Soul icon Al Green releases his brand-new album of contemporary collaborations, titled Lay It Down, on Blue Note May 27th. The new set finds Green performing vocal duets with the likes of John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Anthony Hamilton, as well as other new material with support from The Roots and their producer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson.
The current single from the set, "Stay With Me (By The Sea)" by Green featuring Legend, is climbing the urban adult radio charts.
Green says he has long admired the talents of his duet partners: "Well I like Anthony Hamilton's work, I think he's good. I like Corinne Bailey Rae, I think she's a very exciting artist and you know she's very attractive and a very exciting artist. John Legend, he's doing real good, so we wound up working with those people."
The project features all brand-new tunes that Green created with producers Thompson and James Poyser. The artist had plenty of praise to go around for all, including bassist Adam Blackstone and engineer Jon Smeltz, during the recording process: "I thought they were very professional. I thought the bass player was just incredible, James the organ player and piano player, he's just incredible. John Smeltz our producer and engineer in the studio was just so super on the digital computer, you know. So it made it really easy from what it has been in the past."
Green will kick off a series of summer concert dates, which include the following:
June 20 - Rochester, NY - Eastman Theatre
June 27 - New York, NY - Carnegie Hall
June 29 - Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Resort & Casino
July 4 - Bossier City, LA - Horseshoe Casino & Hotel
July 5 - Robinsonville, MS - Tunica Grand Casino
July 11 - Detroit, MI - Freedom Hill Amphitheatre
July 12 - Chicago, IL - Charter One Pavilion
July 15 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap/Filene Center
July 16 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Ampitheater
July 18 - Niagara Falls, NY - Seneca Niagra Casino
August 31 - Denver, CO - Denver Botanic Gardens
September 1 - Beaver Creek, CO - Vilar Center for the Arts
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