I love this album: Ghostlight by Betty Buckley

Autumn in New York has been many things to me over the last 10 or so years - a calendar blissfully full of openings of new shows, opera, concerts at Carnegie Hall and the New York Phil...and especially Betty Buckley.

Betty is back in New York and this time, she's brought her new album GHOSTLIGHT with her.   She'll be at Joe's Pub all of this week performing songs from this delicious new album.   Oh my Lord, I can't wait to see her and immerse myself in her sound.

Ghostlight is produced by legendary artist T Bone Burnett.  Betty Lynn and T Bone go way back to their young lives in Fort Worth, Texas.  This album evokes all that comes from a long friendship - full of hope and love but also all of the things that all the years of living will do to you.   

Betty is that rare modern girl singer - she takes Broadway songs and standards, makes them her own and performs a full show with each and every stanza.   Her voice takes me places I didn't know how to get to on my own.  There's a lustful jazz sound to this album, sometimes completely mournful and then she moves on with a steely demand that all is hope and cheer despite the juxtaposition of the dissonant chords.  Betty's cutting, yet tender vocals are map of every human emotion.  Les you think this is an album of full of angst and longing, it's downright sexy too:  Body and Soul might make you drop everything to slow dance with your lover.

Besides all that, Ghostlight just sounds damn awesome.   It was recorded at The Village in Los Angeles, CA.   The session musicians are a who's who and include Bill Frissell on electric guitar and T Bone Burnett himself on acoustic guitar.  Betty Buckley was involved in all of the arrangements, and on my favorite of the tracks, If You Go Away (from Jacques Brel) Betty co-arranged with Bill Frissell. 

It's the type of album just makes me want to hit repeat over and over again.   Buy it on iTunes, Amazon or order directly from Palmetto Records - the liner notes are gorgeous.   Get to Palmetto thru Betty's beautiful site http://www.bettybuckley.com/

Buy the album then go see Betty this week at Joe's Pub down on Layfayette.  Next week, Betty is teaching her song interpretation workshop at the T.S. Schreiber Studio.  She's also doing a couple of extra concerts in the area - on the 12th, she'll be out at the Bay Street in Sag Harbor  and on the 18th she'll be in concert at the Tilles Center in Long Island.   In November, she heads to San Francisco for a series of performances at Feinstein's at the Nikko.