“Nobody has ever sung Dylan quite like Nashville-based Australian singer-songwriter
Emma Swift. And maybe nobody other than Dylan has ever sung him better, either.” (****)
– THE GUARDIAN
“Rarely has Dylan been covered so tenderly as on this quietly impressive and wittily titled collection by Australian-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Emma Swift.” (****)
– THE IRISH TIMES
“The Nashville singer-songwriter finds the sometimes-hidden heart in each of the
Dylan songs she chooses… her slow-burn vocals bring out all the
yearning that Dylan was too cool to let show in 1966.”
– ROLLING STONE
“Truly a master class in interpretation…Though a few steps behind them alphabetically, Swift sidles up alongside the killer B’s (The Byrds, The Band, and Joan Baez) of Dylan interpreters.”
– UNDER THE RADAR
Emma Swift has announced the long awaited digital release of her acclaimed new album. BLONDE ON THE TRACKS – a collection of the Nashville-based artist’s interpretations of Bob Dylan songs – arrives via Tiny Ghost Records at all DSPs and streaming services this Wednesday, December 9. The digital release is being celebrated with the premiere of a new animated video for “One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later),” inspired by the work of legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser and streaming now at Swift’s official YouTube channel.
WATCH “ONE OF US MUST KNOW (SOONER OR LATER)”
BLONDE ON THE TRACKS is available now on classic 12” black vinyl and limited edition CD and peach cassette, exclusively via Bandcamp HERE; all purchases include unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC, and more.
“After a hugely successful old school album release that honored my love of vinyl, cassettes and good old fashioned compact discs, I am delighted to take BLONDE ON THE TRACKS digital,” says Swift. “It’s extremely rare for musicians to withhold their songs from streaming services, but given that I lost my touring job at the beginning of the year due to COVID, I wanted to see if music lovers still bought albums. And it turns out they do. If you let them!”
The new video out today marks the latest in a series of accompanying animated videos, including “Simple Twist of Fate,” “You’re A Big Girl Now,” “Queen Jane Approximately,” and the album’s remarkable first single, “I Contain Multitudes.”
WATCH “SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE” WATCH “YOU’RE A BIG GIRL NOW” WATCH “QUEEN JANE APPROXIMATELY” WATCH “I CONTAIN MULTITUDES”
Emma Swift has been hailed for the strength and beauty of her songcraft and a resilient yet vulnerable voice that is both heartbreaking and heartbroken all at once. BLONDE ON THE TRACKS was first begun at Nashville’s famed Magnetic Sound Studio in 2017 but only recently brought to fruition, with Swift working alongside producer Patrick Sansone (Wilco, The Autumn Defense) via email in April and May to finesse the unfinished material and record two further songs to complete the project. Swift’s “reimagining” of Dylan’s songs bring a balancing gentleness – clear and soft where the songwriter might rasp; plaintive and emotive where he may perhaps be more sanguine. Indeed, Swift’s vocal on “I Contain Multitudes” is so immediate and clean that it’s almost as if you feel her breath in your ear. It’s striking in its intimacy, especially as heard during this time of communal isolation.
Furthermore, BLONDE ON THE TRACKS marks another chapter in Nashville’s deep connection with Dylan, a long, proud legacy encompassing such timeless LPs as BLONDE ON BLONDE, JOHN WESLEY HARDING, and of course, NASHVILLE SKYLINE. Swift’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” harkens back to that distinctive sound, while other tracks call to mind Dylan’s celebrated work with The Band. Sansone’s masterful production provides the perfect light touch, supporting Swift’s vocals with instrumentation by some of the finest session players Nashville has to offer, including pedal steel guitar from Thayer Serrano, Steelism’s Jon Estes and Jon Radford (on bass and drums, respectively), and guitar by legendary British singer-songwriter – and inveterate Dylanologist – Robyn Hitchcock.
Hailed by the Irish Examiner as “a joy from beginning to end,” BLONDE ON THE TRACKS has proven among the most highly praised releases of this extraordinary year:
“(Swift’s) high, clear voice highlights each syllable, letting you hear the words form, one seemingly following inevitably from the other, until they feel handed down, fragments of old songs now speaking to each other.”
– Greil Marcus, Los Angeles Review of Books
“A beautiful piece of work by a singer with a rare interpretive gift, comparable to Emmylou Harris’s WRECKING BALL in its intent, execution and intimacy.”
– The Guardian
“Swift’s approach to Dylan’s songs is awash with an assured authority, proving that it really is the singer, not the song, that matters.” (****1/2)
– musicOMH
“An exceptional piece of work by a shining star based out of Nashville. Swift has soaked up the historical influences of her surroundings and used them to create a dazzling album.”
– The Big Takeover
“There’s a purity to this collection that allows both Dylan’s poetry and Swift’s emotion to shine. She embodies tracks like ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ in a way that
makes it feel like she wrote it herself.”
– The San Francisco Chronicle
“The leading instrument on the record is Swift’s own lush, rich voice…Her style, voice, and the bright beautiful arrangements of BLONDE ON THE TRACKS make you hear Dylan songs you know by heart, in your sleep, in different ways — and appreciate them all the more.”
– No Depression
EMMA SWIFT
BLONDE ON THE TRACKS
(Tiny Ghost Records)
Digital Release Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2020
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