Chris Isaak has used the studios and expertise of Nashville to cut his upcoming album, First Comes the Night.
Produced by Paul Worley (Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum), Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell) and Mark Needham, the album is not necessarily country but does have a number of Nashville based songwriters who collaborated with Isaak including Natalie Hemby, Gordie Sampson, Caitlyn Smith and James Slater.
The Nashville connection for the album was at the suggestion of Stevie Nicks. Isaak said ‘She said it was a fantastic town and the studios and engineers were great. She had nothing but good things to say about it.
‘It could have been recorded anywhere, but it was recorded in Nashville because Nashville’s the best place to make a record.’
One cut, the ballad Reverie, was co-written by Hemby and Michelle Branch, who also sang on the song.
As for the rest of the songs, Isaak said ‘I like to mix it up so there’s some dark ones, funny ones and romantic ones. You have to absolutely play these songs after the break up while you’re cleaning the house.’
First Comes the Night will be released on November 13 via Vanguard. It is his first album of original songs since 2009’s Mr. Lucky and first studio album since his Sun Records tribute, Beyond the Sun (2011).
The track list:
First Comes the Night
Please Don’t Call
Perfect Lover
Down in Flames
Reverie
Baby What You Want Me to Do
Kiss Me Like a Stranger
Dry Your Eyes
Don’t Break My Heart
Running Down the Road
Insects
The Way Things Really Are
Harder Than the Rest (Deluxe version only)
Keep Me Hanging On (Deluxe version only)
Every Night I Miss You More (Deluxe version only)
The Girl That Broke My Heart (Deluxe version only)
Love the Way You Kiss Me (Deluxe version only)