John Leventhal Teases Upcoming Album "Rumble Strip" With Two Lyrical Singles
John Leventhal will explore his newfound solo career with his upcoming album Rumble Strip to be released on January 26. The six-time Grammy-winner's debut album will showcase some of the most adventurous work of his career.
Born in New York City, Leventhal began his career in the late 1970's playing guitar in dozens of NYC area bands including those led by Billy Vera, Steve Forbert and Levon Helm. His impulse to look for unexpected moments of beauty has served as a compass and survival tactic throughout his remarkable career. He's produced albums for Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, Sarah Jarosz, Jim Lauderdale, William Bell, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Joan Osborne and many others. As a guitar player, he has recorded and performed with Jackson Browne, Bruce Hornsby, Willie Nelson, The Tedeschi Trucks Band, Ry Cooder, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, and recently, The National (Leventhal co-produced the song "Crumble" from Laugh Track).
Leventhal has been a Grammy winner in five consecutive decades, including as a co-writer and producer on Shawn Colvin's 1998's Song of the Year "Sunny Came Home," Cash's moody The River and the Thread, and Stax legend William Bell's sublime 2016 album This Is Where I Live. Presently, he's collaborating with Cash on a musical version of Norma Rae. His unique approach hasn't always aligned Leventhal with whatever is reaping the biggest commercial rewards, but he figures that's probably the only way he could've done it- and it worked.
Leventhal has shared two songs from Rumble Strip: "That's All I Know About Arkansas," featuring vocals and lyrics by Rosanne Cash, his wife and collaborator of 30 years. The other is the solo guitar piece, "JL's Hymn No. 2," written and recorded in the same evening.
"I've always had a catalog of ideas that have never found a home," Leventhal says. "In the back of my mind, I thought that one of these days I should try to harvest some of those ideas and confront the personal gauntlet of making a solo record." The COVID-19 pandemic made it inevitable.
That willingness to confront his past work pays off handsomely on Rumble Strip, which combines Leventhal's distinctive, lyrical guitar work, full-band productions with and without vocals, solo guitar pieces that draw on Leventhal's love for classical music and Anglican hymns, and humid blasts of Southern soul, country twang, and improvisation.
John Leventhal. Courtesy Image
Rumble Strip will be out January 26 on RumbleStrip Records, the label co-founded by Leventhal and Rosanne Cash (distributed by Thirty Tigers).
