Harper Simon has finished mixing his debut solo album, which is due to come out in the spring of next year. For the recording of the project N.Y. native Simon enlisted veteran producer Bob Johnston (Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen) and assembled a multi-generational cast of legendary musicians and younger talents from Nashville, Los Angeles and New York; a diverse collection of players including Charlie McCoy, Lloyd Green and Hargus “Pig” Robbins, as well as Petra Haden, Adam Green and Inara George. The result is a blend of indie-rock sensibility and traditional songwriting, which recalls the psychedelic country of the late 1960’s.
The singer-songwriter has been playing select warm-up dates in N.Y. and L.A.
His L.A. band included: Russell Simins (Blues Explosion) on drums, David Rawlings (Gillian Welch) on second guitar, Greg Leisz (Robert Plant/Allison Krauss) on pedal steel and Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) on bass.* His N.Y. band included Russell Simins on drums, Jeff Hill (Rufus Wainwright) on bass, Jim Campilongo (Martha Wainwright) on guitar, Jack Petruzzelli (Rufus Wainwright) on wurlitzer, guitar, mandolin, Louis Schwadron (Rufus Wainwright) on french horn, CJ Camerieri (Sufjan Stevens) on trumpet, Hideaki Aomori (Sufjan Steven) on tenor sax, and Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond) on additional vocals.
*Special guests appearances at the L.A. shows included Gillian Welch, violinist Gillian Rivers (Nicole Atkins), and Becky Stark.
I checked your page bout one year ago? (0r so it seems?) Anyway, I knew, somehow, that it was well worth the wait. This is the nicest thing I've heard since I was 19 and discovered "harvest" by Neil Young. I'm 30 something now, seen a result of a war or two, and this music is what I would listen to.... I thought one thing when I heard the first notes: He second guesses himself... not that you hear it in the music, because I don't, but you should know... you should press forward, be bold, because what you are doing is gold. One word: Hearth. You sound like Hearth. I argued with my old man today and took up for me sister, I come home, drank a beer and warmed myself beside your tunes. My cold heart and problems melted. I can face another day. Thank You.
good lord i need to catch up with you but you never call or text me back. what are you up to these days? i move to dc in two weeks, so excited. stay in touch sometime, will ya? best, andrea
Hi Harper Thanks for the add. Great songs - I especially enjoyed listening to Ha ha. Interesting lyrics. Very Paul Simon-eque, I thought. Be good if you could come by and listen to my tunes when you have a spare moment. all good wishes, Odette
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