Madeleine Peyroux Gets Bare In March

Latest album on Rounder should continue her string of critical successes.

By Fred Mills

Sultry songstress Madeleine Peyroux may have a reputation for shunning and perhaps even harboring an active disdain for the music press, but those of us stuck out here in the critical community can't help it: we've been smitten by the Georgia native ever since her '96 debut Dreamland, Since then she's moved far beyond an early reputation as uncanny channeler of Billie Holiday, with one obvious career high point being 2004's Careless Love - that one not only charmed the scribes it sold over a million copies.

Now word arrives that Rounder is readying a new album for a March 10 release. Bare Bones will feature collaborations with album producer Larry Klein, Walter Becker, Julian Coryell, Joe Henry, David Batteau and Sean Wayland, and the track "I Must Be Saved" was written entirely by Peyroux. Peyroux says the album builds from wariness, to loss, to acceptance, and finally to hope. "I'm really happy that I got to write," said Peyroux, in a press release., "It feels like a new segment, and it's great work. I'm surrounded by beautiful sounds, really honest musicians, really honest playing."

Critics, start your engines, and let the kudos begin... Don't worry, Maddy, we won't bite.

'Bare Bones' Track List

1.Instead (Julian Coryell/Peyroux)
2.Bare Bones (Walter Becker/Larry Klein/Peyroux)
3.Damn the Circumstances (David Batteau/Larry Klein/Peyroux)
4.River of Tears (Klein/Peyroux)
5.You Can't Do Me (Becker/Klein/Peyroux)
6.Love and Treachery (Joe Henry/Klein/Peyroux)
7.Our Lady of Pigalle (Batteau/Klein/Peyroux)
8.Homeless Happiness (Coryell/Peyroux)
9.To Love You All Over Again (Batteau/Peyroux)
10.I Must Be Saved (Peyroux)
11.Somethin' Grand (Klein/Peyroux/Sean Wayland)