convention and as a solo artiste. She also guested on Led Zeppelin's "Battle Of Evermore" and influenced artistes from Kate Bush to Paul Weller. Sandy died tragically young in 1978 after a fall. She left behind a unique musical legacy, ranging from her early folk rock stylings, to interpretations of both English traditional music and US rock'n'roll, through to her later albums dominated by her own piano based atmospheric ballads.
In late 2010 Thea Gilmore was commissioned by Sandy's estate, in conjunction with Island Records, to write melodies for unfinished manuscripts, lyrics without music, and works in progress and so to finally bring some of Sandy's last works to the world.
"Don't Stop Singing" is the result. An album of 10 beautiful songs, Thea's peerless voice and melodic gifts bring the Denny spirit and vision into the 21st century.
The album ranges from the uplifting "Glistening Bay", an epihany rooted in stirring natural imagery borne along by piano and sweeping strings, to the dark personal imagery of "Pain In My Heart" and "Long Time Gone" to the exquisitely fragile lullaby "Georgia"... all tied together by the title track, a pithy and infectiously catchy nod to the enduring power of music.
The strings on "Don't Stop Singing" were arranged and led by gifted young Scottish musician Donald Grant, who featured to great acclaim last year on Kate Rusby's "Make The Light" album.
Other guests on a truly generation-transcending album include Benji Kirkpatrick from Bellowhead and his legendary acordion playing father John Kirkpatrick, who himself featured on "The North Star Grassman And The Ravens".
It's been an affecting journey for Thea, who grew up both geographically and spiritually close to Sandy and the Fairport’s world. It's also a piece of work she feels deeply proud of.
"Don't Stop Singing" is an unprecedented meeting of musical minds. And also a work of spine-tingling beauty.
Listen to the opening song from the album
'Glistening Bay' on SoundCloud
http://soundcloud.com/dont-stop-singingPre order 'Don't Stop Singing' on Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0057MFA60
Cheers
Nick
