03.04.2012
THE JEFFREY LEE PIERCE SESSIONS VOLUME 2
The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project is following 2009’s acclaimed We Are Only Riders collection with a second volume of the late Gun Club leader’s previously-unreleased works-in-progress, brought to life by old friends, collaborators and acolytes.
Many songs started as nascent ideas captured on a cassette unearthed by Pierce’s latter day collaborator Cypress Grove while clearing out his loft. Harking back to the collective ethos of Pierce’s beloved jazz, artists spill into each other’s tracks, reinterpreting or finishing lyrical and melodic sketches while some chose personal favorites from his catalogue.
This time, the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project includes Nick Cave (who also takes part in a return duet with Debbie Harry on ‘The Breaking Hands’), Mick Harvey, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Lydia Lunch, The Jim Jones Revue, Kid Congo Powers, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell, Youth’s Vertical Smile, Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Warren Ellis, Barry Adamson, Bertrand Cantat & Pascal Humbert, Thalia Zedek & Chris Brokaw, Hugo Race, Dom Beken and Kris & Michelle Needs, sometimes in different combinations.
The album was released on March 30th on German label Glitterhouse on both CD and double vinyl, with 20 page booklet featuring memorabilia and extensive liner notes by Kris Needs. Proceeds from the first volume went to Amnesty International, but Pierce’s sister Jacqui is setting up The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Foundation to help fulfil her brother’s long-standing desire to provide musical instruments for under-privileged kids in LA.