Nashville based Australian country star Emma Swift has recorded a tribute to Bob Dylan she calls ‘Blonde on the Tracks’.
Emma’s ‘Blonde on the Tracks’ (a nod to Dylan’s ‘Blood on the Tracks’) is right up to date with her version of Dylan’s brand new 2020 song ‘I Contain Multitudes’.
Emma says, “When Bob Dylan released “I Contain Multitudes” this year, I quickly became possessed. It’s magnificent and heartbreaking, a love letter to words and art and music, to all that has been lost and all that might be redeemed. To me this song has become an obsession, a mantra, a prayer. I can’t hope to eclipse it, all I hope to do is allow more people to hear it, to feel comforted by it, and to love it the way I do.”
Emma’s ‘I Contain Multitudes’ was recorded at her home during lockdown.
‘Blonde on the Tracks’ began to take shape at Magnetic Sound Nashville in 2017. Wilco producer Patrick Sansone is working with Emma on this record.
“The idea for the album came about during a long depressive phase,” says Swift, “the kind where it’s hard to get out of bed and get dressed and present to the world as a high-functioning human. I was lost on all fronts no doubt, but especially creatively.
“I’ve never been a prolific writer, but this period was especially wordless. Sad, listless and desperate, I began singing Bob Dylan songs as a way to have something to wake up for. Interpreting other people’s emotions is how I learned to sing and I’ve always enjoyed hearing Dylan’s songs from a female perspective. You can learn a lot about melody and feeling by the way a singer chooses to interpret someone else’s song. You can learn alot about words by singing someone else’s. I’m very influenced by singers like Sandy Denny, Joan Baez, Billie Holiday, Sinead O’Connor. There’s an art to interpretation, and for me, these women are the masters. I’m as indebted to them on this record as I am to Bob Dylan.”
EMMA SWIFT – BLONDE ON THE TRACKS
RELEASE DATE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 14
TRACKLISTING
Queen Jane Approximately
I Contain Multitudes
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
Simple Twist of Fate
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
The Man In Me
Going Going Gone
You’re A Big Girl Now
All Songs By Bob Dylan
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