popwreckoning

Just today, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers announced a 2010 North American tour and the upcoming release of Mojo, their first studio album in eight years, this spring. The tour will take the band through a mix of top arenas and amphitheaters across the US and Canada beginning May 6th in Raleigh, NC. Tickets go on sale beginning Monday, March 8 at LiveNation.com. Special guest artists on the tour will include a mix of appearances by My Morning Jacket, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker, ZZ Top, and Drive By Truckers.

All 2010 tour tickets purchased online will include an MP3 download of every track on Mojo. Once fans purchase tickets online, they will receive an email with codes entitling them to download two tracks from Mojo (“First Flash Of Freedom” and “Good Enough.”) Then, on the release date of the album, currently slated for this spring, ticket buyers will be sent a download of the entire album. Also included with every online ticket purchase, to be delivered at the end of the 2010 tour, will be a selection of live tracks recorded during the tour. Pretty good perks for what are sure to be pricey tickets.

Tour Dates:
May 06 – Time Warner Cable Pavilion at Walnut Creek / Raleigh, NC *
May 07 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre / Charlotte, NC*
May 09 -  St. Pete Times Forum / Tampa *
May 15 -  Superpages.com Center / Dallas *
May 16 -  Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion / Houston *
May 18 -  US Airways Arena / Phoenix *
May 22 – Hollywood Bowl / Los Angeles *
Jun 02 -  Cricket Wireless Pavilion / San Diego *
Jun 03 -  Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre / Irvine, Ca. *
Jun 05 -  Oracle Pavilion / Oakland, Ca. *
Jun 08 -  GM Place / Vancouver *
Jun 11 -  The Gorge / Seattle *
Jun 12 -  The Gorge / Seattle *
Jun 15 -  Pengrowth Saddledome / Calgary *
Jun 16 -  Rexall Place / Edmonton *
Jun 19 -  MTS Centre / Winnipeg *
Jun 22 -  Xcel Energy Center / St. Paul ^
Jun 23 - Qwest Center / Omaha ^
Jun 25 -  Summerfest / Milwaukee
Jul 10 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre / Indianapolis ^
Jul 13 – Sprint Center / Kansas City ^
Jul 15 – Riverbend Music Center / Cincinnati ^
Jul 17 - United Center / Chicago ^
Jul 20 – Blossom Music Center / Cleveland ^
Jul 22 - Palace of Auburn Hills / Detroit ^
Jul 24 - First Niagra Pavilion / Pittsburgh ^
Jul 28 - Madison Square Garden / New York City
Jul 31  – Wachovia Center / Philadelphia
Aug 11 - Philips Arena / Atlanta #
Aug 12 - Sommet Center / Nashville #
Aug 14 – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center / Darien Lake, NY #
Aug 15 – Jiffy Lube Live / Bristow #
Aug 17 – Comcast Theater / Hartford, Ct. #
Aug 19 - Comcast Center / Boston %
Aug 21 – Comcast Center / Boston %
Aug 24 - IZOD Center / East Rutherford, NJ %
Aug 25 – Air Canada Center / Toronto #
Aug 27 - Saratoga Performing Arts Center / Saratoga Springs, Fl. #

* w/ Joe Cocker
^ w/Drive-By Truckers
# w/ Crosby, Stills and Nash
% w/ My Morning Jacket

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: website | myspace

Hands down, Ray LaMontagne is one of the best kept secrets in music. Influenced by Richard Manuel and Rick Danko of The Band and Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, LaMontagne is best know for his soft-spoken demeanor and raspy voice. His new album, Gossip in the Grain, is no stray from that signature sound. Produced by Ethan Johns, the mastermind behind Gold and Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams and On My Way by Ben Kweller, Gossip in the Grain proves to be his “most creative and emotionally expansive collection to date,” according to LaMontagne himself. This is a pretty bold statement, considering just how emotionally charged Trouble and Till The Sun Turns Black, LaMontagne’s previous two album’s, also produced by Johns, were.

The album itself, a medley of strings, acoustic guitar and brass, reminds me more of a classic rock album than that of one in the genre of indie. In all actuality, this album is far more Van Morrison than Bright Eyes. The album’s opening track “You Are the Best Thing” in fact, borders on being a comfortable fit in the Motown scene. Featuring an handful of blasting, Memphis style horn work, LaMontagne kick starts Gossip in the Grain in an upbeat and uncharacteristically positive manner. Surprisingly enough, however, he walks this line of change in a fairly effective manner.

Not to sway completely from the melancholy that has fueled his career for three albums now, “Sarah,” named after his wife, serves as a collection of pleasant memories, followed by a confession of angst and anger, resulting in the abandonment of those people and things in which the narrator finds comfort in. Upon the realization that these acts might leave him painfully alone, he asks of his wife, “Sarah, is it ever going to be the same?” composing one of the most heart-felt and candid emotional moments on an album. LaMontagne continues pulling on the heartstrings with “Winter Birds.” LaMontagne’s voice is the focus as this track is stripped of almost all instrument save for a dusting of acoustic guitar strums.

The next few songs are LaMontagne’s most playful to date. In a silly love song tribute to the bashful Meg White of The White Stripes, LaMontagne sings, “Meg White, you’re alright. I think you’re pretty special can’t you tell?” The opening guitar ironically opens with a variation of the melody from the White Stripes’ single “Conquest.” This song is followed by the blues grass number, “Hey Me, Hey Mama.” This banjo-plucking number peaks with a fun muted trumpet solo.

The album closes with the beautiful regret-filled “A Falling Through.” Guitar slides and the gentle vocals of Leona Naess support LaMontagne on this number. Naess again joins on LaMontagne on title track and album closer “Gossip in the Grain.” With the character of the “old crow” and the moral in the last line, “Truth be: the beggar that holds his tongue, dines on none, none but air alone,” this is what an Aesop’s fable would be if put into a song with flute and violin.

Gossip in the Grain is available now.

Tracklisting:
01. You Are The Best Thing
02. Let It Be
03. Sarah
04. I Still Care For You
05. Winter Birds
06. Meg White
07. Hey Me, Hey Mama
08. Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s A Shame)
09. A Falling through
10. Gossip In The Grain

Ray LaMontagne: website | myspace

Co-Written by: Joshua and Bethany