{"id":27050,"date":"2017-04-30T11:47:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T10:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=27050"},"modified":"2017-04-30T11:47:34","modified_gmt":"2017-04-30T10:47:34","slug":"imelda-may-soars-up-us-and-uk-charts-with-life-love-flesh-blood-ahead-of-ukireland-and-us-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2017\/04\/imelda-may-soars-up-us-and-uk-charts-with-life-love-flesh-blood-ahead-of-ukireland-and-us-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"Imelda May Soars Up US And UK Charts With ‘Life. Love. Flesh. Blood’ Ahead Of UK\/Ireland And US Tours"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Imelda May\u00a0has\u00a0topped the UK Americana chart with her highly praised new album – \u2018Life. Love. Flesh. Blood’. The Irish singer songwriter also hit\u00a0No.5 in the official UK album chart (her second UK top 5), ahead of artists including Texas and Drake with her strongest first sales week ever in the UK. The album also\u00a0debuted at No.2 in her native Ireland.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Howard Mills of the Americana Music Association UK stated,<\/p>\n

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\u201cImelda May has become a firm favourite with the Americana community in the UK, adding a touch of glamour as a presenter at our Awards show this year. We are over the moon to see her fabulous new album hit the top spot on the Official Americana Albums chart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Imelda has had a jam-packed week of promotion around her new record, including appearing live this morning on Chris Evans BBC Radio 2 show where she performed a brilliant cover of U2\u2019s \u2018I Still Haven\u2019t Found What I Was Looking For\u2019. Listen again here<\/a>. Earlier this week, Imelda joined the Guardian for a webchat<\/a> where she discussed a range of topics and questions sent in by fans including, “what is it like to learn Bob Dylan is a fan of your music”, followed by a rammed in-store appearance at HMV\u00a0Oxford Street, where she performed an acoustic set of material from her new album \u2018Life. Love. Flesh. Blood\u2019.<\/p>\n

Imelda begins her extensive 2017 UK Headline Tour next week, which will include a night at The London Palladium on 18 May. A string of shows in the US and Canada in June follows, including three dates as support for Elvis Costello \u2013 full dates below. For more information please visit\u00a0her official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Life. Love. Flesh. Blood\u2019 is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of this year. Praised by publications including Q, Uncut and Mojo (\u201cA powerful new direction\u201d), The Sun, The Mirror to the Mail On Sunday (who made it Album Of The Week, gave it four stars and stated: \u201cGreat albums tend to be growers, but this one grabs you at first acquaintance\u201d). Support also comes from The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph (comparing it to Bob Dylan\u2019s classic album \u2018Blood On The Tracks\u2019) alongside support from US industry publications Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine as well as UK tastemaker music publications from The Arts Desk to The Four Oh Five.<\/p>\n

The record is produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, who said of Imelda:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve never met anyone quite like Imelda May. She is full of life. When I first happened onto her music, she was a punky Irish Rockabilly singer with a great band. I was intrigued by her deep feeling for and understanding of that American art form, much of which, of course, had originated in Ireland. When I ran across her several years later, she had gone through a change of lives and was writing about it with a wild intensity and singing about it in the most open hearted way. I was inspired by her honesty and her generosity, and I continue to be intrigued.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Recorded over seven days in Los Angeles, the album features musical contributions from guitar hero Jeff Beck (who plays guitar on the heart-wrenching single \u2018Black Tears’, which was A-listed at BBC Radio 2), piano legend Jools Holland (on \u2018When It\u2019s My Time\u2019) and an accomplished group of backing musicians including the core trio of guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss) and bassist Zach Dawes (The Last Shadow Puppets, Mini Mansions).<\/p>\n

It is clear that one of Ireland\u2019s biggest exports has found a new groove, presenting the most personal and intimately autobiographical album she has ever written. The album marks a new direction for May who, in the time since her 2014 release \u2018Tribal\u2019, ended her marriage of eighteen years. Imelda May\u2019s new sound sits firmly outside of any sharply defined genre box, widely spanning blues, rock, soul, gospel and jazz. \u2018Life, Love, Flesh, Blood\u2019 breathes new life into a classic sound, with Imelda\u2019s powerhouse vocal as distinctive as ever, cementing her position as one of the strongest vocalists of her generation. The singer herself describes the record as her most honest\u00a0yet.<\/p>\n

Imelda\u2019s life changed considerably in the run up to recording, and this is documented in the only way she knew how. She explains:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt’s therapy, like keeping a diary that a lot of people read. Some of my favourite songs don\u2019t say much, but they reveal everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

MAY 2017 UK & IRELAND TOUR DATES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

THU 04- IPSWICH REGENT THEATRE
\nFRI 05 – CARDIFF ST DAVID\u2019S HALL
\nSAT 06 – CAMBRIDGE CORN EXCHANGE
\nMON 08 – SOUTHEND CLIFFS PAVILION
\nTUE 09 – GUILDFORD G LIVE
\nFRI 12 –\u00a0BOURNEMOUTH PAVILION THEATRE
\nSAT 13 – NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CONCERT HALL
\nMON 15 – LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC
\nTUE 16 – YORK BARBICAN
\nTHU 18 – LONDON PALLADIUM
\nFRI 19 –\u00a0BRISTOL COLSTON HALL
\nSAT 20 – \u00a0MANCHESTER BRIDGEWATER HALL
\nMON 22 – BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL
\nTUE 23 – EDINBURGH USHER HALL
\nWED 24 –\u00a0GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL
\nFRI 26 – GATESHEAD THE SAGE
\nSAT 27 – BELFAST WATERFRONT HALL
\nMON 29 – \u00a0DUBLIN, BORD GAIS ENERGY THEATRE
\nTUE\u00a0 30 \u00a0– DUBLIN, BORD GAIS ENERGY THEATRE
\nWED\u00a031 –\u00a0DUBLIN, BORD GAIS ENERGY THEATRE\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

READING HEXAGON RESCHEDULED TO JUNE 12<\/p>\n

JUNE 2017 USA TOUR DATES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

TUE 20 – RICHMOND, VA – RICHMOND RACEWAY COMPLEX*
\nWED 21 – \u00a0CHARLOTTE, NC – CHARLOTTE METRO CREDIT UNION AMPHITHEATRE*
\nTHU 22 – VIENNA, VA – FILENE CENTER AT WOLF*
\nSAT 24 – BOSTON, MA – PARADISE ROCK CLUB
\nSUN 25 – PHILADELPHIA, PA – UNION TRANSFER
\nTUE 27 – NEW YORK, NY – WEBSTER HALL
\nWED 28 –\u00a0TORONTO, ON – DANFORTH MUSIC HALL
\nFRI 30 – CHICAGO, IL – PARK WEST<\/p>\n

*SUPPORTING ELVIS COSTELLO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find Imelda May online on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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