Press Release
Source: Mark Pucci Media
Iconic roots singer Tracy Nelson, who burst onto the Rock and Roll scene in the mid-1960s as lead singer in the San Francisco-based group Mother Earth and her legendary vocals on the classic, “Down So Low,” will release her first album in over 10 years, Life Don’t Miss Nobody, June 9th on the BMG label.
Joining Tracy are some of her favorite musical friends, including Willie Nelson, Charlie Musselwhite, Irma Thomas, Marcia Ball, Jontavious Willis, Mickey Raphael and Terry Hanck. Life Don’t Miss Nobody was produced by Roger Alan Nichols with Tracy Nelson and recorded in Nashville, as well as several other studios.
Tracy Nelson possesses one of the most powerful voices in American music and has emerged from a lengthy recording hiatus with the album of a lifetime, a musical self-portrait spanning her entire career. Life Don’t Miss Nobody is a 13 track collection that stretches back to her start as a guitar-picking Wisconsin teen playing coffeehouses, through an unparalleled career now in its sixth decade, singing blues, country, New Orleans R&B and gospel, and performing in storied music meccas in her epic, genre- busting musical journey.
“I haven’t made a record in over 10 years,” Tracy says. “I’ve been wanting to do every one of these songs for a really long time. I wanted to get a little bit of everything, all the kinds of music that I love.”
The title song is a brand-new composition from the woman whose “Down So Low” has become a modern standard. She’s kept busy performing and recording with long-time musical friends in projects like Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues and with the freewheeling all-star Blues Broads – Angela Strehli, Annie Sampson and Dorothy Morrison. Even so, roots lovers have waited a long time for a new Tracy Nelson album, and no one’s more excited than Tracy.
Life Don’t Miss Nobody is Tracy Nelson’s own Great American Songbook, featuring iconic composers like Hank Williams, Ma Rainey, Willie Dixon, Allen Toussaint, Chuck Berry, Doc Pomus, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Founding Father of American Song, Stephen Foster. Foster’s “Hard Times” in here twice, both featuring Tracy on 12-string guitar: the first time she’s recorded on guitar since her 1964 Prestige Records debut, Deep Are The Roots.
Tracy’s labor of love includes the album’s personnel. Produced by Roger Alan Nichols (Steven Tyler, Larkin Poe) Life Don’t Miss Nobody features the state-of-the-art roots rhythm section of piano masters Kevin McKendree (Delbert McClinton, Brian Setzer,) and Steve Conn (Bonnie Raitt, Sonny Landreth), bassist Byron House (Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Nashville A-list drummer, John Gardner (Dixie Chicks, Taylor Swift), Larry Chaney (Edwin McCain) and Mike Henderson (SteelDrivers, Chris Stapleton) on guitars. “I’ve recorded with every one of these guys many times, with exception of Kevin McKendree, who absolutely killed,” she says. “Each time I think I know what I’ll get from them and each time they surpass my expectations, make the songs more wonderful than I could have imagined and make my job easy and fun.”
That joy continues in the rest of the sessions featuring a stellar crew of session players including Mike Dysinger on percussion, Doug Mosher on clarinet, Mike Johnson on pedal steel, and the fabulous Belmont horn section- Chase Carpenter, Jack Warner, Gabriel Collings and Dominique Caster – Chase Carpenter arranger. In addition, Tracy is joined by longtime musical pals Robert Cray sideman, producer and multiple Blues Music Award keyboard winner, Jim Pugh, singer/tenor saxist also multiple BMA instrumentalist award winner, songwriter, Terry Hanck, superb singers and artists in their own right, Reba Russell, Dianne Davidson and Vickie Carrico and Jontavious Willis, a leader of the Deep Blues youth movement, with a duet on Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Your Funeral and My Trial.”
“I cannot say enough about what a gem Roger Nichols is. He’s a brilliant engineer, as well as musician. As a producer he brings not only superb technical expertise but great insight, patience and just the right amount of direction.”
The guest list is just a perfect fit, featuring legendary artists and friends who’ve been part of her life for many years. Harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite, who, back in the ‘60s introduced Tracy to Chicago’s Southside blues clubs and played on her first album, is here on Willie Dixon’s plea for peace, “It Don’t Make Sense.”
Tracy’s anecdotal suitcase is packed with more great stories about her special guests on the new disc. On Willie Nelson: “Willie’s producer and the engineer at the session said that he put more creative effort into doing that song than they’ve ever seen him do. I was so honored by his respect.” Famous for his unique vocal turns, he can leave duet partners in the dust, but Tracy is particularly proud of that track. “I challenge anyone to get as close with Willie’s phrasing as I did” she exults. “It was such fun singing with him again.”
The title track, written by Tracy and her partner Mike Dysinger, is the album’s emotional centerpiece. It’s a harrowing song of loss and the fragility of life, shaped by the pandemic and again, war in Ukraine and floods and fires. The title refers to life’s hardships inevitably coming for us all. Yet, even in devastating lines like “The world has a way of taking back its toys,” it finds reassurance in its fatalism.
The track, “Where Do You Go (When You Can’t Go Home),” brings back more fond memories about its genesis. “Marcia and I wrote that years ago,” Tracy says, recalling the idea came after an argument with a soon-to-be ex. “I sent the chorus and part of the first verse to Marcia and she turned it into an anthem about Katrina. And that song just keeps being current. Folks in Ukraine, folks in fire and flood zones, people in general keep losing their homes. ”
Life Don’t Miss Nobody Track Listing and Credits
Strange Things Happening Every Day – Public Domain/Sister Rosetta Tharpe / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson/Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Mike Henderson/ Background Vocals – The Angelics (John Gardner/Byron House/Mike Henderson/Kevin McKendree
There Is Always One More Time – writers: Ken Hirsch & Doc Pomus / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Electric Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Larry Chaney/ Background Vocals-Dianne Davidson, Vickie Carrico, Reba Russell, Issac Ferguson Dillard / Featured Guest: Harmonica-Mickey Raphael
Life Don’t Miss Nobody – writers: Mike Dysinger & Tracy Nelson / Lead Vocal/Wurlitzer Piano– Tracy Nelson/ Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Piano-Steve Conn / Acoustic Guitar & Cuatro-Larry Chaney/ Congas & Guiro-Mike Dysinger / Alto Sax-Jack Warner / Trumpet-Dominique Caster / Trombone &-Chase Carpenter (*arrangement)
Your Funeral And My Trial – writer: Sonny Boy Williamson / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Mike Henderson/ Featured Guest: Jontavious Willis-Vocal and Resonator Guitar
Yonder Come The Blues –Public Doman/Ma Rainey / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Piano-Steve Conn / Electric Guitar-Larry Chaney /Clarinet-Doug Mosher
I Did My Part – writer: Naomi Neville aka: Allen Toussaint / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Electric Bass-Byron House / Electric Guitar-Roger Alan Nichols / Piano-Kevin McKendree/Background Vocals-Tracy Nelson, Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas / Featured Vocals-Irma Thomas & Marcia Ball/ Baritone Sax-Jack Warner / Trumpet – Dominique Caster / Tenor Sax-Gabriel Collins (Carpenter Arrangement)
Hard Times – Public Domain/Stephen Foster / Lead Vocal & 12 String Guitar – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Bowed Upright Bass-Byron House / Accordion-Steve Conn / B3 Organ-Jim Pugh/Electric Guitar-Larry Chaney / Background Vocals-Dianne Davidson, Vickie Carrico, Reba Russell
Honky Tonkin’ – writer: Hank Williams / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Larry Chaney-Electric Guitar / Steel Guitar-Mike Johnson/Acoustic Guitar-Roger Alan Nichols / Harmonica-Mickey Raphael / Featured Guest Vocal – Willie Nelson
It Don’t Make Sense – writer: Willie Dixon / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Electric Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Mike Henderson/Background Vocals-Tracy Nelson, Issac Ferguson Dillard / Featured Guest: Harmonica-Charlie Musselwhite
Compared To What – writer: Gene McDaniels / Lead Vocal – Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Roger Alan Nichols/Featured Guest: Vocals and Sax-Terry Hanck
Where Do You Go (When You Can’t Go Home) – writers: Tracy Nelson/Marcia Ball / Lead Vocal-Tracy Nelson/ Drums-John Gardner / Electric Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Roger Alan Nichols/ B3 Organ-Jim Pugh / Background Vocals-Tracy Nelson, Dianne Davidson, Vickie Carrico, Reba Russell, Issac Ferguson Dillard
Brown Eyed Handsome Man – writer: Chuck Berry / Lead Vocal Tracy Nelson
Drums-John Gardner / Upright Bass-Byron House / Piano-Kevin McKendree / Electric Guitar-Larry Chaney/ Background Vocals-Dianne Davidson, Vickie Carrico, Reba Russell / Featured Guest Vocals – Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Reba Russell, Dianne Davidson, Vickie Carrico
Hard Times (Solo Version) – Public Domain/Stephen Foster / Lead Vocal & Acoustic 12 String-Tracy Nelson
