Joseph Arthur continues his banner Ballad of Boogie Christ year by releasing its follow up album, The Ballad of Boogie Christ: Act 2, out now in Canada via Bonsound. This epic project is a joy to discover, according to Huffington Post Québec.
Buy the album on iTunes (only available in digital format in Canada).
This album is loosely based around a character that’s either enlightened or insane, like all of us, Joseph tells American Songwriter. It’s a sonic landscape across the last few years of my life excavating material for my captors, though they were illusions, every last one of them. Recorded at a range of studios in New York, California and Minnesota, the 12 songs here extend the themes and vivid narratives introduced on Act 1 of Boogie Christ, named for a fictional character Arthur based loosely on his own life. Among the contributors are the Band's legendary pianist Garth Hudson, bassist Catherine Popper and multi-instrumentalist Kraig Jarret Johnson.
Says Arthur of part 2, I feel like it definitely tells a story. It sounds ridiculous to quote your mom, but she equated this album to the end of a novel. She's a tough critic, so I took her opinion as a really good sign.