Dave Stewart - Blackbird Diaries

Dave Stewart - The partnership with Annie Lennox in 80's pop juggernaut Eurythmics is just a memory, but Stewart's able fingers continue to be in a number of interesting musical ventures, whether producing albums for Joss Stone and Stevie Nicks, writing the West London musical version of Ghost with Glen Ballard, collaborating with the likes of Dylan, Petty, Bono, Jagger or putting his own music to the test, as he does on this exceptionally solid and diverse new project // Release: Blackbird Diaries (June 28, Razor & Tie) // Sounds like: recording at Nashville's Blackbird Studios lends the album a nice, grimy country finish, the occasional steel guitar colliding with his own rootsy riffs...while entertaining guests like Stevie Nicks, Martina McBride, Colbie Caillat and The Secret Sisters, this is clearly still Stewart's own show as he digs into blues-inflected Stones-ian rock, moody ballads and ragged Americana...

Quote: “This was my favorite time ever in the studio, I wrote most of the songs on the spot and recorded all of them in one incredible session lasting 5 days and nights." // What we like: Martina and Colbie each turn in a nicely nuanced duets on the mournful "Bullet Proof Vest" and "All Messed Up"...the seamless mix of country acoustic strut to full-blown blues/rock intensity (and then back again) on "Magic In the Blues" pretty much sums up what this album is capable of...

Dave Stewart - "Bullet Proof Vest" (featuring Colbie Caillat) (from Blackbird Diaries)

Dave Stewart - "Magic In the Blues" (from Blackbird Diaries)