Donna Lewis by LondonJazz

Sebastian interviewed Welsh-born, upstate New York-resident singer/songwriter DONNA LEWIS. 

Lewis rose to international stardom and multi-platinum sales with her 1996 hit “I Love You Always Forever.” She has a new fifth studio album Brand New Day (Whirlwind Recordings) produced by David Torn, who has worked with has worked with artists including David Bowie, Madonna, David Sylvian and Jeff Beck. The album also features Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson and David King, known in other contexts  as The Bad Plus. The UK tour band is Alex Garnett (saxophones), Steve Hamilton (piano), Michael Janisch (double bass) and Andrew Bain (drums).and is about to embark on a UK tour. 

TOPICS COVERED IN THE INTERVIEW PODCAST

01:10 – Early years in Cardiff
02:07 – Studies
03:00 – Early career
03:40 – Move to the US
04:38 – Signing with Atlantic Records and the breakthrough
05:33 – Music – I Love You Always Forever 
06:33 – Working with guitarist / producer David Torn
07:30 – Making Brand New Day with Ethan Iverson, Dave King and Reid Anderson
08:48 – Choice of songs
10:20 – The current UK tour and band
11:54 – Music – Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me

Iverson wrote about this project on his blog:  “Donna and David were a dream to work with, and the resulting album is also dreamy to listen to. I brought it over to some friends for a listen and they went crazy for it. I suspect it will do very well indeed. If you are a collector of all things Iversonian, this is your chance to hear me as a pop pianist.”

Quoting the Press Release:

“Brand New Day contains three originals (the languid Sleep, the title track Brand New Day and a ruminative reworking of I Love You Always Forever) as well as eight expertly handled covers, including the fantastical latter-David Bowie number Bring Me the Disco King, Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, Fred Neil’s Everybody’s Talkin’ at Me and Damien Rice’s Amie.”

TOUR DATES

12 June – The Convent Club, South Woodchester
13 June – Apex, Bury St. Edmonds
14 June – Stockport Plaza
15 June – Swansea Jazz Festival
16 & 17 June – The Pheasantry, Chelsea, London
21 June – The Old Market, Hove
22 June – Bathgate Regal Community Theatre
23 June – The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh
25 June – Epsom & Ewell Festival

Audio production by Naoise Murphy