Larry Long’s new release, Slow Night, transports the venerable singer-songwriter with folkie roots into the contemporary realm inhabited by musician-producer Cory Wong and Antwaun Stanley (lead vocalist for Vulfpeck), plus members of Prince’s brass section, The Hornheads and Cory Wong’s Green Screen Band.
Slow Night mixes 3 of Larry’s older songs that were hand-picked by Wong and deliciy re-imagined: the trademark “Blue Highway,” an unforgettable ear worm, Chicky-Chicky Boom,” and the ever-tender, “I Love You.”
As for the new three new tunes, Wong and band provide a rich, polyphonic edge to the title track Slow Night: “We really played with the song’s cool vibes, ‘cuz it’s the best modern pop tune he’s ever written – and it’s very tasty!” Long’s new song to his daughter, “My Love for You,” and the picturesque postcard from “Puerto Vallarta” round out a satisfying set created by Long, Wong and the rest of musicians on this sweet, funky – AND YES, “very tasty” six-song CD.
“These 3 old tracks are some of my favorite Larry Long songs from his recording legacy. We gave them a modern edge,” Wong says. “We flipped Larry’s folk-roots script, especially on ‘Blue Highway,’ which now has a more Delta blues edge, and we messed a bit with vocals on that wonderful spoken word poem at the end of the tune, written by the late Bill Holm, a well- known Minnesota poet and writer. To me it now sounds like a Native American rap piece by the late wordsmith and First Nations’ artist, John Trudell.”
Slow Night by Larry Long was produced by Cory Wong, recorded at The Library Recording Studio under the guidance of Matt Patrick and mixed by John Fields (Miley Cyrus, Switchfoot, Jonas Brothers, Pink, and Demi Lovato).
Produced by Cory Wong1 Blue Highway (5:48)
2 My Love For You (3:25)
3 Puerto Vallarta (3:21)
4 Slow Night (3:41)
5 Chicky Chicky Boom (4:15)
6 I Love You (5:55)Special thanks to these incredible musicians:
Joe Savage: Pedal Steel, Lap Steel, Harmonica
Kevin Gastonguay: Keyboards / Yohannes Tona: Bass
Ian Allison: Bass / Petar Janjic: Drums
Antwaun Stanley: Background Vocals
Michael Nelson: Trombone, Arranger
Kenni Holmen: Sax / Steve Strand: Trumpet 1
Adam Meckler: Trumpet 2Graphic Design: Planet Claire Creative
Back Cover Photograph: Tim Bonea,
Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Center.Words, Music, Lead Vocals and Harmonica by Larry Long
Words & Music by Larry Long
© ℗ Larry Long Publishing 2018 (BMI).Thanks to Amy Cordova for her beautiful front cover artwork Chiri Biri Bi.
Spoken word poem on Blue Highway written by Bill Holm.
My Love For You was written for my daughter Alana.Cereus Records