{"id":34630,"date":"2018-04-08T13:17:26","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T12:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=34630"},"modified":"2018-04-08T13:17:26","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T12:17:26","slug":"rita-coolidge-is-safe-in-the-arms-of-time-with-new-album-and-speaks-to-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2018\/04\/rita-coolidge-is-safe-in-the-arms-of-time-with-new-album-and-speaks-to-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita Coolidge Is ‘Safe In The Arms Of Time’ With New Album And Speaks To EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On May 4th of this year there is something special happening, and it isn\u2019t Star Wars Day, although what happens may very well leave you with a real feeling that the force just may be with you. Music legend Rita Coolidge will release her first album for ten years. Her 18th studio album will be released by Blue Elan Records and has the two time Grammy winner combining her incredible song writing talents and voice with those of Graham Nash, Chris Stapleton, Stan Lynch, and Keb\u2019Mo\u2019 to name a few.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Rita has poured her soul into this and has said \u201cThis is the best record I\u2019ve ever done. I\u2019m extremely proud of it.\u201d The album is named ‘Safe In The Arms Of Time<\/a>\"\"‘ and is recorded at LAs Sunset Sound, the studio in which Rita recorded much of her early work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Producer Ross Hogarth has brought together an incredible line up of talent to record and the results are superb. Guitarist Dave Grissom, bass player Bob Glaub, keys man John JT Thomas and drummer Brian MacLeod join Rita to bring a message of love and hope . The results remind me a little of Johnny Cash\u2019s American series when he brought the experiences of a lifetime and poured them into a series of releases that are impossible to listen to without experiencing every emotion in his voice. Rita does the same and because of that the album just becomes deeper with every listen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Rita has recently returned to Tallahassee with her partner, who she originally met at College, and as life has come full circle with her looking to the future with hope and love and belief I was lucky enough to chat to her and talk about her new album and her upcoming visit to London to promote it in the intimate setting of Boisdale.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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EP: I\u2019d like to chat with you about your new album.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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RC: That\u2019s the best thing we could talk about.<\/div>\n
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EP: it\u2019s been 10 years since your last album, what motivated you to get back in the studio?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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RC: About 2 1\/2 years ago I started talking to my manager about wanting to make this record. I wanted to make kind of a roots record, a record that went back more to the sound of my earlier records. I wanted to go back to an honesty that I hadn\u2019t experienced in a while. It took 2 1\/2 years to make this record and it was something that was very important to me. To be able to make this record and do the very best that I could do and not just be running to the studio and laying down vocals for somebody else doing a track. I really wanted it to be my record and I think it is, more than anything I\u2019ve done in decades.<\/div>\n
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EP: I\u2019m completely hooked on the record and have been listening to it non stop. Was it a conscious effort to recapture more of an original sound by going back to LA Sunset Sound?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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RC: I think we did wanna go back to Sunset Sounds because I did make so many records there and actually they were pretty excited to have me come back to record. So it was part of the full circle and getting back to my roots because I did the first albums there and recorded there for years. It feels kinda like my studio home!<\/div>\n
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EP: It really works. Your voice is beautiful on the record. I read that you didn\u2019t want to use any of the production trickery like autotune. Do you think that helps to take the album back to an original sound?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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RC<\/b>: I do. I\u2019ve always felt the honesty of having a vocal that\u2019s not perfect, of course there are places I could\u2019ve sung a word better but I think that it\u2019s important to keep that on the record because it gives a real honest feeling. Any kind of mistakes or breaks or scratchiness in the voice; I don\u2019t want it to be absolutely perfect because anybody can do that, anybody can go in the studio and autotune. I saw a guy on a tv show the other night talking about that and he said if you want a unique sound use autotuning but if you really want to sing go do your scales. That says it all, it\u2019s really about singing the song and not just about making it work.<\/div>\n
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EP: I think that the great thing about Country music and Americana is the honesty in the songs and this album epitomises that. There seems to be a theme of looking forward, a message of hope. The song ‘You Can Fall in Love<\/a>\"\"‘ poses the question \u201cis this how you do freedom? Turn your back on hope?\u201d Is this message of hope something important to you?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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RC<\/b>: Absolutely! And especially in that song because it\u2019s one of the songs I co-wrote and I really wanted that particular song to speak to people of all ages, but especially to people that are older and feel like they don\u2019t have the worth or value they had when they were younger as far as being viable partners or falling in love or finding their dreams and following their heart. You know, people all over the world, I think, are getting so youth orientated with our media and magazines and everything that people that have some life experiences feel like they are kinda shut out. It affects so many people in so many ways. It\u2019s important to me to remind people of all ages that they don\u2019t need to settle for anything less than being as happy as they can be and every day being the best day it can be. That\u2019s really what I wanted to say with that song. You can fall in love, it usually is right in front of you but you don\u2019t feel like you deserve it. Usually people don\u2019t look forward and they just give up and that\u2019s a mistake.<\/div>\n
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EP: Absolutely. it\u2019s an important message. I understand you wrote 3 songs on the album. What were the other two songs?<\/strong><\/div>\n
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RC: ‘Walking on Water<\/a>\"\"‘ I co-wrote with Keb\u2019Mo\u2019 and Jill Colucci and ‘Naked All Night<\/a>\"\"‘.<\/div>\n
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