Tracy Nelson’s 80th Birthday Party with Steve Conn

Tracy Nelson proves that the human voice is the most expressive instrument in creation- John Swenson/Rolling StoneA Bad White Girl Etta JamesFounding Americana Singer/Songwriter Returns with Masterful Life Dont Miss Nobody Tracy Nelson, one of the most powerful voices in American music, has emerged from a lengthy recording hiatus with the album of a lifetime, a musical self-portrait spanning her entire career. Life Dont Miss Nobody (BMG; release date June 9th) is a 13 track collection that stretches back to her start as a guitar-picking Wisconsin teen playing coffeehouses through an unparalleled career, now in its sixth decade, singing blues, country, New Orleans R&B and gospel, and performing in such storied music meccas as 1960s San Francisco and 1970s Austin in her epic, genre busting musicaljourney.But this is no nostalgia trip. The title song is a brand-new composition from the woman whose Down So Low hasbecome a modern standard. Shes kept busy performing and recording with long-time musical friends in projects like Corky Siegels Chamber Blues and with the freewheeling all-star Blues Broads Angela Strehli, Annie Sampson andDorothy Morrison. Even so, roots lovers have waited a long time for a new Tracy Nelson album, and no ones more excited than Tracy. I havent made a record in over 10 years, she says. Ive been wanting to do every one of thesesongs for a really long time. I wanted to get a little bit of everything, all the kinds of music that I love. Life Dont Miss Nobody is Tracy Nelsons own Great American Songbook, featuring iconic composers like Hank Williams, Ma Rainey, Willie Dixon, Allen Toussaint, Chuck Berry, Doc Pomus, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Founding Father of American Song, Stephen Foster. Fosters Hard Times in here in two settings, both featuring Tracy on 12 string, the firsttime shes recorded on guitar since her 1964 debut, Deep Are The Roots.