MUSIC

Elton John

The Lockdown Sessions Interscope Elton John’s The Lockdown Sessions is an album of collaborations recorded remotely over the last 18 months. The Lockdown Sessions is a dazzlingly diverse collection of 16 songs, all Elton John collaborations, with some of the biggest, most exciting artists in the world today including Brandi Carlile, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Gorillaz, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Rina Sawayama, SG Lewis, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Surfaces, Years & Years, Young Thug, and more.

Anat Cohen & Marcello Gonçalves

Reconvexo Anxic Records

Artists responded to the forced isolation brought about by the 2020 pandemic in various ways across the globe. In Brazil, superstars such as Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil shared performances from their homes with their fans, from one living room to another. Among those fans were Anat Cohen and Marcello Gonçalves, quarantined in Rio.

And against the backdrop of a country and a world turning inward, distilling the importance of music in the lives of so many, the duo set out to record an album inspired by the beauty of Brazil, and the spirit of its people. The result is at once intimate and virtuosic, mournful and hopeful, soaked with the feeling expressed uniquely in the Portuguese language as saudade—bittersweet, at once deeply happy and sad, and full of emotion.

Louis Armstrong

A Gift To Pops (various artists) Verve

While New Orleans native Louis Armstrong passed away in 1971 at the age of 69, today his legacy as the kingpin of jazz continues to grow. The most significant example of this is the ensemble The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars, comprised largely of top-of-the-line Crescent City musicians paying tribute to him with this brilliant album. The inventive re-envisioning of music associated with the trumpeter/vocalist during his five-decade career features new arrangements and new performances of stalwart tunes ranging from The Peanut Vendox (recorded by him in 1930) to What a Wonderful World (recorded in 1968 and the most successful tune of his career). Special guests include Wynton Marsalis and Common.

Nas

King’s Disease II Mass Appeal Records

Following the Grammy Award winning album, King’s Disease, the king returns to his throne with the second coming, King’s Disease II. The star studded project offers tacit game on life, love, and loss, uplifting through action and lived experience in a way only Nas can. This is a body of work for the fans, for the day 1’s that contributed to the legacy. Alongside the decorated production savant, Hit-Boy, Nas remains rooted in lyrical prophetism while proving that he constantly reinvents the wheel.

Rod Stewart

The Tears of Hercules Rhino/Warner Bros.

Sir Rod Stewart’s rekindled love of songwriting grows even stronger on his brand-new studio album, The Tears of Hercules. This is Stewart’s fourth new album of original songs since 2013—his 31st album to date—and for this latest collection, Stewart wrote nine of the 12 songs, including the first single, “One More Time.” In addition to the new tracks, The Tears of Hercules includes covers of Marc Jordan, Johnny Cash, and more. This is a project close to Rod Stewart’s heart, especially the song “Touchline,” which he dedicated to his father, who taught him and his brothers to love football, a tradition Sir Rod has passed down to his sons. Rod Stewart is one of the best-selling artists in the history of recorded music, with an estimated 250 million records and singles sold worldwide. His signature voice, style, and songwriting have transcended popular music genres, from rock, folk, soul, R&B, and even the Great American Songbook; making him one of the few stars to enjoy chart-topping albums throughout every decade of his career.

Joe Bonamassa

Time Clocks Provogue/J&R Adventures

Recorded in New York City, this new album rediscovers Bonamassa at a newfound peak with heartfelt songwriting and an unparalleled Blues Rock prowess. Time Clocks follows Joe’s constant evolution as he continues to forge ahead, bending genres, breaking down walls and defying the odds of the music industry. He’s known as “the man in the suit,” loved by many as the ultimate guitar hero, cited by critics as “the world’s biggest blues guitarist” (Guitar World), and now the music mastermind has found yet another layer of immense new artistry to share with his fans. As one of today’s most in-demand touring acts the road has been long and winding, but the rough journey has molded his craft into gold.

Philip Dukes, Peter Donohoe

Violin Works (Brahms and Schumann) Chandos

Recognized as one of the world’s leading viola players, Philip Dukes has enjoyed a career spanning over thirty years as an accomplished concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He joins forces with Peter Donohoe, acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for this extraordinary recording of works by Brahms and Schumann. As he writes in his booklet note, Phillip wanted to > 29

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with real chops. From there, after the impact of the Purple Rain show—because so many people fell in love with us—we also began writing new songs, and then more new songs. Our drummer used to ask, “Is that new? Again?” We just kept writing fresh material. All the synapses connected. It became very easy to do because I was in my 20s with all this energy—from making and hanging posters all over Philly to creating new shows, songs and sets. It was thrilling. We got a horn section, and we could make anything we wanted cook.

A.D.: Moving from World Café to the more intimate Ric Rac must have given you more control of the environment and how audiences would take in your character.

DS: Yes. I could just show up and have it be mine. Plus, the DIY grittiness of that Italian Market hole-in-the-wall; it was another world. That inhabited what I thought was the eclectic joy and weirdness of South Philly.

A.D.: Who influences you?

DS: Isiah Zagar, Kandinsky, Van Gogh. Anything with ecstatic color. Vocally, anything early Bob Marley with Lee Perry, Prince, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan.

A.D.: How did Johnny Showcase, come into his own, find his focus?

DS: Ithink when I realized that Johnny was at his best as the locus, the centerpiece, of a crowd around him—like Jerry Seinfeld and the cast of Seinfeld. I’m obsessed with Seinfeld—he’s the nucleus of all those other great characters and thrives best within that circle. That’s probably how I was able to adapt him into my kid’s show, Johnny Shortcake, that I did at the Kimmel. We created even newer characters to surround Johnny and play to a children’s audience. When you surround him with other great characters he can bounce off of, he’s almost the straight man. Johnny’s a fun character, but when you put him in the right context, he can really sing.

A.D.: How does Johnny Showcase’s America’s Got Talent context work in regard to bringing out his best? How did it all come together?

DS: I would never have done this on my own. My sister would always push to get on Ellen and shows like America’s Got Talent. I thought of myself as an artist, and those shows seemed horrible—that is until I got an email during a dark Covid week from its producers, a casting director who had seen my YouTubes. At that point, I didn’t know—none of us did—if performance was ever coming back. I was working on a television concept for Johnny Shortcake, which fell apart, and I got this revelatory call. I needed to get back on stage as Johnny after being surrounded by four walls during the pandemic. I went for it. I’m still not allowed to discuss it all. That’s the contract. But I did meet remarkable contestants and fascinating talents and a number of wonderful producers. I wrote the big hit, that “Sensual” song back in 2007, and just thought it had all the things they wanted, that people would get. Plus, they wanted something family-oriented, so “The Octopus” worked.

A.D.: So, what now for Johnny Showcase, beyond Hollywood? And where does David Sweeny fit in all of this?

DS: I think rather than be further apart, David and Johnny have come together more than in the past. I thought America’s Got Talent would bring more attention than it has so far. I’m open to the next step, the phone call that pushes me into the next phase. I want to take Johnny Showcase to the next phase. It’s great having people discover all of our old material at the same time and want more.

A.D.: It’s like a Netflix series that takes three years to make, six hours to watch, then people go, “so, now what?”

DS: Yeah. No one wants me to be quiet now, they want me to do more. I’m ready to start bringing it to the people. n chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, an art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings. Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit in each other, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses’s life for the next four decades. When he returns home, an unexpected inheritance brings him back to the Tuscan hills.

With beautiful prose, tenderness, and bursts of humor and light, Still Life is a portrait of unforgettable individuals who come together to make a family, and a deeply drawn celebration of love in all its forms.

Sex Cult Nun By Faith Jones William Morrow; $27.99 Faith Jones was raised to be part an elite army preparing for the End Times. Growing up on an isolated farm, she prayed for hours every day and read letters of prophecy written by her grandfather, the founder of the Children of God. Thousands of members strong, the cult followers looked to Faith’s grandfather as their guiding light. As such, Faith was celebrated as special and then punished doubly to remind her that she was not.

Over decades, the cult grew into an international organization that became notorious for its sex practices and allegations of abuse and exploitation. But with indomitable grit, Faith created a world of her own—pilfering books and teaching herself high school curriculum. Finally, at age 23, thirsting for knowledge and freedom, she broke away, leaving behind everything she knew to forge her own path in America.

A complicated family story mixed with a hauntingly intimate coming-of-age narrative, this extraordinary memoir reflects our societal norms of oppression and abuse while providing a unique lens to explore spiritual manipulation. Honest, eye-opening, uplifting, and intensely affecting, Sex Cult Nun brings to life a hidden world that’s hypnotically alien yet unexpectedly relatable. n