“Save the Monarch”: New Video from John Hall featuring Dar Williams

Nashville, TN – Acclaimed singer-songwriter, environmental activist and former U.S. Congressman John Hall announced today the release of a new video for his song “Save the Monarch,” which features renowned folk music artist Dar Williams. The four-and-a half minute long video is available on Hall’s website and YouTube (https://youtu.be/Q3y2L4jyyJo)

“Save the Monarch” appears on Hall’s latest album, Reclaiming My Time, which was released in May 2021. Hall’s sixth solo record, in addition to the 18 albums he released with the pop-rock band Orleans, Reclaiming My Time broke the Top 20 on the Americana Country Charts and was widely praised upon release. (The album’s title is a phrase used on the floor of Congress when a member wants to resume speaking after an interruption.) 

“When I wrote ‘Save the Monarch’ I envisioned it as a hymn for endangered species, a sincere prayer that we answer the call to be good stewards of the earth,” said Hall. “The urgency of needing to protect life on our planet has been an enduring theme in my work, and I was absolutely thrilled when Dar (Williams), a neighbor of mine when I lived in New York’s Hudson Valley, agreed to sing the song with me. Dar is such an extraordinary artist and writer, as well as an engaged environmentalist. She certainly helps lift the song and gives it greater resonance.”

Hall and Williams swapping vocals on “Save the Monarch” is certainly apt, as they served for several years together on the board of directors of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an environmental and education nonprofit co-founded in 1969 by folk music icon and activist Pete Seeger. 

The video for “Save the Monarch” was directed, filmed and edited by Rob Arthur, who has directed videos for the Doobie Brothers, Dave Mason and Peter Frampton as well. A veteran keyboardist, Arthur has spent the past two decades serving as the bandleader for Peter Frampton. 

Hall plays all of the instruments on “Save the Monarch” except for drums, which are handled by Peter O’Brien, Hall’s former bandmate in Orleans. Reclaiming My Time is notable for the many musical artists who joined Hall in the studio, including John Cowan (New Grass Revival, Doobie Brothers), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor, Vince Gill), Jay Collins (Dukes of September, Allmans), Sean Paddock (Kenny Chesney) and pedal steel guitar player Dan Dugmore. Steve Wariner co-wrote and sang a duet with Hall on “Another Sunset.”

Hall is known mostly for his work with Orleans; the band’s hits “Still the One” and “Dance with Me,” which he co-wrote with former wife Johanna Hall, continue to be streamed over 100,000 times apiece daily. Last year, Orleans released a Christmas album called New Star Shining, and in 2022 the band will be celebrating its 50th anniversary.

In 1979, Hall launched Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash, which culminated in the famed “No Nukes” concerts, which featured the above-mentioned musical artists, as well as Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, the Doobie Brothers and Carly Simon. 

Hall was elected in 2006 and 2008 to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he fought for environmental issues and veterans’ disability rights. In 2016, his memoir Still the One: A Rock’n’Roll Journey to Congress and Back was published.

 

 

RECLAIMING MY TIME, New Album by John Hall, Due May 28 on Sunset Blvd.

"Reclaiming My Time” is John Hall’s sixth solo record, in addition to the 18 albums he recorded with his band Orleans. The title is a phrase used in Congress (where Hall spent 4 years) after being interrupted. It’s also an allusion to the music he might have written and played during ten years in elective office.

Supporting musicians include John Cowan(New Grass Revival, The Doobie Brothers), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor, Vince Gill), Sean Paddock (Kenny Chesney), Steve Wariner, Jay Collins (Dukes of September, Allmans), songwriting partner John Paul Daniel and steel guitar legend Dan Dugmore. Dar Williams and Wariner sing duets with John, the latter on a song they wrote together, “Another Sunset.”

The album’s opening track, “I Think of You,” was written with Songwriters' Hall of Fame member Sharon Vaughn. “Now More Than Ever” reunites for the first time in twenty-five years the songwriting team of John and Johanna Hall, who penned the Orleans hits “Still The One” and “Dance With Me.” Recorded in New York’s Hudson Valley and Nashville, TN, Reclaiming My Time spans Hall’s usual range of love songs, blues, topical tunes and rockin’ good time music. Hall’s trademark acoustic and electric guitar playing--that graced records by Jackson Browne, Little Feat and Bonnie Raitt--ties it all together.

The first single and video, “Alone Too Long” was written for a friend who lost his wife and was wondering when it was okay to start dating again. As the pandemic year ground on, it became a commentary on isolation and loneliness. 

The whole project was started well before any lockdown, but then relied on home recording and remote mixing and mastering. Now we are all reclaiming the time and lives that were shut down for over a year. “Reclaiming My Time” celebrates that.

John Hall has written songs for Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, and James Taylor. He’s played guitar on tours and records for Little Feat, Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, and Seals and Crofts. His music and environmental activism led him to 10 years in elective office, and co-founding MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy). Now, back to music full time, he writes songs and performs solo and with Orleans, the group he co-founded in the 1970s. Their biggest hits “Still the One” and "Dance With Me" continue to garner hundereds of thousands of streams per week, and to appear in mass media from commercials to movies and even political campaigns. The former is also in the title of John’s memoir, “Still The One: A Rock’n’Roll Journey To Congress and Back.”        

 John Hall's "Alone Too Long" Music Video

Track listing

1)  I Think of You  (co-write w/ Sharon Vaughn)

2)  Alone Too Long  (co-write w/ John Paul Daniel and Tad Richards)

3)  Mystic Blue  (co-write w/ John Paul Daniel)

4)  Lessons (co-write with Jonell Mosser and Johanna Hall)

5)  Islamorada  (pronounced: “I-la-mo-ra-da”

6)  Somebody  (co-write with John Paul Daniel)

7)  Another Sunset (w/ Steve Wariner)  (co-write w/ Steve)

8)  Now More than Ever  (co-write with Johanna Hall)

9)  Save the Monarch (w/ Dar Williams)

10)  All Up and Down From Here   (co-write w/ John Paul Daniel)

11)  World on Fire   (co-write with John Paul Daniel and Tad Richards)

12)  Future Ex-Wife  (co-write with John Paul Daniel)

13)  Welcome Home

John Hall's Memoirs: STILL THE ONE: MY ROCK'n"ROLL JOURNAL FROM CONGRESS AND BACK

John Hall's memoir, STILL THE ONE: MY ROCK'N'ROLL JOURNEY FROM CONGRESS AND BACK is available in hardcover and Kindle.

The Kindle version is now on sale on the Amazon.com Kindle store for $4.99. The direct link is: https://www.amazon.com/Still-One-RocknRoll-Journey-Congress-ebook/dp/B01K8AA0E2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1471017275&sr=1-1&keywords=john+hall

The book is also available for mail order, as a personalized autographed book, right now via email and phone from Oblong Books & Music. Here is the link: http://www.oblongbooks.com/still-one-paperback-signed-john-hall. The phone number is 845-876-0500.

John Hall is doing an in-store at Oblong Books, in Rhinebeck, on the 22nd of September at 6 pm. This is the store's website,http://www.oblongbooks.com.

More in-stores to be announced to local media and on John’s Facebook page at 'www.facebook.com/JohnHall.memoir/?fref=ts

Best known as the founder of the band Orleans, with hits including “Still The One,” and “Dance With Me,” John co-wrote Janis Joplin’s “Half Moon,” Steve Wariner's #1 country hit "You Can Dream of Me," and also “Power,” which became the theme of the NO NUKES concerts in the 1970s. John has collaborated in the studio or on the stage with Little Feat, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Chet Atkins, Carly Simon… 

His environmental concerns led him into community activism, which got him on the road into politics, first serving in the Ulster County, New York legislature, then as trustee and president of the Saugerties school board.  Hall won a seat in Congress in 2006, and returned to music in 2011 with Orleans.  

John is looking forward to taking the book on the road where he’ll tell stories, play songs, sign books, and talk with fans and anyone interested in crossing from a "normal" career to politics.  

John’s optimism comes through in stories from his life in the musical and political worlds in STILL THE ONE: A ROCK’n’ROLL JOURNEY TO CONGRESS AND BACK.    

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www.facebook.com/JohnHall.memoir
www.johnhallmusic.com

Vonda Shepard Plays New York City November 21

www.vondashepard.com

Schmooze with us after the work week.

Vonda Shepard will be performing at (le) Poisson Rouge on November 21 at 7:45 pm.
(Opening act—to be announced) is on at 7 pm.
(le) Poisson Rouge is at 158 Bleecker St., in New York City, near the A, D, F train lines.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door.
The venue phone is 212-505-FISH.
The website is lepoissonrouge.com/ lepoissonrouge.com/

This is an “after work schmooze” with Vonda Shepard. This intimate room with Vonda (and her band or solo) should bring some wonderful memories.

ROOKIE, Vonda’s 14th album, is a title that bears no little irony, since last year marked 25 years since the release of her self-titled Warner Bros. debut and her hit “Don’t Cry Ilene” from 1989. Being of independent ways and means now, Shepard doesn’t necessarily have to raise a fortune to make a record that’ll sound like a million bucks, thanks to the ongoing participation of producer/maestro Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Crowded House, Bonnie Raitt, Paul McCartney), who’s been behind the boards for all of her albums since 1999’s BY 7:30.

ROOKIE promises a mixture of moods and tempos, with perhaps slightly more emphasis on the upbeat than some past efforts. Vonda says. “I felt a need to go a little bit crazy on this album.” The album features classic Vonda Shepard, whose pop-singer songwriter style weaves soulful and heartfelt pop ballads, with influences from gospel, country and jazz.

Vonda belts the mighty song “Rookie,” which is about not being a rookie. “It’s actually the opposite of what the title suggests,” she says. “It’s about a person who’s been around the block, around all the blocks! The chorus says ‘I’m not a rookie,’ and it really conveys this feeling that I’m a ‘bad-ass’ who’s going to throw it down.” “Need Your Love,” and the empowering “Walk On Water” are some of ROOKIE’S soulful highlights.

Her styling of ballads including “Saturday,” and “I just Don’t Get It” (with its surprising twist on love and shyness) is passionate. Vonda’s relationship songs also include ROOKIE’S “Train To Inverness” and “Long For The Days,” which offer both depth of dialog with ear-catching melodies.

ROOKIE ends with two live tracks of recent songs that have become show stoppers in Vonda’s sets, the funky “Downtown Dirtytown,” and the tender-hearted pop ballad, “Roll In The Dirt.”

Vonda is charging into an active touring season in the States and Europe after enjoying her belated debut as a musical stage actress, portraying sassy tart Martha in Randy Newman’s FAUST at New York’s City Center this past summer. Ms. Shepard earned such grand reviews from New York’s tough theater critics, you could almost believe she’d paid off the devil! Said Playbill: “Indie-pop singer/songwriter Shepard was the find of the evening, at least for audiences unfamiliar with her five years of acting and singing on Ally McBeal.” The Theatermania.com critic called the Newman/Shepard duet of “Feels Like Home” “one of the year’s great stage moments to date.” New York Times theater critic Christopher Isherwood weighed in with a rave, too, calling her duet with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer on “Feels Like Home” “the song that received the warmest reception” and adding: “Ms. Shepard’s soulful singing brought out the yearning quality in Mr. Newman’s own.”

With over 12 million album sales to her name, two Golden Globes, two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actor's Guild Awards as well as the Billboard prize for selling the most television soundtrack records in history for the hit TV series “Ally McBeal,” Vonda is a world-renowned artist who continues to delight audiences with her magnanimous live performances. She dedicates songs, tells stories, and-at the same time-projects dynamic charisma and intimacy with her audience.

Over the past few years Vonda has opened for Sugarland, who once opened for her, and she has performed live with the Indigo Girls and The Funk Brothers (a highlight of her life), and has shared the stage at music festivals with Sting, The Eurythmics, Santana, and Matchbox 20. She is also known for "Can't We Try," her duet with Dan Hill, which hit number 6 in 1987. She played keyboards and sang with Rickie Lee Jones, Al Jarreau, and Jackson Browne, eventually opening for Browne in the U.S. and Asia. Fans all over the world have been listening to Vonda for years, and there's a reason why Vonda Shepard live is getting the attention of fans everywhere.

Vonda Shepard's "Need Your Love"

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