Charles Kelley Solo Album to Feature Stevie Nicks on Background Vocals

[Danielle]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brianher.../#460c7dea2015

Like when Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks decided to go her own way in the 1980s, Charles Kelley has gone solo this year, taking some time away from his Grammy-winning trio Lady Antebellum to release new music individually.

Nicks, 67, and Kelley, 34, recently combined their solo powers to record a cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ rawly reflective “Southern Accents” for Kelley’s debut album, The Driver. Kelley flew from Nashville to Los Angeles to meet Nicks at The Village, a famous recording studio with early 1900s stained-glass windows leftover from its Masonic temple days. Once inside a room, Kelley remembers Nicks saying, “Tom used to record in here a lot.”

“It was the same exact studio Tom Petty cut his version of ‘Southern Accents’ — it was so eerie,” Kelley told Forbes. “What a wild coincidence. It was a cool moment, man. She added this really cool element of vulnerability and haunting thing because the verse she sings is ‘There’s a dream I keep having where my mama comes to me,’ and who better than Stevie Nicks to sing a line like that.”

Her distinctive pining paired with his gravelly modern country vocals give the Southern roots ballad a refreshing twist, one not even Johnny Cash could provide when he covered it live in concert 10 years ago. Maybe it was the storied history of The Village, where Nicks and the rest of Fleetwood Mac famously in 1979 recorded the most expensive albums ever at the time (Tusk), that elevated the duet. Back then, the room was decorated with animal tusks and beads, exuding the hippie, rock-star vibe that defined Fleetwood Mac’s compelling aesthetic.

Nearly 40 years later, getting Nicks into the room with Kelley came together smoothly. Kelley’s producer Paul Worley was collaborating with Chris Isaak, who is managed by Nicks’ manager, Karen Johnston. “Paul played Karen a couple things and ‘Southern Accents’ was one of them and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got to play this for Stevie Nicks’ because she’s a huge Tom Petty fan and they’re friends,” Kelley remembered. “Southern Accents” is the title track from Petty and the Heartbreakers’ sixth studio album, which also spawned “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” a song about Nicks breaking up with Eagles rocker Joe Walsh.

“Stevie came back to me and said she’s so proud of [my rendition of ‘Southern Accents’] and loves how I did it, so I used it as an opportunity to ask her if she’d like to sing harmonies on it,” Kelley added. “I’m hoping Tom Petty gets to hear the song because I’m proud of it and maybe having Stevie Nicks on there will give him more incentive to listen to it.”

Kelley originally recorded his verses for “Southern Accents” and other songs on his debut solo album in a modest Nashville basement setting, which reminded him of the non-gaudy Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama.

More on the link.

[Danielle]

Guys, look at these... I don't think I could love her more...
From the recording of Southern Accents





Many more on the photographer's page:

http://www.philipmacias.com/stevie-n...2cw2pochfkovus

[James89]

These photos are beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing.

[wheart]

she looks radiant and so relaxed. That photographer really captured her essence

[michelej1]

The Press Enterprise

By FIELDING BUCK / STAFF WRITER
Published: March 2, 2016 Updated: March 3, 2016 11:13 a.m.

http://www.pe.com/articles/little-79...ongs-lady.html

Q: You have some neat collaborations on that album as well, don’t you?

A: Yeah, they all came about pretty naturally. “The Driver,” well Eric and I wrote together, and I asked Dierks to be a part of it. The Stevie Nicks collaboration, that is a really cool story. We cut this Tom Petty song, “Southern Accents,” and her manager happened to be in Nashville and talking with Paul back and forth about different stuff. And she said, “Oh, you’re working with Charles? You got to play me a couple of songs.” So anyways, he played her “Southern Accents.” We were like, “Oh my gosh, Stevie Nicks is like the biggest Tom Petty fan, we’ve got to play this for her.” Next thing you know, she reaches out to me and says she loves it. And I reach back saying, “I’d love you to sing on it.” We were out in L.A. and cutting her vocal. It’s just the coolest thing in the world to have someone like that be a part of that record. And then Miranda Lambert and I are good friends, and she’d come to a little industry event in Nashville for the project. And she came backstage and said how proud she was of me and loved the music. So when we went back in and finished the record, I sent her a song and she said yes. And here we are.

[Macfanforever]

From RS..........................Nice photos in this article.Never seen them before.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/fe...cents-20160714

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Inside Charles Kelley & Stevie Nicks' 'Southern Accents'
Country singer shares stories and exclusive photos from his recording session with the Fleetwood Mac legend


By Chris Parton July 14, 2016


stevie nicks charles kelley
Stevie Nicks and Charles Kelley recorded a duet of Tom Petty's "Southern Accents." Philip Macias

Charles Kelley has always been a huge Tom Petty fan and holds a special love for the 1985 song "Southern Accents," part of an album of the same name. He says he thought the homesick ballad would make a great country song and had long wanted to cut it with his band, Lady Antebellum, but they never got the chance.
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Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks: A Rock Goddess Looks Back »

In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Country, though, the expressive singer and native son of the South explains how an opportunity finally presented itself with his first solo project, The Driver. . . but it turned out much different than expected.

"Growing up in Georgia, it reminded me a lot of my dad," Kelley says. "He's a very spiritual person and the way he works, the way he prays, it's definitely that old-school Southern thing. So I always thought it would be a cool little homage to him."

Kelley recorded a demo version of the song in straightforward fashion and was happy with the result, but then fate intervened in the form rock legend Stevie Nicks. The Fleetwood Mac singer had become friends with Kelley and his Lady A bandmates through their CMT Crossroads collaboration and the song "Golden" — a Lady A track that spoke to Nicks so much she asked to re-record it with the trio — and during a trip to Nashville, Nicks heard Kelley was working on a solo album. After hearing the early cut of "Southern Accents" she felt inspired once again to join in, and although Kelley didn't envision his version of the song as a duet, you don't turn down Stevie Nicks.
Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks covers Tom Petty's "Southern Accents" with Charles Kelley. Philip Macias

The pair wound up at the Village Studios in Los Angeles, and their remarkable session was captured on film for a new video and intimate photo series. Coincidentally, they recorded Kelley's "Southern Accents" redo in the very same room where Petty cut his original version.

"It was pretty spooky," Kelley says. "It was one of those moments where it's like, 'Alright, we've gotta do this thing right and do him proud.'"

Nicks had also done some work at the Village (including the double album, Tusk in the midst of Fleetwood Mac's decadent heyday) and during a session that lasted from 7:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m., Kelley says she only actually sang for about an hour-and-a-half — because that was all she needed. The rest of their time together was spent deep in conversation as the free-spirit regaled him with story after story of star-crossed hookups and drug-fueled all-night recording sessions.

"She was like, 'We had all these animal tusks around and animal prints covering the studio, and this is where we would throw down the coke,'" he says with a laugh. "And as I'm drinking my Starbucks coffee, I'm thinking, 'The times sure have changed.' But just to hear those stories was so funny.

"She's really sweet, and she's a very wise person," he continues. "She's very mystical. Conversations always drift into spiritual, mystical worlds when she's talking about music and how it moves you and the colors of it. It's very much what you would think Stevie Nicks would talk about, but on the flip side, we'll have a 30-minute conversation about how much she loves her dog and how she was watching something like The Voice and talking about Adam [Levine] and Blake [Shelton], very normal things. But man, she's still Stevie Nicks."
charles kelley stevie nicks
Charles Kelley and Stevie Nicks recorded "Southern Accents" in Los Angeles. Philip Macias

Around midnight, Kelley says Nicks found a creative spark and the song took off, with her entering as a ghostly voice in the second verse, all about a recurring dream the narrator has of his mother.

"She became very opinionated in a good way, like, 'This is how I want it to sound,' so it was cool to see her take some pride in it," he says. "She was talking about picking takes and how it's not always about the perfect note, it's about the emotion. She has a thing and she knows what her thing is. And she does it so well."

In the end, Kelley says the track helped pull The Driver together. After getting the final mix, he played the desolate, haunting track for his wife, Cassie, whose smile was all he needed to see.

"I was in the [Driver] project for so long and was very self-conscious about it," he says, "so to have my wife be like, 'This is really special,' I was really proud."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/fe...#ixzz4EQCmzp59
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[michelej1]

Those are wonderful. Thanks for posting.

Her hair has a lot of body. More than I would expect for a "casual" day. Michele