Rita Wilson has a lot of famous friends on her new duets album and they are singing a lot of well-known songs.
Rita Wilson describes her upcoming album ‘Now & Forever: Duets’ as the great American songbook, even though one of the songs was written by a group of Aussies.
In a statement, Rita Wilson said, “These songs feel like my Great American Songbook, because of the songwriting and the impact that they had on me through their stories, musically, and the artists that originally recorded them. I was looking at these songs and how they could be conversations between two people. I liked that the lyrics could be coming from two points of view, even if they were mostly written for one person to sing—I liked exploring the possible conversation in each story.”
‘Massachusetts’, written by The Bee Gees’ Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, was first released by The Bee Gees in 1967. When the brothers wrote the song, they had never been to Massachusetts in the USA.
The song was also intended for another Australian group The Seekers but when The Seekers passed on it, they recorded it themselves.
The reason for the title was the Gibb’s just like the sound of all the S’s. The song was written in the USA but recorded in London. The Gibbs had moved back to London from Australia in January 1967. Their parents migrated to Australia in 1958 when Barry was 12 and Robin and Maurice were 9.
Rita’s album does have an incredible calibre of guests including Elvis Costello, Josh Groban and Jackson Browne.
RITA WILSON NOW & FOREVER: DUETS TRACKLISTING
“Crazy Love” with Keith Urban
“Where Is The Love?” with Smokey Robinson
“Slip Slidin’ Away” with Willie Nelson
“Let It Be Me” with Jackson Browne
“Massachusetts” with Leslie Odom Jr.
“Fire” with Elvis Costello
“If” with Tim McGraw
“I’ll Be There” with Jimmie Allen
“Without You” with Vince Gill
“Songbird” with Josh Groban
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