New episode: @drrossen // In Conversation
Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen on the band’s brilliant return to live performance, the legacy of Shields, Veckatimest, and Yellow House, the unforeseen consequences of Jay-Z attending a show, the GOAT Michael McDonald, and much more
Brad has released “Southern Belle,” featuring @drrossen of @GrizzlyBear , from his upcoming @NonesuchRecords album of Elliott Smith songs, ‘Ride into the Sun,’ along with @FelixMoseholm and @mattchamberlainnmusic . You can watch the video, made during its recording at @BunkerStudio in Brooklyn, by @edgintonfilms , on YouTube via link in bio.
Elliott Smith’s “Southern Belle” is on his 1995 self-titled album, released 30 years ago today.
#BradMehldau #ElliottSmith #DanielRossen #Piano #Guitar #Jazz #LiveMusic #Nonesuch #NonesuchRecords
Live In Pioneertown & Santa Fe out July 28 2023, limited vinyl !
solo performances recorded on the 2022 tour
The first song out is a version of “Kathleen” by Townes Van Zandt that I first performed wayyyy back in the ancient days of 2011 at my first solo show in upstate NY. It’s a bit of a departure from the original, which is the only reason I would consider releasing a cover of any Townes Van Zandt song. But this song holds a lot of memories for me.
It was a special, some might say ill-advised, tour. Solo shows, solo drives, no crew, not a lot of sleep. usually an audience. I played a show in a hotel bar in New Orleans, on a farm outside of Santa Fe, in way too many stifling churches, in lots of fun crusty clubs.
It was a glorious reality check and one hell of a way to kick off my midlife crisis. Will I ever do it again? No. But I’m glad I was able to document a couple of the shows in the form of this live album.
cover art by the great Ben Tousley. The original photo for the cover was taken by Natalie Escobedo at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown.
I was pretty hellbent on calling this thing Live In the Old West and making the cover a picture of myself posed in front of an old railroad car somewhere in New Mexico, or maybe in one of those dumbass black & white photo stations where you can borrow Hollywood-style frontiersman costumery. But I restrained myself. This is serious music after all. Mostly, anyway.
tracklist:
1. Unpeopled Space
2. Silent Song
3. Shadow In The Frame
4. Golden Mile
5. Repeat The Pattern
6. Made To Rise
7. Phantom Other
8. Kathleen
9. Return To Form
10. It's A Passage
11. Saint Nothing
12. Kentucky Waltz
PAST LIVES soundtrack out June 9th
It was a joy, and a challenge, and a learning experience to work on the music for this beautiful film with my old compadre the maestro @crbear
WEST COAST SHOWS JUNE 2022
ticket links in the bio
These will be the last solo dates for a while. It's been so gratifying and inspiring to reconnect with people through these shows after all that isolation time. I missed people a lot, as it turns out. Glad to be back in the world a little bit.
Hope to see some of you on the west coast in June!
June 09 San Diego, CA - Casbah
June 10 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
June 11 Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet’s
June 14 Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Library
June 17 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
June 18 Seattle, WA - Neumos
June 19 Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
photo by @natalieescobedo
Hello. Album is out today! Purchase link in the linktree along with the upcoming tour dates.
I hope you can take some time with the album. Repeat listening is recommended
Thank you
Video directed by Luke Bern Carr at Site Santa Fe up today on the youtube
The idea for this came in part from the 1971 TV special “The Music of Nilsson” in which Harry Nilsson looks to be performing live and then begins to multiply and harmonize with himself at the piano. It’s a ridiculous and also kind of lonely performance. Luke and I felt that something similar but darker and more claustrophobic could reflect the tone of “Shadow in the Frame."
I also liked the idea of a unique performance tailored to the video itself. It was an opportunity to home in on the anxious inward energy underneath all the layering of the album version.
I’ve been out on the road, just spent the day driving to DC. It’s been wonderful to reconnect with people a bit through these shows. Please come find me out here and say hello. I’ll be playing this song more or less as in the video minus the extras copies of myself
Hello. I leave in ten days for the first US shows. Dates are on the next page. There will be new songs, new songs yet to be released, songs that were never released, and old songs that make me sentimental and may cause me to weep openly in front of strangers. I hope you will be there to witness my midlife crisis/catharsis on stage. I'll be up there on my own, no band. Going to try for a slightly fluid performance I think, wending in and out of instrumental passages and so on. A Fred Neil/Leo Kottke kind of thing? Not sure, we will see. Looking forward to it !
Upcoming dates:
Mar 27 Austin, TX - Antone's
Mar 30 New Orleans, LA - Toulouse Theatre
April 1 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
April 2 Nashville, TN - Exit/In
April 3 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel
April 5 Washington, DC - The Miracle Theatre
April 6 Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
April 8 Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom
April 9 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Made
April 11 Montréal, QC, Canada - Le Ministère
April 12 Toronto, ON, Canada - The Great Hall
April 14 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
April 15 Minneapolis, MN - Icehouse
Photo by Byron Flesher
One more song is up for a listen. It's called ‘Unpeopled Space’ and it's the last one before the release. On all the streaming services and the linktree and the stories and whatnot
Very crucial drumming here by Christopher Bear. And very crucial bassoon by Amber Wyman.
I’d like to thank Michael Harris @higherprotocol for engineering the drums and many of the vocals, and then essentially pre-mixing a bunch of the album while we worked. A wizard and an all around positive spirit.
slide 1: @crbear shredding in the studio
slide 2: me and my german bow
slide 3: more fire and trees, keeping the visual brand pure and direct
slide 4: Alice preparing to shred
slide 5: new press photo
2022 Tour Dates
ticket links: /tour
For the US dates I'm on my own.
UK/EU dates with Clara Mann!
Slide two is a bit of an old song that I used to perform in solo shows like this back in 2014. Looking forward to digging into lots of old tunes along with the new ones. It's been so long that it all feels new to me
Hope to see you out there!
