Check out the new release from Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis
Kelly Willis at Roots n Blues n BBQ, Columbia Missouri
Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis
Tell Us A Beautiful Lie
Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis are each renowned for excellence in songwriting, singing and collaboration. Together they present an even more formidable musical landscape. For only the fourth time in their history, they’re unleashing as a duo in recorded form.
Beautiful Lie will arrive on the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice – June 21, 2019 – on Robison’s The Next Waltz label. The album’s first single, “Nobody’s Perfect,” will be released on May 10, followed by a tour commencing on May 19 (dates below).
Produced by Robison at the Bunker, his all-analog studio in Lockhart, Texas, outside of Austin, Beautiful Lie finds the pair harmonizing on a mix of originals, well-chosen covers and choice vintage nuggets, including the two-steppin’ country classic “One Dime at a Time.” The title tune was plucked from the Amazing Rhythm Aces’ 1975 debut album and the sad ballad “Lost My Best” is by Uncle Walt’s Band veteran David Ball. Grammy nominee Adam Wright (Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack) contributed three tracks, one written with his wife Shannon. Robison’s four contributions include the single and a co-write with Jack Ingram titled “Astrodome.” (He also nods to the dome’s home in the pretty closing duet, “Heartache to Houston.”)
Robison has written plenty of great songs, some of which have enjoyed Billboard country chart success (Tim McGraw and the Dixie Chicks hit No. 1 with “Angry All the Time” and “Travelin’ Soldier” respectively; George Strait reached No. 2 with “Wrapped” and No. 6 with “Desperately.”)
Willis, a 1993 Academy of Country Music Awards Top New Female Vocalist nominee, has received several Austin Music Awards including 1999’s Album of the Year What I Deserve, her widely praised breakout effort. Willis knows how to find the heartache in a note and hang her voice on it, as demonstrated on “Nobody’s Perfect.” When she and Robison trade verses or harmonize, backed by a stellar gang of Next Waltz regulars, the effect is usually impressive.
As for those contributors – Geoff Queen (pedal steel, mandolin, electric guitar); Trevor Nealon (keyboards); Scott Davis (electric guitar, piano, banjo); John Michael Schoepf (bass); Joshua Blue (drums, percussion); Rich Brotherton (vocals); and Brian Standefer (cello) – several have racked up considerable hours in the Bunker since Robison launched The Next Waltz in 2016.
Beautiful Lie tour dates
Check out the new release from Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis
