Music News - Jamie McDell Returns to her country songwriting roots in new album, 'Extraordinary Girl'
23 February 2018 - 0 Comments
Today New Zealand singer/songwriter, Jamie McDell announces the release of her new album Extraordinary Girl, and shares a first taster with her new track Tori, featuring backing vocals from Australian country legend, Kasey Chambers. The single release comes with two bonus tracks; A Liar Loves A Liar and He Went To Paris, a Jimmy Buffett cover.
Listen
to Tori:
Spotify / Apple
Music / iTunes
Extraordinary Girl will be released independently on May 4th, 2018.
To celebrate the release of her third full-length album, McDell will embark on a 6-date New Zealand tour in May, backed by full band. See dates below.
Tori was recorded in Nashville studio, House of Blues with producer Nash Chambers, and features the vocals of his sister and Australian household name Kasey Chambers. The song is a heart-hitting narrative that will ring true for those who have had, and lost a first love. It speaks to the mark they leave on your life and the way, even in their absence, they can interfere with your current relationships.
True to the storytelling musical influences Jamie grew up listening to, Tori tells a true story and isn’t afraid of naming names.
“I wrote this song on a spring afternoon sitting at a wooden desk in Inglewood in around ten minutes. I was reflecting on an old love of my partners’ and the lyrics and melody started to flow. I admit - I was nervous to release something so factual, but I’ve never been one to go back and edit my music once I’ve completed a song so it is what it is.”
ABOUT EXTRAORDINARY GIRL
2018 marks McDell’s return with an independently-released record that celebrates her musical roots and the sounds of her upbringing. Extraordinary Girl came together between Auckland, New Zealand and Nashville, Tennessee where she recorded the tracks with Australian award-winner producer Nash Chambers. The record features a hearty cast of country music legends including Kasey Chambers, Bill Chambers and Tami Neilson.
It was the music of her childhood that would form the fundamental elements of what excited her about songwriting the most - an honest vocal, lots of acoustic guitar and deep storytelling.
It was at age 7, while living
aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean, when McDell wrote her first
song. On that yacht lived a small collection of her parents’ favourite tapes,
including albums by Jimmy Buffett, John Denver and James Taylor, which the
young McDell formed a particularly strong bond with. She fondly remembers
watching her parents perform Jimmy Buffett duets - and occasionally chiming in,
learning how to harmonise vocally with her mother. An eager learner, McDell
picked up the guitar after studying her fathers’ John Denver chord book
collection and has never looked back.
In March 2017, McDell booked a trip to Nashville for a change of scenery and to
connect with the environment that birthed the country/folk music of her youth.
There she wrote the songs that would make up the fabric for her upcoming
record.
Later that year, twelve songs (written solely by McDell) were recorded in two days with full band at House Of Blues, Studio D in Nashville, with Chambers at the helm. Recording this way would boil up feelings of nostalgia for McDell, who’s very first recording experience took place at Auckland’s York Street studios in the same vein.
On this new record, McDell’s vocals are the most raw and vulnerable they have ever been - powerful and honest - and reflect her core listening inspirations which include Patty Griffin and Alison Krauss. Her Margaritaville-infused childhood sneaks through in humorous lines like “scared of looking crazy, she opens up a bottle of wine, forgets about her baby and looks to have a hell of a time.”
Putting the overall feeling of the album into words isn’t easy, but McDell reflects on the personal challenge of leaving the comfort of home to write something that was honest and true.“Nashville was me getting out of my comfort zone and finding my way back to it. I like to write songs quickly and alone and quite frankly when I feel like it, and I think being away from home helped me get back to that headspace… The listener is getting a sincerely true collection of stories that haven’t been tampered with since they were written. They are exactly what I felt like saying/singing at the time - raw, unpolished and deeply honest.”
Find
Jamie McDell online:
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / Official Website
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