A guy who knows a thing or two about songwriting, Paul McCartney, once said, "You can judge a man's character by the way he treats his fellow animals." Indeed, every dog lover knows how someone interacts with their dogs tells you all you need to know about them as a person.

Halfway through my Zoom call with another iconic songwriter, Neil Diamond, his dogs start barking in the background. After they are brought in the house, Diamond says to them, "What's all the barking about, doggies?"

Then he says, to me, "They want to get their two cents in," before playfully turning back to them and saying, "Everybody sit, pay attention to this now."

Another iconic quote is you should never meet your heroes. But Diamond absolutely proves that's not true. You can see just by how he speaks with his dogs he really is who fans think he is, the same thoughtful, caring writer behind so many classic songs like "September Morn," "Sweet Caroline," "Play Me," "Heartlight" and countless more.

It is 14 of those classics that make up his superb new album, Classic Diamonds, a pairing with the London Symphony Orchestra. Diamond does very few interviews these days. But having had the honor of doing multiple sets of liner notes with him over the years I was lucky enough to get 45 minutes on Zoom with Diamond to talk about the new album, baseball and have him take me through the songwriting stories of some of his most iconic songs.

When one of the great American songwriters opens up on the stories behind his songs it is an incredible treat that should be treasured.

Baltin: There have been so many great collaborations over the years between artists and symphonies. Why is it is appealing as an artist to you?

Diamond: Why not? They're great musicians and you can get a fresh take on some of these songs. I recommend it.

Baltin: So, what changed your mind to do the project?

Diamond: I just started to make interpretations and demos of each of the songs that I really liked. And it turned out we could get 14 on the album. I liked the way they sounded doing them different and they are different. So, thanks to Steve Barnett I have kind of a new album. I like that.

Baltin: Abbey Road is a special place in terms of music history. Did you feel that being there?

Diamond: There's a lot of history in that place, but there's a lot of history in pretty much every recording studio you go to. But for Abbey Road studio, even my son, who's a youngster and d did the photography on the album, was impressed by the fact that it was Abbey Road. He knew what that was and what it meant. If it's good enough for the Beatles, it's good enough for me.

Baltin: Some of the most different arrangements from the originals are "I'm A Believer" and "I Am... I Said." How did you feel when you first heard those arrangements?

Diamond: I loved it and I loved the work that that the arrangers, William Ross, and Walter Afanasieff did. That's all I can say about that. They struck me the best. I probably tried a few that I didn't like as much.

Baltin: I was also thinking recently about another interview we did years ago about your love of the Brooklyn Dodgers and how their moving to L.A. broke your heart. Did you forgive them and are you excited about their World Series win?


Diamond: I got over the Brooklyn thing in 1988 when they beat Oakland. And then this series that just came up I followed everything. I didn't know they were going to win, but I did follow them. I forgave them and said, "Let's get on with it and win another series ring." And they did, it made me very happy. I wrote a little note or two to about a dozen of my friends. We didn't gloat, but we sure were happy.

Checkout the full interview at Forbes Magazine:

Credits: https://www.forbes.com/ Interview by Steve Baltin

Eric Clapton and Van Morrison have delayed the release of their new song collaboration, “Stand and Deliver.” The track, to protest the British government’s latest decision to lockdown the country, will now be released on December 18, according to an announcement Morrison posted on his social media platforms on Dec. 2. A brief clip of the song, written by Morrison and sung by Clapton, was first teased on Nov. 27, and was originally planned for a Dec. 4 release. The pair of classic rock legends have taken heat for their stance. “Take a look in the mirror,” Clapton sings. Listen to the 18-second clip of the song below.

The track is the latest in a series of anti-lockdown songs that Morrison has written and recorded as part of his “Save Live Music” campaign. In September and October, he released three songs to protest the ongoing restrictions.

Variety quotes Clapton as saying, “There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration. We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover.”

“Eric’s recording is fantastic and will clearly resonate with the many who share our frustrations,” said Morrison. “It is heart-breaking to see so many talented musicians lack any meaningful support from the government, but we want to reassure them that we are working hard every day to lobby for the return of live music, and to save our industry.”

Morrison performed the first of several socially distanced concerts for 2020 on Sept. 3 in Newcastle, U.K., and then two more in the London borough of Camden, on Sept. 5-6. The dates followed his Aug. 25 statement in which he railed upon the “pseudo-science” associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I call on my fellow singers, musicians, writers, producers, promoters and others in the industry to fight with me on this,” he wrote. “Come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up.” He turned 75 on August 31.

Clapton is a few months older than Morrison, having turned 75 last March 30.

On March 3, 2020, just prior to the closing down of much of the concert industry for the year, the classic rock legends performed together at a charity event.

At that Music For the Marsden concert, Clapton joined Morrison on the latter’s recent, “Three Chords and the Truth.”

Credits: By Best Classic Bands Staff

James Taylor Releases Surprise EP Featuring Unheard ‘Over The Rainbow’ It’s a companion piece to his acclaimed and highly successful ‘American Standard’ album and includes three previously unreleased tracks from those sessions.

James Taylor has today (Friday) shared a surprise new three-track release, Over The Rainbow – The American Standard EP. It’s a companion piece to his acclaimed and highly successful American Standard album, which came out in February, and includes three previously unreleased tracks from those sessions.

The lead among these is the great singer-songwriter’s version of “Over The Rainbow,” the beloved song from The Wizard of Oz written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. It’s accompanied by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner’s “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face,” from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, and “Never Never Land,” written by Jules Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green for the 1954 musical Peter Pan.

From next Friday (27), an extended CD version of the American Standard album featuring these three additional tracks will be available from Amazon.

“I’m so glad these three songs are getting a general release,” says Taylor. “My solo guitar version of ‘Over the Rainbow’ has two points worth mentioning: first it keeps Yip Yarberg’s original introductory verse, which is rare, though the song is forever popular. And second: its arrangement has more variations than any other ‘Rainbow’ I’ve heard – it’s one chordy chart.”

He goes on: “‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face’ is from one of my parents’ favorite records, the cast recording of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady. ‘…damn, damn, damn, damn, damn…I’ve grown accustomed to her face…’ Henry Higgins reluctantly realizes that he loves Liza Doolittle. Stuart Duncan plays a lovely tuned-down violin.

Beaten to it by his brother

“Another favorite from that family record collection was yet another cast album from another Broadway musical: Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin. My little brother, Livingston beat me to it years ago but here, also, is my version of the dreamy idyl, ‘Never Never Land.’ Thank you for listening…”

American Standard was Taylor’s 19th studio album in a recording career of more than 50 years. It sold over 82,000 equivalent album units in its first week in the US for a No.4 debut on the Billboard 200 and No.1 on Top Album Sales, Top Rock, and Top Americana/Folk charts. It was his 13th US Top 10 album overall and he thus became the first artist to score Top 10 albums in each of the last six decades. The album entered the Canadian chart at No.1 and opened at No.11 in the UK, where it was also the top-selling sales album of the week.

CREDITS: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/ Paul Sexton

TOMMY EMMANUEL, the acclaimed and Grammy-nominated acoustic guitarist, singer, and songwriter, will release a live holiday album, LIVE! CHRISTMAS TIME, on December 4 via his label CGP Sounds along with Cruzen Street Records. Today (November 20), “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” has been released as the first song from the album. This marks EMMANUEL’s first Christmas live album having released two studio holiday albums before (2011’s All I Want For Christmas and 2016’s Christmas Memories).

Combining EMMANUEL’s acoustic guitar virtuosity with his stellar band’s musicianship and infectious holiday spirit, the 11-track LIVE! CHRISTMAS TIME (a digital release only) was recorded on December 7 and 8 in 2016 on his “Classics & Christmas Tour” at the Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA. It features Tommy Emmanuel, CGP on guitar & vocals, Annie Sellick on vocals, John Knowles, CGP on guitar & backing vocals, and Pat Bergeson on guitar, harmonica, and backing vocals. The album was produced by Tommy Emmanuel, engineered, and mastered by Marc DeSisto, mixed by Brad Benge and Tommy Emmanuel, with Brian Penix as Executive Producer. See the full track listing below.

“When I listen to this recording, I hear the joy, soul and fun we had at that show,” says EMMANUEL. “Christmas music is so joyous to me and I feel we rose to the occasion that night.” On Sunday, December 13, Tommy Emmanuel, and revered dobro player Jerry Douglas (14-time GRAMMY Award-winning and three-time Country Music Association Musician of the Year) will perform together songs from each other’s Christmas albums live from 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, TN.

Joining them will be Pat Bergeson (guitar/harmonica), Daniel Kimbro (bass), and Christian Sedelmyer (fiddle). A limited amount of fans will be allowed in the audience. This show will be broadcasted live on Nashville radio station Lightning 100 and streamed on Nugs.TV.

CREDITS: By Martine Ehrenclou / www.rockandbluesmuse.com/