In a musical career spanning half a century, Peter Wolf has earned a reputation as one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most compelling performers, while consistently making distinctive, personally charged music that demonstrates his mastery of a bottomless well of American musical styles.
Wolf continues his musical journey with A Cure for Loneliness, his eighth solo release and his April 8, 2016 Concord debut. The 12-song album is another adventurous and accomplished work, showcasing his irrepressible charisma while encompassing his effortless affinity for country, blues, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll.
A Cure for Loneliness includes nine new Wolf originals, four of them co-written with Grammy/Academy Award-winning songwriter Will Jennings. The material ranges from the loose-limbed gospel boogie of “How Do You” to the rousing rock of “Wasting Time” to the acoustic reverie of “Some Other Time, Some Other Place” to the swinging big-band swagger of “Mr. Mistake” to the introspective balladry of “Peace of Mind” and “Fun For A While.”
Other highlights are an audacious bluegrass reworking of the classic J. Geils anthem “Love Stinks,” and the stirring soul ballad “It’s Raining,” which Wolf co-wrote with R&B pioneer Don Covay. Wolf had originally intended to record the song as a duet with soul legend Bobby Womack, but received the news of Womack’s death while he was working on the song’s instrumental track.
A Cure for Loneliness also features a trio of obscure covers that reflects Wolf’s wide-ranging musical interests: the honky-tonk lament “It Was Always So Easy (To Find An Unhappy Woman),” the country heartbreaker “Stranger,” and the haunting 50’s ballad “Tragedy.”
A Cure for Loneliness‘ thematic centerpiece is its opening track “Rolling On,” a spare yet insistent statement of purpose that underlines Wolf’s stature as a world-class rock ‘n’ roll survivor.
“It’s a song about getting through life and trying to prevail, and that’s what the whole record is about,” Wolf states. “It’s basically saying ‘I’m still here.’ Change is constant, but it’s not necessarily negative, so you just have to keep rolling on.”
Photo by Joe Greene
Wolf recorded A Cure for Loneliness with a prestigious group of musicians that includes several longtime collaborators such as, keyboardist Kenny White, who co-produced the album with Wolf, and the members of his touring band, the Midnight Travelers: guitarists Duke Levine and Kevin Barry, bassist Marty Ballou, drummers Tom Arey and Shawn Pelton.
“I try to work with musicians where there’s compatibility in personalities and musical vision,” Wolf notes. “What’s nice is the camaraderie that you develop when you’re collaborating with the same group of people over a long period of time. And it’s exciting to see what comes together when you’re working with artists of enormous talents. I always go in prepared, but you never really know how things are going to work out. Maybe a song that you expected to be a ballad becomes an uptempo song in rehearsal, or vice versa, and that’s where the value and excitement of collaboration comes in.
“The technology has changed over the years, but I come out of the era where albums had a beginning, a middle and an end, and I still feel like it’s my obligation to the art form that an album should have a certain flow to it, and that’s still the formula I guide myself by. Does it feel complete? Does it have enough variety?”
A Cure for Loneliness achieves an expansive flow by combining studio recordings along with several live performances that capture the humor and spontaneity for which Wolf is renowned. “Performing in front of an audience is one of the things I enjoy most, and it’s a different energy from the energy that comes out in the studio. So mixing studio and live tracks is like using different lighting for different scenes in a film.”
“I see this album as a continuation of a body of work that I’ve been creating for a long, long time,” Wolf concludes. “Each album is a challenge and every one of them has been a learning experience. I think that they’ve become more personal and revealing as I’ve continued. I still feel the way I felt when I started out decades ago, I’m just trying to prevail and continue to grow as an artist… and to keep rolling on with music as a cure for loneliness.”
Peter Wolf web: http://www.peterwolf.com/
Peter Wolf Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeterWolfMusic/
Produced by Kenny White and Peter Wolf
Additional Production by Peter Wolf
Recorded and engineered by Chris Rival at Middleville Studio
Additional recording and engineering by Dave Westner at Woolly Mammoth Sound and Karina’s Kitchen
Mixed by Tom Schick at The Loft
*Engineered and Mixed by Rob Eaton at Sear Sound
**Engineered by Rob Eaton at Sear Sound, Mixed by Ben Wisch at Red House Studios
***Recorded and engineered by Dave Westner at Karina’s Kitchen
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Studios
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Photo by Joe Greene
Rolling On (4:07)
(Peter Wolf / Will Jennings)
Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) / Will Jennings Songs, adm. by Irving Music Inc. (BMI)
Vocals and Harp: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Jeff Ramsey, Athene Wilson
- It Was Always So Easy (To Find an Unhappy Woman) (2:40)
(Sanger D. “Whitey” Shafer / A.L. “Doodle” Owens)
Sony/ATV Acuff Rose Music (BMI) / BMG Bumblebee obo Doodle Owens Music (BMI)
Vocals and Harp: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Peter Wolf, Kenny White, Aaron Lippert
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Photo by Joe Greene
Peace of Mind (3:49)
(Peter Wolf / Will Jennings)
Pal Park Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) / Will Jennings Songs, adm. by Irving Music Inc. (BMI)
Vocals: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Jeff Ramsey, Athene Wilson
- How Do You Know* (3:05)
(Peter Wolf / Will Jennings)
Pal Park Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) / Will Jennings Songs, adm. by Irving Music Inc. (BMI)
Vocals and Harp: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Larry Campbell
Keyboards: Kenny White
Horns: Uptown Horns−Arno Hecht, Crispin Cioe
Bass: Paul Bryan
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Ada Dyer, Catherine Russell
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fine art photography
Fun for a While (3:36)
(Peter Wolf / Tim Mayer)
Pal Park Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Vocals and Harp: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Lap Steel: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
- Wastin’ Time (3:59)
(Peter Wolf)
Pal Park Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Vocals and Harp: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Tom West
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Tom Arey
Background vocals: Duke Levine
- Some Other Time, Some Other Place** (3:49)
(Peter Wolf / Will Jennings)
Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) / Will Jennings Songs, adm. by Irving Music Inc. (BMI)
Vocals and Harp: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar, Pedal Steel: Larry Campbell
Keyboards: Kenny White
Fiddle: Larry Campbell
Bass: Tony Garnier
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Teresa Williams
- It’s Raining (4:17)
(Peter Wolf / Don Covay)
Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. ASCAP
Vocals: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Horns: Paul Ahlstrand
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Jeff Ramsey, Athene Wilson
- Love Stinks (2:23)
(Peter Wolf / Seth Justman)
Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) / Center City Music (ASCAP)
Vocals: Peter Wolf
Mandolin: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Bass: Marty Ballou
Background vocals: Duke Levine, Kevin Barry, Marty Ballou
- Mr. Mistake (1:42)
(Peter Wolf / Tim Mayer)
Pal Park Music adm. by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Vocals: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
- Tragedy (2:44)
(Gerald Nelson / Fred Burch)
Kobalt Music Publishing America obo Wren Music Co. (BMI)
Vocals: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
Guitar: Kevin Barry
Keyboards: Kenny White
Bass: Marty Ballou
Drums: Shawn Pelton
Background vocals: Kris Delmhorst, Rose Polenzani
- Stranger*** (1:30)
(Irene Stanton / Wayne Walker)
Universal-Songs of Polygram International, Inc. (BMI)
Vocals: Peter Wolf
Guitar: Duke Levine
(P) & (C) 2016 PW Recording Ltd. Under exclusive license to Concord Music Group, Inc., 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the U.S.A. CRE-38953-02