For years, Madeleine Peyroux has been giving us a wonderful collection of jazz/folk-styled tunes that are uniquely exquisite in their quality. Her music, which began professionally with Dreamland (1996). Ultimately, that album was not the breakthrough that was anticipated despite it being filled with wonderful tracks. It wasn’t until years later, after her signing with Rounder, that the public took great notice of her music.
Careless Love was released in 2004, and almost immediately began to climb world-wide charts. Her renditions of songs written by others endeared her to a new audience (there’s only one Peyroux-penned track on this album). Her version of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End Of Love” put a new engine to the classic, while her haunting cover of “This Is Heaven To Me” incredibly turns the song into an ‘original’, as if she authored it to begin with. Careless Love was followed up by Half The Perfect World (2006), again with stunning results as she gives fresh musical perspectives on tunes written by others (again, she only contributes one original track for this set).
Since that album, she has released three other well-received albums (Bare Bones – 2009, Standing On The Rooftops – 2011, The Blue Room – 2013). In addition to those fine studio issues, there is a 2CD ‘best of’ release from 2014, Keep Me In Your Heart For A While – The Best Of Madeleine Peyroux, drawing from her entire body of work with the inclusion of 27 tracks, one a previously unreleased tune.
On September 16, a new album of cover tracks will surface. It is titled Secular Hymns and is a collection of revered songs by Tom Waits, Willie Dixon, Allen Toussaint, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and others. The songs on Secular Hymns reveal an underscored sense of awe in a spiritual way. Music is personal.
There are ten songs on Secular Hymns. I’m looking forward to its release.
Secular Hymns – Madeleine Peyroux
01. Got You on My Mind (Willie Dixon)
02. Tango Till They re Sore (Tom Waits)
03. The Highway Kind (Townes Van Zandt)
04. Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky (Allen Toussaint)
05. If The Sea Was Whiskey (Willie Dixon)
06. Hard Times Come Again No More (Stephen Foster)
07. Hello Babe (Kansas Joe McCoy / Lil Green)
08. More Time (Linton Kwesi Johnson)
09. Shout Sister Shout (Sister Rosetta Tharpe)
10. Trampin (Traditional)