Paula Cole reimagines the music of Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Bobbie Gentry, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and more on
Ballads
Grammy - winning artist and activist Paula Cole will release her eighth studio album, Ballads, on August 11th, 2017. Ballads is a collection of soulful interpretations of American jazz, folk and pop classics from the 1930's to the 60's. Self-produced and released through her own label, 675 Records, the twenty-song double-album features tracks originally written or popularized by Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Bobbie Gentry, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and more.
'Ballads' is dedicated to Paula's father who instilled a joy of music in her from a young age, and the album shines a light on her own roots as a jazz singer. Cole takes these songs on a journey, transporting Bobbie Gentry's timeless mystery "Ode to Billy Joe", and lends her silky vocals to John Coltrane's signature saxophone melody on "Naima," turning it into a haunting, ethereal stretch of sky.
Like much of Cole's discography, Ballads was self-produced and was mastered by Bob Ludwig. Rounding out her studio ensemble are the first-call rhythm section drummer Jay Bellerose (T Bone Burnett, Regina Spektor, Punch Brothers, Joe Henry) and upright bassist Dennis Crouch (Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Diana Krall), plus guitarists Kevin Barry and Chris Bruce, and pianist Consuelo Candelaria.
Paula Cole has infused wit and poetry into seven albums of original work stretching back over twenty years. Her 1997 breakthrough 'This Fire' featured the singles "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" and "I Don't Want To Wait," achieving double-platinum sales in the U.S. and seven GRAMMY nominations including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Producer of the Year, and Best New Artist, the latter of which Cole won.
Paula will play select dates across the country this year, including shows where she plays 'This Fire' in full from front to back.
As the first woman in history to solely produce and receive the Best Producer Grammy nomination for her work, "This Fire", Cole broke boundaries with a searcher's spirit. From a small town Rockport, Massachusetts, Paula was raised in a musical family, learning standards that would eventually become Ballads. She attended Berklee College of Music as a jazz singer, graduated in 1990, fervently writing and recording her original work. In 1993, Peter Gabriel heard her then-unreleased debut album "Harbinger" and invited Cole to join his "Secret World Live" tour. While touring internationally with Gabriel, Cole's "Harbinger" debuted in 1994 to critical acclaim. She toured non-stop and released her second album, 1997's "This Fire" for which she won the Grammy for Best New Artist along with seven nominations. Cole led the pack at Lilith Fair's opening years, and in 1999, followed her muse to release "Amen", a genre-crossing, social-spiritual album to diverse audiences.
After a seven-year hiatus to raise her daughter Sky, who battled childhood asthma, Cole returned to her "second, more authentic career" releasing five more albums, "Courage" (2007), "Ithaca" (2010), "Raven" (2013), "7" (2015), and "This Bright Red Feeling" (2016), touring consistently over the last decade.
Cole walks her path with her fans, writing out her life, sharing her connection at concerts and over social media. Cole's compositions have been covered by a diverse range of artists (jazz legend Herbie Hancock, Annie Lennox, Katherine McPhee, JoJo, hip-hop duo THEY), she has sold approximately three million albums, performed with icons such as Peter Gabriel, Dolly Parton, Herbie Hancock, Emmylou Harris; Amy Lee of Evanescence, Burt Bacharach, Counting Crows, Matchbox 20, and currently has over four hundred thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. Cole is now Professor at her alma mater Berklee College of Music, between tours and albums.
All Songs are FCC Clean
Recommended Radio Tracks
I Wish ( I Knew How It Feels To Be Free),
Ode To Billy Joe, What A Little Moonlight Can Do,
The Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Willow Weep For Me
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