Rodney Crowell Announces New Album, Music Video, Tour Dates

Rodney Crowell is set to release Close Ties on March 31, supported with a music video in addition to an upcoming tour and Grammy Museum conversation and performance.

The 10-song album (track listing below) will be released via New West Records, and is Crowell’s first in over three years, following his duets project with Emmylou Harris, The Traveling Kind. Jordan Lehning and Kim Buie co-produced Close Ties, which features a duet with Sheryl Crow and a vocal collaboration with John Paul White and Crowell’s ex-wife Rosanne Cash. “It Ain’t Over Yet” is the first time Crowell and Cash have appeared on record together since 1988, “It’s Such A Small World,” which was Crowell’s first chart-topping song.

Rolling Stone Country premiered the video for Crowell’s collaboration with White and Cash, “It Ain’t Over Yet,” which also features legendary harmonica player Mickey Raphael.

Close Ties is a loose concept record that ranges from songs about Crowell’s childhood in Texas (“East Houston Blues”) to songs about arriving in Nashville as a young songwriter (“Nashville 1972”) to songs about friends (the anguished “Life Without Susanna”) and lovers lost (“Forgive Me Annabelle”).

“I have declared my loyalty to Americana. It’s a hard category for people to get their heads around, or at least the terminology is. But all the people who represent it – Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and more recent stars like John Paul White and Jason Isbell – share a common thread, and that thread is poet,” says Crowell. “Whether they are actual poets or their music exemplifies a poetic sensibility, generally speaking, the Americana artist shuns commercial compromise in favor of a singular vision. Which resonates with me.”

Close Ties will be available on compact disc, LP, and is now available for digital pre-order.

The Americana Music Association and the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles have also announced An Evening With Rodney Crowell on Monday, Jan. 23. The conversation and performance will kickoff the 2017 Americana Series at the Museum’s 200-seat Clive Davis Theater and will be moderated by Scott Goldman, Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares. Crowell has also announced tour dates in advance and in support of Close Ties, kicking off February 14 in New Braunfels, Texas (Dates below with more to be announced).

Close Ties Track Listing:

1. East Houston Blues
2. Reckless
3. Life Without Susanna
4. It Ain’t Over Yet (featuring Rosanne Cash & John Paul White)
5. I Don’t Care Anymore
6. I’m Tied To Ya (featuring Sheryl Crow)
7. Forgive Me Annabelle
8. Forty Miles From Nowhere
9. Storm Warning
10. Nashville 1972

Rodney Crowell On Tour (More Dates To Be Announced):
February 14 – New Braunfels, TX @ Brauntex Theater
February 15 – Tomball, TX @ Main Street Crossing
February 16 – Tomball, TX @ Main Street Crossing
February 19-26 – The Cayamo Cruise
March 14 – Aspen, CO @ Wheeler Opera House
March 15 – Ft. Collins, CO @ The Armory
March 16 – Boulder, CO @ eTown
March 23 – Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads
March 24 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
March 25 – Chicago, IL @ City Winery
March 30 – New York, NY @ City Winery
March 31 – Sellersville, PA @ Sellersville Theater
April 1 – Washington, DC @ The Hamilton
April 7 – Austin, TX @ Paramount Theater (*Darrell K. Royal Homecoming Show)
May 7 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Lobero Theater
May 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
May 10 – Berkeley, CA @ Freight & Salvage
May 13 – Olympia, WA @ Capitol Theater
September 16 – Bristol, TN @ Bristol Rhythm & Roots Festival