All-Star Cast Joins Rodney Crowell And Mary Karr On New Album

Grammy-Award winning songwriter Rodney Crowell and New York Times best-selling author Mary Karr have announced a collaborative album, Kin, Songs By Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell, which is due June 5, 2012 on Vanguard Records. Joe Henry produced the album, and Norah Jones, Vince Gill, Lucinda Williams, Lee Ann Womack, Rosanne Cash, Chely Wright, Kris Kristofferson and Emmylou Harris all contribute vocals.

The collaboration began shortly after Crowell’s explicit mention of Karr (who penned the memoir The Liar’s Club) to the likes of Tom Waits and Aretha Franklin in his song “Earth Bound” off of the 2003 album Fates’ Right Hand. Crowell confessed, “I called out to her in the darkness because she was a bona fide poet I knew could write songs, and despite her professor’s pedigree, she’d ridden a bike in a mosquito truck’s fog.”

Upon meeting, the two quickly realized a strong connection between one another and decided to “settle down and raise a record,” as Crowell has simply put it.

“An outlaw pedigree isn’t always a disadvantage for a poet,” says Karr. “This record’s about everybody.”