Goodbye to Blue Note...
From beginning to end the whole Blue Note affair lasted about two years. In the context of of impending shake-ups with parent companies EMI and Terra-Firma, Blue Note decided last week not to pick up the option to renew my contract.
I think of it as bittersweet because I really enjoyed working with the whole team. I still remember Bruce Lundvall calling me when he heard the Beauty & Crime demos for the first time, he called me at home on a Sunday. It was impressive to me that he was so excited by the poetry in the lyrics. It was great working with Tom Evered and Eli Wolf - they really believed in the project and were excited by it, and Shanieka and Meg and JR and Dan were wonderful - creative, respectful, and hard-working.
That's the sweet part - the bitter part was that it didn’t sell enough copies, especially here in America. This of course is an industry-wide problem, but it’s still a big fat drag.
The reviews for Beauty & Crime were among the best reviews I have ever received, and the press when it came out (not even a year ago!) was really great. Still, it's time now to face the future.
I have a lot of ideas about what to do. I start this year’s touring in a couple of weeks and intend to release another album next year. So please wish me luck and stay tuned!
Thursday, June 5, 2008