Jeff M

The Decemberists have announced their new album The King Is Dead (Capitol Records, EMI). The album--a set of 10 concise, country-based songs--marks a deliberate turn towards simplicity after the band's wildly ambitious and widely acclaimed 2009 song-cycle The Hazards of Love. Produced once again by Tucker Martine, The King Is Dead features special guest appearances by Americana luminary Gillian Welch on seven tracks and legendary R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck on three tracks.

With a career that has spanned four decades producing an acclaimed body of work that has sold over 2 million copies worldwide, Bruce Cockburn continues to be revered by fans and fellow musicians alike as one of the most important songwriters of his generation.

From Trey Parker and Matt Stone, four-time Emmy Award-winning creators of South Park, and Robert Lopez, Tony Award-winning co-creator of Avenue Q, comes a new Broadway musical called "the funniest show I've ever seen, by far" (Entertainment Weekly) and "so good it makes me angry" (Jon Stewart, The Daily Show).

...Listen to this record with the lights low. Listen to it on an old radio, cradled next to your ear. This is the sound of two people, singing and playing their songs. Forget the years in between.

“The way you made it
That’s the way it will be.”

– Colin Meloy
Portland, Oregon
May 5, 2011

It came out in January, but it still is rocking my world. -Jeff