With notable collaborations and fresh arrangements, Paul Simon revisits and lends new perspective to ten of his personal favorites from his body of work

“This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around. Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics that didn’t make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realize what I was thinking and make it more easily understood.”

– Paul Simon, July 2018

Legendary songwriter, recording artist and performer Paul Simon will release his 14th studio album – In The Blue Light – on September 7. Produced by Simon and Roy Halee, who have worked together since the 1960s, the album features a talented cast of musicians who have joined Simon to lend fresh perspectives on 10 of the artist’s favorite (though perhaps less-familiar) songs, drawn from his unparalleled body of work.

Revisiting his repertoire, Simon has selected songs originally appearing on There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973), Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), One-Trick Pony (1980), Hearts and Bones (1983), The Rhythm of The Saints (1990), You’re The One (2000) and So Beautiful Or So What (2011), refreshing and transforming the compositions through new arrangements and collaborations.

Among the many musicians joining Simon on In The Blue Light are jazz icons trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd. Two of the compositions recorded with the New York-based chamber ensemble sextet yMusic, “Can’t Run But” and “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,” are being brought to the stage each night as show-stopping highlights on Simon’s Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour.

Simon explains in the album’s liner notes, “It’s an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to revisit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals.

“Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn’t recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home.”

The release of In The Blue Light on September 7 coincides with the final leg of Homeward Bound – Farewell Tour in September, including four performances in the New York City area and culminating with the Final Performance on September 22 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Click here to pre-order: https://Paul-Simon.lnk.to/itbl-albumAW

The credits for Paul Simon’s In The Blue Light are as follows:

Words and Music by Paul Simon

01 One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor

Paul Simon: Vocal, Percussion

Joel Wenhardt: Piano

Nate Smith: Drums

Jim Oblon: Guitar

John Patitucci: Bass

Edie Brickell: Finger Snaps

CJ Camerieri: Trumpet

Andy Snitzer: Saxophone

02 Love

Paul Simon: Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Harmonium

Bill Frisell: Electric Guitar

Steve Gadd: Drums

Renaud Garcia-Fons: Bass

03 Can’t Run But

Paul Simon: Vocal

With yMusic

Arrangement by Bryce Dessner based on the original arrangement from Rhythm of the Saints by Marco Antônio Guimarães

04 How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns

Paul Simon: Vocal

Sullivan Fortner: Piano

Nate Smith: Drums

John Patitucci: Bass

Wynton Marsalis: Trumpet

05 Pigs, Sheep and Wolves

Paul Simon: Vocal, Percussion

Wynton Marsalis: Trumpet

Marcus Printup: Trumpet

Dan Block: Clarinet

Walter Blanding: Saxophone

Wycliffe Gordon: Tuba

Chris Crenshaw: Trombone

Marion Felder: Drums

Herlin Riley: Tambourine

Arrangement by Wynton Marsalis

06 René and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War

Paul Simon: Vocal, Electric Guitar

With yMusic

Arrangement by Robert Sirota

07 The Teacher

Paul Simon: Vocal, Percussion

Odair Assad: Guitar

Sérgio Assad: Guitar

Renaud Garcia-Fons: Bass, Percussion

Walter Blanding: Saxophone

Jamey Haddad: Percussion

08 Darling Lorraine

Paul Simon: Vocal, Percussion

Bill Frisell: Electric Guitar

Vincent Nguini: Electric Guitar

Mark Stewart: Acoustic Guitar

Steve Gadd: Drums

John Patitucci: Bass

With yMusic

Arrangement by Rob Moose

09 Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy

Paul Simon: Vocal

Sullivan Fortner: Piano, Celeste

Jack DeJohnette: Drums

John Patitucci: Bass

Joe Lovano: Saxophone

10 Questions For The Angels

Paul Simon: Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Harmonica, Percussion

Bill Frisell: Electric Guitar

Sullivan Fortner: Harmonium, Chromelodeon

John Patitucci: Bass

Skip LaPlante: Percussion

yMusic is

CJ Camerieri: trumpet, piccolo trumpet

Alex Sopp: flute, alto flute

Hideaki Aomori: clarinet, bass clarinet

Rob Moose: violin

Nadia Sirota: viola

Gabriel Cabezas: cello

Having created a distinctive and beloved body of work that includes 14 studio albums, plus five studio albums as half of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon is the recipient of 16 Grammy Awards, three of which—Bridge over Troubled Water, Still Crazy after All These Years, and Graceland —were Album of the Year honorees. In 2003, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Simon & Garfunkel, and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

During his unparalleled career, Simon has achieved 29 Top 40 singles in the U.S. alone, with 14 of those reaching the Top 10 or higher, including “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (which reached #1), “Kodachrome,” “Loves Me Like A Rock,” “Mother and Child Reunion,” “Late In The Evening,” “You Can Call Me Al” and many others. With Simon & Garfunkel, he wrote and performed the #1 singles, “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and numerous other timeless hits.

Paul Simon is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, both as a member of Simon & Garfunkel and as a solo artist. Simon was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2002 and was named one of Time magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World” in 2006. In 2007, Simon was awarded the inaugural Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011. And in 2012, he was named the recipient of the prestigious Polar Music Prize along with classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.