Legendary folk singer Beth Nielsen Chapman returns in 2018 with her brand new album ‘Hearts of Glass’. The record, with Sam Ashworth on production credits, was mostly written by Beth, touching on subjects including overcoming adversity and becoming stronger.
The album contains two co-written songs: ‘Enough of Me,’ written with Sam, and the opening track of the album ‘Come to Mine,’ which was written with Graham Gouldman and Kevin Montgomery in Somerset.
Beth explained the co-written songs reflect the state of the world at the moment. She says: “My intention was to do an album of songs 100% written by me, and bring together those kinds of songs that have a certain focus and vibe, but ‘Come to Mine’ just jumped out and insisted on leading the pack!
“It’s timely what with all that’s swirling in the world right now. The same is true for the closing track, ‘Dancer to the Drum’ which provides the perfect bookend!”
The album also features stripped down and re-recorded tracks from her career. This includes ‘Life Holds On’, recorded with a single electric guitar, ‘Rage on Rage’, Dancer to the Drum’, and ‘Child Again.’
Beth’s working relationship with Sam began during a conversation with the broadcaster Bob Harris OBE after she mentioned a love for the folk duo The Civil Wars. Although she was told to get in touch with the producer Charlie Peacock, he was unavailable so she met his son Sam instead. They hit it off from the first meeting, as Beth explains:
“I made a decision early on in the process that this time I was going to fully allow myself to be produced and work on taming my inner ‘control freak’. Creatively this was a very new territory for me.
“It was such an interesting dynamic to hand over so many of the decisions and trust the process. I found by not jumping in too quickly and directing, that I ended up with not only something I loved, but I learned a lot about myself and the places you can go when you let someone else drive.”
The album is set to take you onto a journey that explains the contradictions of love and life, and it is released on Feb 9th 2018 via Proper Records. You can pre-order it here.
Words by Ermis Madikopoulos
