Joe Purdy announces new album Who Will Be Next? Out June 10
Announces June Tour
Shares Song “Cairo Walls”
Folksinger Joe Purdy is releasing a new album, Who Will Be Next? on June 10. Purdy also announces today a national headlining tour starting June 9 in Seattle, WA.
With Who Will Be Next? the Los Angeles-based, Arkansas-native has made an album that serves as a searing commentary on the times. Purdy explained the impetus for making this type of album, “I realized that we‘re living in a time that‘s both interesting and kind of insane. This made me feel a little lazy about just writing love songs. There were things that needed to be said. Whatever difference I might or might not make, it was time for me to try.” And he more than tries, he succeeds in framing modern life around the influence of classic folk artists like Dylan and Guthrie.
The album, with a warm sound achieved through the use of vintage analog recording equipment, has many highlights including, “New Year’s Eve,” the apt opening for Who Will Be Next? It’s not a song of resolutions but a call for hope, for unity and peace after a very bad year with a track that could have been recorded at Muscle Shoals or Stax in the 1960’s. The title song, “Who Will Be Next,” features Scarlet Rivera’s haunting violin over a minor waltz while Purdy laments the song’s title. “Children Of Privilege” has thematic bonds to Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s “Fortunate Son” and wouldn‘t sound out of place on an early pre-electric Bob Dylan album. “Cairo Walls” is not about Egypt, but about the Midwest, and specifically the ghost town that is Cairo, Illinois, a city where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet, a place that should be a capitol of commercialism but was decimated by racism in the 1960’s when stubborn business owners closed their doors and left town rather than segregate. Purdy shares this song here. With “Maybe We’ll All Get Along Some Day” Purdy remains optimistic in his belief that compassion will prevail.
Who Will Be Next? is not only Purdy’s most ambitious album to date but a must listen for anyone looking for reminder of humanity in these days of polarization and social unrest. If there ever was an album that fully speaks to the change that is urgently needed to bring people together just when at times they seem so far apart This Is It.
Garrison Starr is on all dates except those marked with *
June 09 Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater
June 10 Portland, OR @ The Alberta Rose Theatre
June 11 Bend, OR @ Volcanic Theatre Pub
June 12 Boise, ID @ eurolux
June 14 Denver, CO @ The Bluebird Theater
June 15 Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room
June 17 Phoenix, AZ @ Musical Instrument Museum
June 20 Houston, TX @ Walter
June 21 Austin, TX @ Parish
June 22 Dallas, TX @ The Kessler
June 24 New Orleans, LA @ The Parish at House of Blues
June 25 Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay
June 26 Louisville, KY @ The New Vintage
June 28 Washington DC @ The Hamilton
July 2 Clayton, NY @ Clayton Opera House
July 6 Pawling, NY @ Daryl‘s House*
July 7 New Hope, PA @ New Hope Winery*
