Today, Mark Erelli unveils “Blindsided,” the title track and latest single from his forthcoming LP, out march 27th via Soundly Music. “The word has negative connotations, but I thought it would be interesting to use it in the context of a love song,” the award-winning singer/songwriter told The Bluegrass Situation. “Sure, you can be blindsided by an attack or caught unprepared by stormy weather. But love also has a funny way of finding you when you least expect it, regardless of whether you’re looking for it or not. With its soaring vocal harmonies, majestic strings and the band firing on all cylinders, this track really embodies and hints at all the sonic elements to come on the album.”
LISTEN: “BLINDSIDED”
“Blindsided” follows the release of “A Little Kindness” via American Songwriter, which said: “For Erelli, music is a way to appreciate the world and the people in his life. And perhaps most acutely, the practice of music has taught Erelli the beauty of sublimation and reinforced the joy of helping others achieve their dreams, which, in turn, helps Erelli also achieve his.”
LISTEN: “A LITTLE KINDNESS”
Erelli has forged a colorful career by making the art of “being everywhere all the time” seem effortless. It’s hard to think of another artist who seems equally at home serving as a sideman for GRAMMY-winning artists like Paula Cole, Marc Cohn, and Josh Ritter, or producing albums for Lori McKenna, as he does writing and producing his own material, like last year’s “By Degrees,” on which he was joined by a host of voices including Rosanne Cash and Sheryl Crow. That song was nominated for “Song Of The Year” at the 2019 Americana Music Awards, and served to reintroduce Erelli to a wider audience. And just in time, because Blindsided combines the exuberance of Erelli’s signature sound with the wisdom that comes with over 20 years of songwriting, capturing an artist at a point in his career where he is clearly digging deep and swinging for the fences.
Blindsided, a step in a different sonic direction for Erelli, is an unflinching examination of the distance between innocence and experience. The album was forged in a process of reckoning, of taking stock of the soul, and being pleasantly surprised. Mining the same gritty yet soulful territory as John Hiatt’s Bring The Family or Bonnie Raitt’s Nick Of Time, Erelli contemplates the delicate tension between love and commitment, faith and family, disillusionment and hope. But this isn’t a confession from the therapist’s couch, it’s rock ’n roll, and Erelli is clearly taking his cues from heroes like Petty and Prine. To create the soundtrack that reflected this reinvigorated approach to songwriting, Erelli consulted his mental list of fellow musicians with whom he had forged connections in recent years, and realized they all lived in Nashville. So, he made the trek to the Music City, with best friend and multi-instrumentalist/producer Zachariah Hickman in tow, curious to see what effect a change in geography, personnel, and context would produce. With the help of drummer Jamie Dick (Rhiannon Giddens, Our Native Daughters), guitarist Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell, Josh Ritter), Kai Welch (Molly Tuttle, Kacey Musgraves) on keys, producer Hickman on bass, and Dan Knobler (Lake Street Dive, Caroline Spence) recording and mixing, the result couldn’t have been more unanticipated. Against the backdrop of Blindsided’s hungrier, hook-laden sound, with the inspired addition of a string quartet on half of the album, Erelli has never sounded more passionate or vital. Over the course of Blindsided’s 11 tracks, the message of each song is distilled to its purest form, as fearlessly honest in perspective as it is straightforward in its delivery.
TOUR DATES
2/28 - Port City Music Hall - Portland, ME
3/5 - Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation - Waltham, MA
3/6 - The Stone Church - Brattleboro, VT
3/7 - Narrows Center For The Arts - Fall River, MA
3/20 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI
3/21 - The Kent Stage - Kent, OH
3/25 - Club Passim - Cambridge, MA
4/23 - Ripspique Lier, Lier, Belgium
4/24 - Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
4/25 - SPOT Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
4/26 - Theater Junushoff, Wageningen, Netherlands
4/29 - Rogue Theatre - Grants Pass, OR
4/30 - Aladdin Theater - Portland, OR
5/1 - Historic Everett Theatre - Everett, WA
5/2 - McMenamins Elks Temple - Tacoma, WA
5/6 - Rockwood Music Hall - New York, NY
5/8 - The Parlor Room - Northampton, MA
5/9 - Club Passim - Cambridge, MA
5/12 - Woodbury Brewing Company - Woodbury, CT
5/13 - One Longfellow Square - Portland, ME
5/14 - Caffe Lena - Saratoga Springs, NY
5/15 - The Word Barn - Exeter, NH
5/17 - Cotuit Center for the Arts - Cotuit, MA
5/19 - Hangin’ & Sangin @ Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY
5/21 - The Kessler Theater - Dallas, TX
5/22 Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX