Multi-Grammy Award winner Jennifer Nettles recently joined iHeartRadio Broadway's SJ Arnegger to chat about the release of her new album of American Songbook classics, titled Always Like New from Concord Records. For this project, Nettles teamed up with Grammy and Tony Award-winning orchestrator Alex Lacamoire, best known for his work on Broadway’s critically acclaimed shows Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, andIn the Heights, to reimagine, arrange and produce some of the most beloved songs from the stage, infusing each with her signature sound and giving these timeless works of art a new context and meaning in our current landscape.
Nettles shared, "As a child who grew up in musical theatre, this album feels like a homecoming to me. I savored every note of singing and arranging these songs with Alex Lacamoire. It is thrilling to be able to celebrate this amazing songwriting with arrangements and vocals that allow them to be rediscovered anew.”
The album, executive produced by Adam Zotovich (Dear Evan Hansen, The Color Purple, An American in Paris), spans classics from “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (Oklahoma) and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” (My Fair Lady) to contemporary favorites including “You Will Be Found” (Dear Evan Hansen), “Wait for It” (Hamilton) and “It All Fades Away” featuring Brandi Carlile (The Bridges of Madison County). Always Like New’s first single “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat” is available today and features Nettles’ soaring vocals in a jazzy up-tempo version of the Guys and Dolls classic.
“Great songs take life with great singers. On occasion these songs can soar to places unimaginable in the voice of an inspired interpreter,” says Concord’s Paul Kremen. “Jennifer Nettles proves to be this kind of otherworldly vocalist, not once, but repeatedly on her selections from the American Song Book. Woven into each of these recordings are demonstrable emotional stimuli....the resulting sympathetic vibrations of one’s heartstrings might prove the salve our times appear to demand of us.”
Always Like New is available now.
Cover photo by Shervin Lainez.