[Cover photo credit to Markus Cuff]
Stephen McCarthy (Long Ryders, Jayhawks, Dream Syndicate) and Carla Olson (Textones, solo artist, producer) have unveiled the video for the title track of their first-ever duet album, Night Comes Falling, out November 11th, 2022. The two singers, songwriters and guitarists have had lengthy careers that have intersected a few times, and this time they’ve come together for Americana Rock. The album will be released via Olson’s production company Have Harmony, Will Travel, with distribution and marketing by Bob Frank Entertainment via the Orchard.
The title track “Night Comes Falling” emerged after a conversation between the collaborators where Olson shared that she was having dreams about her former singing partner, Gene Clark of The Byrds. The video was directed by Tim Roth and includes footage from two performances in CA: at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica and the Alex Theatre in Glendale.
Stephen McCarthy says:
The idea for the song ‘Night Comes Falling’ came about at a band rehearsal in LA when I met up with Carla to sing a duet for a benefit. I asked her if she ever thought of her old singing partner Gene Clark. She mentioned that she’d seen him in a few dreams but that he never spoke a word. I returned to the East Coast and wrote the song based on that experience & Carla added lyrics as well. The contemplative thoughts of friends who’ve made a profound impact in our lives doesn’t come in the clear light of day but instead when shadows start to fall. The song is also meaningful because it was the initial inspiration for this collaborative album.
Carla Olson shares:
In the 1980’s I performed live with Gene Clark and we recorded an album, So Rebellious A Lover. After he passed away in 1991, I found it difficult to listen to his songs without tears. He has appeared in my dreams for these past 30 years untouched by time and silent. Smiling but never speaking. When Stephen and I were rehearsing for a benefit concert in 2018,’ I told him about these dreams. ‘Night Comes Falling,’ both the song and the album, are the result of this conversation.
McCarthy and Olson both had two songs on the 2022 BMG multi-artist album Americana Railroad where they offered a new version of McCarthy’s “Here Comes That Train Again” as well as Gene Clark’s “I Remember The Railroad.” The new album was recorded at Robbie Krieger’s studio, Horse Latitudes, in Glendale, CA, It was produced by Olson, McCarthy, and Mikal Reid.
The album’s musician credits are Stephen McCarthy (guitars, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, mellotron), Carla Olson (guitars), Paul Marshall (bass) and drummers Mitch Marine and Benjamin Lecourt. The album’s other players are Skip Edwards (keyboards, plus the string arrangement for “Long Way Back To Seventeen”), Jeff Lewis (flugelhorn on “Broken Lullaby”) and Jesse Owens Wells (fiddle on “I Remember The Railroad”).
Tracklisting
01 We Gotta Split This Town (McCarthy)
02 Night Comes Falling (McCarthy, Olson)
03 Broken Lullaby (McCarthy, Olson)
04 The Bell Hotel Is Burning (George Green, Olson, McCarthy)
05 Brink Of The Blues (McCarthy, Olson)
06 One That Got Away (Chris Hillman, Peter Knobler)
07 Don’t Talk To Strangers (Bob Durand, Ron Elliott)
08 Long Way Back To Seventeen (McCarthy, Olson)
09 Just To Get To You (McCarthy)
10 Timber (Kosta Lazarides)
11 I Remember The Railroad (Gene Clark)
