Colin Hay, the ex-frontman for Men at Work and all around great live entertainer, has announced his next studio album, Fierce Mercy, will be released on March 3 via Compass Records.
His thirteenth solo release, Fierce Mercy is described as exploring “themes of love and loss, mortality, and even the odd UFO sighting, but always with the singular perspective and insightful wit that define Hay’s work.”
Hay described the album title through the concept of the opening song, The Last to Know. “When you’re in your 20s, you think you’ve got all the time in the world. You get older, and you go through a quickening. Everything seems to get faster.”
He also talked about the message that mankind is getting on a global level. “With the changing weather patterns, or the polar ice caps melting, we’re getting all of these warnings, and a lot of them are incredibly fierce. But they still feel somewhat merciful — they’re not destroying us totally. We’re all being told, ‘Listen, you can still maybe address this, and it won’t get to the point where I have to take you all out. You’ve still got a shot.’”
Most of the album was recorded in Topanga, CA with Hay’s wife, Cecilia Noël and Hay’s regular accompanists, bassist Yosmel Montejo, drummer Charlie Paxson, keyboardists Fred Kron and Jeff Babko, and guitarist/tres player San Miguel Perez. Fierce Mercy was completed in sessions at Compass Sound Studio in Nashville with Compass Records principal Garry West at the helm, who also contributed bass on a few cuts. Mixing was by Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Jack White) and Gordon Hammond (Buddy Miller, Don Williams).
Hay said “Garry is always trying to get me to Nashville to do some recording, to get me out of the comfort zone of my own studio … get me out of my lair! So I went to Nashville and we recorded the strings with a nine-piece section, and he introduced me to some players that he loves, who added another fantastic layer to the album.”
The Nashville players include guitarists Audley Freed (Sheryl Crow, the Black Crowes, the Dixie Chicks) and Doug Lancio (John Hiatt), pedal steel guitarist and organist Jim Hoke (Iris Dement, Don Henley, Darius Rucker) and Compass co-founder Alison Brown (banjo).
The track list:
Come Tumblin Down
Secret Love
A Thousand Million Reasons
The Best in Me
Frozen Fields of Snow
The Last to Know
I’m Going to Get You Stoned
I’m Walking Here
Two Friends
She Was the Love of Mine
Three additional cuts are on the CD Deluxe Edition:
I’m Inside Outside In
Blue Bay Moon
Love Don’t Mean Enough
Colin has also set a long series of tour dates from January to April in North America and Europe.
01/13 – Boulder, CO – eTown
01/15 – Morgantown, WV – WVU Creative Arts Center
01/17 – Ann Arbor, MI – Leon Loft
01/18 – Franklin, TN – Music City Roots at The Factory at Franklin
01/19 – Englewood, NJ – Bergen Pac
01/20 – Homer, NY – Centers for the Arts of Homer
01/21 – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino Resort
01/22 – State College, PA – State Theatre
01/28 – San Jose, CA – Sap Center
02/11 – Key West, FL – Key West Theater
02/12 – Boca Raton, FL – Boca Raton Resort & Club
02/15 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – The ’80s Cruise
02/18 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Amaturo Theater, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
02/19 – Clearwater, FL – Capitol Theatre
02/20 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
02/22 – St. Augustine, FL – The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
02/23 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery
02/24 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery
02/25 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery
03/01 – Los Angeles, CA – Largo at the Coronet
03/02 – Los Angeles, CA – Largo at the Coronet
03/05 – San Francisco, CA – Palace of Fine Arts
03/07 – Nashville, TN – City Winery
03/08 – Nashville, TN – City Winery
03/10 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
03/12 – Alexanderia, VA – The Birchmere
03/13 – Alexanderia, VA – The Birchmere
03/15 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
03/17 – Boston, MA – Wilbur Theatre
03/18 – New York, NY – Concert Hall at NY Society for Ethical Culture
03/30 – Dublin, Ireland – The Academy
04/02 – Belfast, UK – The Limelight
04/03 – Glasgow, UK – Old Fruit Market
04/04 – London, UK – Union Chapel
04/06 – Manchester, UK – The Dancehouse Theatre
04/07 – Edinburgh, UK – Queen’s Hall
04/08 – Aberdeen, UK – Lemon Tree
