April 30, 2013
Iconic soul/R&B vocalist and multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Aaron Neville will release My True Story, a DVD of his well-received PBS special, on May 21 on Blue Note Records.
The special, which aired on PBS nationally in March and is slated for recurring airings in June, captures Neville’s concert at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl in November 2012, and showcases performances of tracks from Neville’s critically acclaimed doo-wop-inspired album, My True Story. For the show, Neville was joined by incredible array of musicians, including Greg Leisz on guitar (Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow), Don Was on Hammond Organ, (George G. Receli on drums (Bob Dylan, James Brown), Tony Scherr on bass (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones), Charles Neville on saxophone (Neville Brothers), as well as Michael Goods on organ/piano, and Joel Katz, David Johnson, and Earl Smith, Jr. on background vocals.
Neville was also joined by special guests Paul Simon on “We Belong Together” and Joan Osborne on “Money Honey,” as well as Eugene Pitt of the Jive Five (who co-wrote the song “My True Story”) and Dickie Harmon from the Del-Vikings.
The DVD features an interview with Neville and several classic songs not included on My True Story, such as “Don’t Go, Please Stay,” “Hercules,” “Tell It Like It Is,” “Have Mercy Baby,” “Fever,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “Goodnight Sweetheart.” The New York Daily News gave the special four out of five stars, commenting that “Neville sings his faves from the ’50s. Beautifully.”
Released on January 22, My True Story earned Neville not only his first Top 10 album and highest-charting set ever, but also some of the best reviews of his career. A host of media outlets weighed in on the album, which bowed at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. People magazine noted that “if ever there was an album that Aaron Neville was born to make, it’s this collection of doo-wop classics,” while Rolling Stone said, “Welcome back to the sweetest falsetto in human history” and called Neville “a true soul master at work.”
