Crazy On You in a Red Velvet Car

Heart (Finally!) Nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2011-10-02T12:50:00.001-07:00

Yes, it really is happening!

The nominees were announced last Tuesday and low and behold our beloved sisters from Seattle have finally (make that finally, finally, FINALLY!!) been included :D They along with 14 other hopefuls including Guns n Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and fellow female rock icon Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are all in the running for the 2012 Induction.

Heart have been eligible for RNRHOF Induction for the last 10 years and have been aggregiously overlooked every year running. Now they have gone from not even making the Rock Hall's "Previously Considered" list straight to being nominated. Most of the nominees come from the "shortlist". In other words, the Hall is proving they actually do have a heart. Or at least, they could.

Let your voice be heard. Vote for HEART in the online fan poll here. This does not affect the outcome of the induction; that task is in the (hopefully) able hands of 1000 "rock experts", 500 or more of which must vote for Heart for them to make it in. But we should vote our hearts out nonetheless. This is Heart's moment and they deserve every minute of it.

~

Now just for fun; late last year I started work on a Heart for the RNRHOF project; posters and music selections/album covers mostly, but before I could release any of them or the full website I had in the works, my computer burned up and is still out of commission. Luckily for me I had sent a few of my finished works to my best friend who, in true heroic amazingness, kept them and was able to send them to my phone so that I may post them in celebration of this incredible and momentous occasion! Here we have a promo poster of sorts, and a matching set of front and back album covers with a poster to match too. Posters measure 11x17 inches and the coverart is standard cd case size 475x475 pixels. I have another large set that needs a bit of tweaking that I will hopefully be able to post soon. As always, I hope you all like them :)

Grey typography set -

There You Go iTunes / Amazon

Barracuda iTunes / Amazon

These Dreams (Live) iTunes / Amazon

Make Me iTunes / Amazon

I Didn't Want to Need You iTunes / Amazon

Crazy On You iTunes / Amazon

Closer to the Sun iTunes (Album Only)

Battle of Evermore (Live) Legal Sounds

Dog & Butterfly (2009) Amazon Exclusive

Alone iTunes / Amazon

Love Alive iTunes / Amazon

Hey You iTunes / Amazon
*Please note all links are to US iTunes and Amazon pages

Photo Credit: Mark Britain and Amber McDonald

Editing: Nikayla Crews

No Copyright Infringement intended

Musical Selections: Nikayla Crews and Amy Johnstone

All Music Copyright Heart Amalgamated

VH1 Divas Salute The Troops

2010-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ann and Nancy will be appearing as special guests on VH1 Divas Salute The Troops, performing alongside Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, on Sunday December 5th :)

The show’s format calls for each "diva" to perform a few of their best-known songs, along with a classic or two by another artist. In the case of the roots-rocking New England band Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, that means teaming up with Heart co-founders Ann and Nancy Wilson. Ann Wilson was born in San Diego, and both sisters spent part of their youth at Camp Pendleton, where their father was stationed.

“Ann and Nancy opened the door in rock for women to look beautiful and be so talented,” said Potter, 27, who is arguably the least known but most talented singer on the “Divas” bill.

The USO Presents “VH1 Divas Salute the Troops”

With: Katy Perry, Sugarland, Nicki Minaj, Keri Hilson, Paramore and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals; hosted by Kathy Griffin

When: 9 p.m. Sunday December 5th 2010

Where: VH1

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Rock Delight: Red Velvet Car Review

2010-12-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

Here’s the deal, because there are two major periods for the band Heart is one of those bands with a dividing fan-base. Therefore depending on which period of the band you prefer you will either like this album or you will not like this album. With 2004′s Jupiter’s Darling album the Wilson sisters made a conscious decision to go back to their 70′s acoustic driven Zeppelin influenced rock. While I thought Jupiter’s Darling was a mixed bag, I am happy to say that Ann and Nancy were much more successful with Red Velvet Car and that is for the most part due to the fact that the songs are just better.

Album Highlights:

1. There You Go - The opening track , a mellow acoustic track. A good song but not one that I would use to open up the album with.

2. WTF- the second track and would have been a much better song to open up the album with, a hard rocker with a 70′s rock vibe.

3. Hey You- The first single from the album and another mellow acoustic track

4. Wheels- My personal favorite from the album a great rocker and Ann sings the hell out of it. She sounds like she’s 20 years old again.

5. Safronia’s Mark- A mid tempo acoustic Zeppelin influenced rocker.

All in the all “Red Velvet Car” is a good album and Ann’s voice is just as amazing as it was 30 years ago. The only problem I have with the album is that it is a bit mellow. I would have liked a couple more rockers, but it definitely has direction.

Grade- 80

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Pop Matters: Red Velvet Car Review

2010-12-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

When I was in the sixth grade, I was friends with a guy who had an older sister who wore a lot of denim and smelled like stale cigarette smoke and whiskey. She had a mirror on her wall, likely won at a county fair, emblazoned with the Heart logo. That’s how Heart is for a lot of people, even those who saw them settle into AOR balladry in the ‘80s. But lest we forget, “Barracuda” was no fluke: the Wilson sisters rocked!

Red Velvet Car showcases both of those extremes and is likely exactly what longtime fans like my old friend’s sister were hoping to hear.

It’s always a little awkward when grown-ups use Internet acronyms, and in the case of Heart’s “WTF”, it feels doubly so. Thankfully, the album’s most thoroughly ramshackle rocker only uses the shtick in its title, settling instead on a more philosophical bent: “What bridge to cross and what bridge to burn?” The album is filled with lyrics like that, the kinds of questions posited while drunk or high in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. And if anyone else pulled that shit in 2010, you’d laugh your ass off. But with Heart, it works. Seriously. Because what Ann and Nancy Wilson know that all the Arcade Fires and Radioheads of the world don’t seem to understand is that sometimes feelings don’t have to be conveyed any deeper than a can of Schlitz.

Red Velvet Car is an album that feels like it doesn’t know it’s the 21st century or that the record industry is in the toilet. The lyrics are earnestly corny, the guitars—even the acoustic ones—layered and LOUD. “Wheels” is the most “Barracuda”-esque of the bunch, with soaring vocals and a crunchy riff. “Safronia’s Mark” picks up the scent of Led Zeppelin’s mysticism and I have no idea what it’s about or where the “winding alleyways of Sodo” even are, but goddamn if it doesn’t sound like it should be played driving too fast with the windows rolled all the way down. If someone told you this was secretly recorded between Little Queen and Magazine, it’s only lyrics like “I texted you in desperation” (from the otherwise timeless “Death Valley”) that would give the game away.

Red Velvet Car is unapologetically huge in every conceivable way, and that’s exactly what it should be. Heart are crafty veterans in the rock & roll game, but there’s much more honesty here than you’ll find in current releases by many of their contemporaries. Red Velvet Car is exactly what Heart has always been about, through their varied heydays and into the present. This is music meant to be played in arenas, but still give the listener that same feeling of intimacy they felt when they hung their first country fair mirror on their suburban bedroom wall.

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Innocent Words: Red Velvet Car Review

2010-12-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to fathom that some would call Heart’s latest release Red Velvet Car a “comeback album.” Sure it’s been six years since their last studio release Jupiter’s Darling, but a comeback album? Hardly. I mean come on, Heart has sold over 30 million records, had 21 Top 40 hits, sold out arenas worldwide, and had an influence on rock music since the 1970s – what would they be coming back from?

Red Velvet Car is a pretty low-key album with acoustic guitars at the foundation. Opening with the bluesy “There You Go” then heading into the epic single “WTF” the album has a stout start. “Hey You” is a bouncy summer jam and the straight-forward rocker “Wheels” is the best one-two combination of the ten songs. Nancy Wilson takes the lead vocals for the sexy “Sunflower” and for diehard Heart fans the Wilson sisters revamp “Sand” from their 1990s side project The Lovemongers.

With Red Velvet Car we find Ann and Nancy Wilson mixing the past with the present. They have embraced their maturity and parlayed the highs and lows of the past few years of their lives into another powerful Heart record.

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Classic Album: Little Queen

2010-12-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Following the success of their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in 1976, Heart soon began to acclaim for their brand of Led Zeppelin-like rock fused with folk, resulting in the hit singles Crazy on You and Magic Man. Once again reuniting with producer Mike Flicker, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson returned to the studio to record their sophomore album, Little Queen, the following year. Unlike the music that they would produce in the late 1980s and early 1990s (such as These Dreams, Alone and All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You), Heart’s output during the 1970s was ahead of its time and gave their male counterparts a run for their money. The opening track, Barracuda, is perhaps one of their most famous tunes and the one that usually attracts the Led Zeppelin comparisons; with its gritty guitar riff and Ann Wilson’s high-pitched vocals. Written as a reaction to a publicity stunt that the band’s label, Mushroom Records, had attempted by publishing an article in a magazine which featured a picture of the the duo with the caption, “Heart’s Wilson Sisters Confess: “It Was Only Our First Time!”

In a dramatic change of pace, the second track on the album is an excellent acoustic number and one of Heart’s most overlooked songs, Love Alive. The acoustic vibe continues with the instrumental Sylvan Song, which features a combination of Nancy Wilson’s guitar and Roger Fisher’s Mandolin, before leading into another track called Dream of the Archer. After the rocking Kick It Out and the ’70s funk of Little Queen, the album returns to the acoustic sound with the ballads Treat Me Well and Go On Cry, which fail to live up to the beauty of Love Alive but still demonstrate the range of the band. The closing number, Go On Cry, has a dreamlike quality that brings the album to a suitable conclusion. By the early 1980s all but the Wilson sisters had left the band and Heart would be reinvented as a power ballad group, never achieving the heights that they reached with their earlier work.

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Give The Gift Of Music: Ann Wilson on "Sunflower"

2010-12-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ann gives us a beautiful insight in to the love behind Nancy's song "Sunflower" :)

After all the years my sister Nancy and I have been writing songs together, I feel I know her creative impulse pretty well. When we were writing the songs for our last album “Jupiter’s Darling,” she came up with a beautiful, unfinished piece called “Hey You.” It was a very sweet, insightful piece that I flattered myself into hoping was about ME. The poetry contained things I wished we could say to each other on a friendship and sisterly level, and it thrilled me to think she was feeling those things about our long relationship that has seen so much over the years. She never finished the song then, unable to come up with the right ending. Six years later, when recording our “Red Velvet Car” album, she and producer Ben Mink were able to finish the song. Can you imagine my secret delight?! Finally, after all the years of me writing songs for and about other people, someone had written one for me. Then, Nancy mentioned in passing that “Hey You” had always been about her relationship with her then-husband. Well, before I could stop myself I blurted out, “Oh! I always kinda thought that song was about me.” We had a little laugh about it, but inside I was disappointed. Of course Nancy knows every move on my face, and my every tiny nuance of body language, so she got an idea how to make me feel better. In a matter of days she unveiled a lovely new song she’d written called “Sunflower.” The poetry in this song describes a strong, beautiful, vibrant sunflower, “standing shameless in the air.” She had written it just for me … for my birthday. Such a gift has never been given to me before. No one else on Earth knows me better than Nancy, and to have an artist such as her do this touched me on a very deep level. I can hardly listen to the song now without getting really misty. It is very personal, and runs deep in my heart. I hope when people hear her “Sunflower” song, they will feel Nancy’s glowing soul and her deep generosity of spirit.

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Our Ten Best: Female Rock Vocalists

2010-12-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

Female singers have been an important part of the Rock, Pop and Folk music world for decades in a band setting and as solo artists. Some have timeless vocal talent, along with incredible stage presence, while others have been singer-songwriters whose work has influenced countless others.

Here is our list of the top ten classic rock female artists:

2-Ann Wilson (Heart) – This rock songstress was an integral link to later female rock and rollers. Heart, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia with sister Nancy Wilson on rhythm guitar in 1973, was the first Led Zeppelin derivative group fronted by women featuring the dynamic lead guitar work of the Jimmy Page influenced Roger Fisher and later the talented Howard Leese. Heart was the first female band that had creative control of its material and production. Most importantly, the band showcased Ann Wilson’s powerful and melodic voice on such classic rock gems like, “Barracuda, “Crazy on You,” “Magic Man,” “Kick It Out” and the gorgeous ballad “Dog and Butterfly” (from the double platinum 1978 album of the same name). Their live version of the aforementioned Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” rivals the original. The band had a resurgence in the ‘80s with 1985’s “Heart” that featured “What About Love,” “Never” and “These Dreams”, and the “Bad Animals” album which showcased Wilson’s voice on “Alone” and “Who Will You Run To?” Around this time record company pressure focused on her weight gain and forced the group to film her in extreme close-ups and in black garb in videos to hide her appearance. Through it all her voice has remained an indispensable part of the Heart legacy. The band released “Red Velvet Car” on August 31, 2010 and continued their U.S. tour.

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Brothers In Arms – Famous Siblings In Rock n Roll

2010-12-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

Taking one for the girls next are Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. In the long and storied history of rock and roll there have been few, if any, sister teams who have created such a lasting legacy as the Wilsons. Starting their careers as folk oriented, post hippy lyricists, Ann and Nancy formed Heart and took a much harder, edgier direction in the late seventies that has carried on to this very day, their signature song “Barracuda” coming in 1977. With a whopping thirteen albums intermittently spaced from 1973 onwards, the latest being 2010’s Red Velvet Car, the Wilson sisters have remained a strong, iron willed backbone to the Seattle music scene since their inception.

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Top 10 Pop Music Comebacks 2010

2010-12-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

8. Heart

Led by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, Canadian band Heart had two major periods of commercial success in the late 1970s and late 1980s. The last time they entered the top 10 was 20 years ago with 1990's Brigade. Following a series of successful concert dates with Journey in 2009, the band got together to create their first studio album since 2004. The result was a top 10 debut for Red Velvet Car and the adult contemporary hit single "Hey You."

Watch "Hey You" live.

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Ann and Nancy: Moms Who Rock

2010-11-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

Pandora.com has Moms Who Rock! Check out the new page for 4 mini webisodes with Ann and Nancy as they discuss being rock n roll mommas. Lots of cute, funny stories and Ann and Nancy are just as beautiful and sweet as can be. I absolutely loved these. ♥

Ann and Nancy in Rockstars of Science Campaign

2010-11-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ann and Nancy, along with 6 other celebrities including fellow female rock icon Debbie Harry, are appearing in the Rockstars of Science 2010 Campaign which will premiere in December!

Autism Speaks, the nation's leading autism science and advocacy organization, is pleased to announce that Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., its chief science officer, has been named a "Rockstar of Science" by Geoffrey Beene Gives Back® and GQ Magazine who have joined forces, along with the Entertainment Industry Foundation/SU2C, to bring together eight celebrity musicians--rock icon Debbie Harry (Blondie), Bret Michaels, Timbaland, Keri Hilson, Heart (Ann and Nancy Wilson), Jay Sean and B.o.B -- and seventeen of the nation's top medical researchers, including Dr. Dawson as well as two Nobel Laureates. - Press Release

After I found the press release my good friend Kristen immediately went in search of more information and found this GORGEOUS picture that will be featured in the campaign ads.

I mean, LOOK AT THEM!

You can download the entire 2010 Campaign in PDF form here. And please check out RockstarsOfScience.org for more information.

Photos from the Newkirk Show!

2010-11-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to Stephen Paulsen of Enye Media for allowing me to post these! :D He was 3 feet from Ann the entire show. :)

More Photos from the Houston Show!

2010-11-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

Check out this beautiful Flickr set to see larger versions of the previous set and more photos from the Houston show. Gorgeous girls :)

Gorgeous Photos from the Topeka Show!

2010-11-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

Ann and Nancy were UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous last night in Topeka. Love the jackets and necklaces!

Credit: Kris Know

HoustonPress Review and Photos!

2010-11-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Heart performed Zeppelin's THE OCEAN to a sold out crowd in Houston last night :D Here is the HoustonPress review!

In trying to come up with a witty juxtaposition to open our review of Thursday night's Heart show, Aftermath was initially going to throw out a comparison to Jefferson Airplane/Starship, another band that peaked decades ago, enjoyed a brief resurgence in the '80s, then faded more or less into obscurity.

It wasn't until we started digging back into Heart's material that we remembered just how much of their catalogue provided a framework for AOR and classic-rock radio. Sure, everyone remembers "Barracuda" and "Magic Man" - or should, anyway - but the Wilson sisters flat-out owned the Dazed and Confused era: "Crazy On You," "Kick It Out," "Heartless," "Straight On," "Dreamboat Annie"... and that was before 1980. Clearly the comparison to be made isn't to Starship, but to Journey.

Hear us out.

Now, we realize Heart hasn't inspired not one but two video games, and Journey's Escape will always be one of the quintessential '80s albums, but there are parallels, from earlier success as a hard rock band to reinvention in as '80s power balladeers. Sure, Journey was much more successful overall, but at least Heart never tried to replace Ann Wilson with some chick they found on YouTube.

Heart opened for Journey a few years back as well, which draws our lame exercise to a close and brings us to last night's show, a packed affair for a band that drew an uncharacteristically (for Houston) enthusiastic crowd and helped Aftermath revisit our youth in more ways than one.

We aren't sure where we'd been reading about the sisters losing steam recently - probably Pitchfork, those fuckers - but there was talk floating around about how Ann's voice wasn't what it once was, or that Nancy had lost a step. And this would be perfectly understandable (Ann is 60, Nancy 56), if it weren't demonstrably false.

From the first chords of the band's opening song, "Cook With Fire" from 1978's Dog and Butterfly, they were on top of it. Ann absolutely wailed, killing on standards like "Barracuda" and "Crazy On You" - as well as the encore covers, Led Zeppelin's "The Ocean" and The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" - while Nancy was an assured, electric presence. Gone were the corsets and unfortunate high-kicks of the "What About Love" era (third song), replaced by a pair of sisters who seemed genuinely grateful to still be together and playing music after 35 years.

They stuck mostly with the hits, sprinkling in a few cuts from their latest release Red Velvet Car, but never straying far from bread-and-butter songs like "Straight On," "Magic Man" and stuff from their 1980s resurgence ("Alone," "These Dreams").

Ann and Nancy are the only original members left, but their backing players this time around were plenty solid, especially guitarist Craig Bartock, who took most of the soloing duties, and Debbie Shair, looking like a live representation of a Pokemon character behind the keyboards.

Aftermath has rarely seen the House of Blues this full, and... what a crowd. Rocks Off last saw Heart in '88 or '89 when we took a date to the Bad Animals show (not the first time we "compromised" our musical pedigree for the opposite sex), but Thursday night was largely a girls night out affair; "Soccer Moms Gone Wild," in case Joe Francis needs a new venture to pay legal fees.

We actually found ourselves in something of an uncomfortable situation when one lady, who apparently doesn't bend her elbow more than once a year, attempted to dance with us, and we're using a very loose definition of the term. She tried to close the deal by comparing high-school graduation dates:

She: When did you graduate?

Aftermath: 1987.

She: 1983!

Finally, we scored a senior.

Personal Bias: Our ulterior motives at the Bad Animals show aside, we've always liked Heart's music, even the '80s power-ballad stuff.

The Crowd: If we had older siblings, they'd have been there. Mid-40s and up, majority female, probably all hung over this morning.

Overheard In The Crowd: "Captain Morgan and Diet Coke." Repeat.

Random Notebook Dump: "There's a 50-y.o. dude next to me belting out 'These Dreams.' I swear to God he's crying."

SET LIST

Cook With Fire
Heartless
What About Love
Straight On
Dog and Butterfly
These Dreams
Hey You
Even It Up/Gimme Shelter
Red Velvet Car
In The Cool
Alone
WTF (I think)
Magic Man
Crazy On You
Barracuda

ENCORE

The Ocean (Zep cover)
Love Reign O'er Me (Who cover)

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Ann and Nancy's iTunes Celebrity Playlist Podcast!

2010-11-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

This was such a treat to hear today. 35 minutes of Ann and Nancy talking about music they love. Great stories and insights, lots of funny moments. They are just so, so amazing. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did :)

Click here to download the FREE podcast. Must have iTunes.

Ann on Classic Rock K-97 in Edmonton!

2010-11-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

New 8 minute interview with Ann done just after the Canadian tour was announced :D

Heart Comes Home: Canadian Tour Announced!

2010-11-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

2011 marks the 35th anniversary of Heart’s debut record Dreamboat Annie. Heart’s groundbreaking album was recorded in Vancouver, B.C., where they lived at the time, and was first released in Canada.

Heart announces that they are coming home to Canada in 2011, with their first coast-to-coast Canadian tour in three decades. With a 20-concert run starting on January 28 in St John’s, NL and ending in their Canadian hometown of Vancouver, BC on February 26, Heart at last fulfills a long held desire to play for their Canadian fans in every region of the country on one tour. As Ann and Nancy put it themselves: “Heart had its musical genesis in Vancouver and as artists Canada has always been our spiritual home. Canadians love to rock and we are happy to be bringing Heart as it is now back to Canada. It's like Heart is coming home.”

On August 31, 2010, Heart released Red Velvet Car, their first new studio album in six years. Produced by Vancouver-based Grammy winning producer Ben Mink, Red Velvet Car entered the Billboard 200 best-selling album charts at #10, becoming the seventh Top 10 album of the group's career. Released on Eagle Rock Records in Canada and on Sony Legacy in the United States, the critically acclaimed new album reached #1 in sales on Amazon.com on Sunday, September 4.

The critical response to Red Velvet Car has been universally ecstatic. "The barracudas are back and at the top of their game," wrote Rolling Stone (September 2, 2010) while USA Today (August 25, 2010) called the album "Intimate, intense and anchored by Ann’s powerhouse vocals and Nancy’s aggressive acoustic guitar...." The New York Times (August 4, 2010) found Red Velvet Car "aggressive, delicate and enduring" while the Los Angeles Times noted that "Thirty-four years after the band's debut, Heart's dreamboat sails on."

Over the course of their remarkable career, Heart has sold over 30 million albums and had 22 Top 40 hits. In America, their current AC single “Hey You” has been in the Top 30 for three months, while their classic rock single, “WTF” hovers near Top 10.

Over the past decade, Heart songs have achieved ubiquity in pop culture in films (Shrek 3, The Dilemma), television (American Idol, Glee, Dancing with the Stars), commercials (Honda, Swiffer), and videogames (Rock Band, Guitar Hero), as well as in performances by other top artists (Eminem, Fergie, Gretchen Wilson, et al).

They were 2007 recipients of VH1 Rock Honors, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northwest Grammy Foundation and received ASCAP’s award for Excellence in Songwriting in 2009.

Heart is coming home, Coast to Coast in Canada, in February 2011.

Heart Comes Home - Canada Tour 2011
Tickets On-Sale November 5

January 28                         St. John’s, NL                                   Mile One Centre           

January 29                         Corner Brook, NL                                 Pepsi Centre

February 1                         Charlottetown, PE                                Charlottetown Civic Centre

February 2                         Moncton, NB                                      Moncton Coliseum Complex

February 3                         Halifax, NS                                      Halifax Metro Centre

February 5                         Montreal, QC                                     Place des Arts

February 7                         Ottawa, ON                                       Civic Centre Theatre

February 8                         Kitchener, ON                                    The Centre in the Square
 
February 9                         Hamilton, ON                                     Hamilton Place

February 11                        Toronto, ON                                      Massey Hall

February 12                        Kingston, ON                                     K-Rock Centre
 
February 14                        Sudbury, ON                                      Sudbury Arena

February 17                        Winnipeg, MB                                     MTS Centre
 
February 18                        Saskatoon, SK                                    TCU Place

February 19                        Edmonton, AB                                     Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

February 21                        Grande Prairie AB                                Crystal Centre

February 22                        Calgary, AB                                      Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

February 24                        Prince George, BC                                CN Centre

February 25                        Kamloops, BC                                     Interior Savings Centre

February 26                        Vancouver, BC                                    Queen Elizabeth Centre

(via Heart-Music.com)

Nancy on 96.3 KKLZ!

2010-11-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the 2nd of the 8 interviews Nancy did on the 28th :D It's a short one but there's some great stuff in it anyhow. And it's always wonderful to hear Nancy laugh :)

Big thank you to Matt who ran the interviews for sending me the info! :D

Kallaway on the Rise Interview with Nancy!

2010-10-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

Nancy did 8 radio interviews the morning of the 28th! So far this is the only one I've seen air. Will post the others as I get them :)

Big thank you to Matt who ran the interviews for sending me the info! :D

Acoustic Performance for Michelle Obama Fundraiser

2010-10-31T02:52:00.000-07:00

Ann, Nancy and Craig Perform at the Michelle Obama/Barbara Boxer Fundraiser on the 27th! :D

Heart Performs on Dancing With the Stars!

2010-10-31T02:38:00.000-07:00

Heart was AMAZING on Dancing With the Stars this week. Here are some photos from the show :D

Gorgeous shots by Adam Larkey.

Here's a screencap I took of our beautiful smiley Ann ♥

Check out this Facebook group for more (not taken by me).

And in case you missed the performance :D

Ann and Nancy's "Day In Rock"

2010-10-31T02:04:00.000-07:00

On the 18th Ann sat in for Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock:

And Nancy took the reins on the 27th :D

Nancy Interview with Chop Shop Radio!

2010-10-31T01:59:00.000-07:00

Short new Nancy interview taped from the road. Aired the week of Oct. 11th :)

New Ann and Nancy Interview

2010-10-31T01:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a great interview Ann and Nancy did with Honolulu DJ Dave Lawrence at HPR from earlier this month. :)

Heart Rolls Into Street Date Studios In A “Red Velvet Car”

2010-10-31T01:39:00.000-07:00

Say the name Heart to any fan of classic rock and immediately you’ve got a sing-along on your hands. It’s impossible to think of the band without busting into one of rock’s great power ballads. Whether it’s “Alone,” “These Dreams” or “What About Love,” Heart literally wrote the soundtrack to the American love story, and their music has helped define the sound of rock ‘n roll for over a generation. Last month they released a brand new album called Red Velvet Car featuring two hot new singles (“WTF” and “Hey You”).

Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson rode their Red Velvet Car right into the Street Date studios last month to preview songs from the new album, and treat a handful of lucky fans to some all-time hits from their treasured catalog.

There are few things more enjoyable sitting back and listening as Ann and Nancy Wilson swap stories about the good old days (and bad old days) of their lifetime in rock ‘n roll. In our wide-ranging interview presented in the clip below, the two tell tales of sleazy promoters from the 70′s, of encounters with legends like Elton John and Steely Dan, and of near-death experiences halfway around the world (beware the Japanese rock festival!). Click play to hear these classy sisters (they still get along, after all these years) tell the tale in their own words.

Heart began their Street Date session by debuting three songs off their new album. For everyone in the room, this was the first time these new tunes had ever been heard. In typical Wilson Sisters fashion, they shared a charming story about each song before getting down to business. Those stories are captured here – hit play on the videos below to watch Heart perform their new songs and get the full story behind “Hey You,” “Red Velvet Car” and “WTF.

Hey You:

Red Velvet Car:

WTF:

As thrilling as it was to hear the new material, the real joy of Heart‘s studio session came when they switched gears and asked “anybody want to hear some old stuff?” In unison, the response from the room was “YES!” Without missing a beat, the duo dove into their signature hard rock tune “Barracuda.” For many people the song marks a watershed moment in rock ‘n roll – a lightening-flash revelation that saw women rockers finally lashing out against the male-dominated industry. The song cut right through the sleaze that surrounded so many parts of the business, and remains one of the most anthemic rock songs ever written (that guitar riff is no slouch either, and ranks among the all-time greats). Heart closed out their Street Date appearance with a rare performance of their treasured, but lesser-known classic “Dog & Butterfly.” Hit play below to hear the stories and watch these killer performances.

Dog & Butterfly:

Barracuda:

Like what you hear? Check out Red Velvet Car, the new album from Heart, at iTunes and Amazon.

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New Ann Interview with Rewind 94.9!

2010-10-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a really great new Ann interview! :D

Steve from Rewind 94.9 talked with Ann Wilson, lead singer of Heart, recently about Heart’s new CD “Red Velvet Car”, pro football, Guitar Hero, karaoke, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars and being one of the greatest voices in rock and roll.

Ann and Nancy to be Featured in GQ!

2010-10-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

From the Twitter stream of Michelle Hynek on September 9th. They look so cute!!! :D

GQ photo shoot today with Heart, Robert Hanewich and photographer Kurt Iswarienko.

Not sure when this will run. Will update when I do :)

Thank you to Kristen for finding this picture!

Ann on 97.1 Charlie Radio in Portland

2010-10-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

She got her start singing Led Zeppelin songs in dirty Seattle bars with her sister backing her up on guitar. Then, before they knew it, Ann and Nancy Wilson were superstars. Heart, famous for songs like Barracuda, Crazy On You, Little Queen and a dozen more, has just released a new CD, Red Velvet Car. Ann Wilson took time to talk to Charlie Horse and I about the project. Of course we also talked about aliens. So, you know, it was a pretty normal conversation.

Source

Tacoma Weekly: Red Velvet Car Review

2010-10-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

Heart has created a lasting legacy for their work as veritable hard rockers of the late 70s, 80s, 90s and they continue to carry out their musical endeavors today.

Heart keeps their retro hard rocking ways alive on their first studio album in six years “Red Velvet Car.” Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson are a little older now, a little wiser, and it shows. They say at this stage in their life they’ve got nothing to prove, which means “Red Velvet Car” is some of their most intimate, heartfelt and honest work to date.

Based almost solely in the sounds of acoustic stringed instruments, the Wilsons (accompanied with producer and musician Ben Mink) created a solid 10-track album that is a far cry from what many associate with “acoustic guitar music.”

Using a variety of instruments from throughout the world (including guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle, viola, cello and autoharp) the artists create a complex layering of sound that doesn’t shy away from Heart’s rocking roots. Classic vocal harmonies carry the Wilsons through their heartfelt perspectives on life and music.

Ann is a little more reserved vocally than in her heyday of piercing vocal riffs, and both women wear their age well – they are not trying to hold on too tightly to the past but aren’t trying to completely re-invent themselves, either.

Starting out big with “There You Go,” “Red Velvet Car” takes off on a ride through what is the culmination of the Wilsons’ personal lives and professional careers as musicians.

At times, Heart is brazen and full of energy, others they are calm and introspective, sometimes even woeful in their interpretations. Always, their musicianship, purpose and delivery are right on.

“Hey You” and “Sunflower” take on the more mellow, folksy sounds of the woman who clearly were influenced by the flowerchild, free loving ways of the 1960s.

“Wheels” has a racing pace that harkens back to Heart’s 1977 hit “Barracuda” as Ann’s husky, raspy vocals belt out lyrics about taking off on the road. “We’ll run together/We’ll run forever / Out of here/ Riding the wheels.”

Closing song "Sand" is a newly recorded version of a song originally written and recorded by the Lovemongers, Ann and Nancy's 1990s acoustic side project.

As the 13th studio album for the band, its successful debut in August 2010 makes “Red Velvet Car” the most successful chart debut for a Heart album in their career. Heart is currently on tour in support of the album.

Source

Performing Songwriter: Hi-Res PDFs

2010-10-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Performing Songwriter is offering two Hi-Res PDF files from past interviews with Ann and Nancy :D

The indomitable Ann and Nancy Wilson speak about maintaining the integrity of their sound. (From Sept/Oct 2004, Issue 80)

Hi-Res PDF Price: $0.49

Heart’s guitar slinger recalls her early days with sister Ann as a folk-rock act and revisiting the classic songs from Dreamboat Annie. (From Jul/Aug 2008, Issue 111)

Hi-Res PDF Price: $0.99

Venus Zine: The Greatest Female Guitarists of All-Time

2010-10-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

This is a cool feature on Nancy from Venus Zine. :)

A born guitarist: Nancy Wilson, most famous for her guitar prowess in the band Heart, started playing at age 8. Born in 1954, she grew up in Southern California and Taiwan before her Marine Corps father retired to the Seattle suburbs. “I fell in love with the guitar immediately,” she says from her Los Angeles home in February 2008. In the same way that her sister Ann Wilson was born to sing, Nancy Wilson says she’s definitely a born guitar player.

The self-taught guitarist says she has a good ear for picking things up and imitating what she’d heard on vinyl records. She mastered guitar by playing songs by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Page, and Pete Townsend. “Before Heart, I played nonstop and way into the night, and I just couldn’t put the guitar down,” Wilson says. “I didn’t mind that my fingers hurt. I had to know every song that I loved.”

Favorite guitars: Wilson has a soft spot for classic guitars because they have the most character and soul. She has a Gibson Les Paul Special that she’s played since the ‘70s and continues to play now. She also loves the Martin guitar and has worked with the company on a new design. “I designed it in the style of the Martins that Crosby Stills Nash and Young used to play because that’s the sound I grew up with and learned,” she says.

Expert advice: Wilson’s primary advice for aspiring guitarists is to have fun. She recommends learning to play by ear instead of concentrating on reading music. “Learn every three-chord song first,” she says. “You know, ‘Gloria’ or ‘Wild Thing,’ and ‘Louie Louie.’ Play with other musicians and bang on the piano and have a party.” She thinks it’s best for aspiring musicians to make stuff up and not take themselves so seriously. “Sometimes they think, ‘I must educate myself in the ways of music.’ But if you’re going to play rock in particular, it’s really about having a good time and getting off.”

A different kind of sexy back: Wilson says she has mixed feelings about the music industry right now. On the one hand, she feels that MTV has created a manufacturing process for sexualizing popular music. She feels that the late ’60s and ’70s was a time of cultural exploration, expression, and groove; whereas today, mainstream music tends to involve image perfection and being sexy. “The ’70s was definitely a sexy time in music,” Wilson says. “It just wasn’t sexy in the way that sexy is today. Today’s sexy is pre-fab, and there’s a very narrow definition about what’s supposed to be sexy, which to me is largely unsexy compared to the more natural look of sexiness. I think [Heart] always had a lot of sexual prowess with our music and on stage and in our early videos before MTV but it was way more of a natural idea.”

On the other hand, Wilson is excited about music that’s coming from underground sources. She says she’s glad there are sites such as YouTube that allow people to access music on their own. “When you create a groundswell inside culture that’s outside of the box, you have something great happening in music,” Wilson says. “It feels much more like the ’70s again to me — before everything got so corporatized. I’m really hopeful for music right now. The business itself is dying on the vine because a lot of the corporate mentality has choked itself to death. Maybe that’s a good thing. It’s gonna be more about what people love and what people want now.”

Keeping score: Wilson composes music for a number of films, including Elizabethtown and Vanilla Sky. She most recently scored music for a CNN program called Heroes in 2008. “I’ve got a lot of crazy instruments like the Japanese koto and mandocello that I use for scoring — I have no idea how to play them, but I just play them anyway,” Wilson says. “There’s all kinds of fun to be had.”

Source

Get Into Heart's Red Velvet Car

2010-10-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

VH1 News Piece that ran the week of 8/30-9/6

Heart to Perform at Brian Boitano's Skating Spectacular

2010-10-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano has announced that the hard rock group Heart will perform as part of his skating spectacular show in Sioux City.

"This is the first time I've featured a top female rock group," he said during a teleconference interview at City Hall. "I've been a fan for years. They impressed me so much."

Boitano and other international figure skaters will perform Dec. 16 at the Tyson Events Center. He noted the show will be broadcast nationwide Dec. 26 on NBC.

One of the draws to performing in Sioux City, he noted, is that his sister, Jill Kolegraff, lives in Okoboji. He said she will bring her children to the show.

"It's sort of impossible to chose just 10 of their songs," Boitano said of Heart. "Everyone wants to skate to 'Barracuda,' " a song that became Heart's second million-seller. "It's sort of hard to chose just 10 songs."

Heart features sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, who stormed the charts since the late 1970s with such hits like "Crazy On You," "Magic Man," "These Dreams" and "If Looks Could Kill." They have sold more than 30 million records and have had 21 Top 40 hits.

He explained having Heart perform will impact the skaters' choreography and costumes. Even the stage will be different, he said, in order to showcase the singers.

If You Go

When:
Dec. 16

Where:
Tyson Events Center

Source

AOL's Top 10 Heart Songs

2010-10-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

A few of our top 10 Heart songs -- which span over three of the band's first four albums -- made sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson the queens of '70s hard rock. After a slight career slump, the group returned in the mid-'80s with a more mainstream pop rock sound, scoring them some of their biggest hits, ever. This list counts down the best Heart songs throughout the band's four-decade career.

10. 'Who Will You Run To'
Penned by Diane Warren, one of the era's most successful songwriters, this Heart song warned an ex-lover that he would never find a love as good as the one he was leaving behind. "Who's gonna love you baby as good as I," protests Ann Wilson. The second single from Heart's 1987 album 'Bad Animals,' the track reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 chart.

9. 'Straight On'
Like every song on the double-platinum 1978 album 'Dog & Butterfly,' 'Straight On' was written by the Wilson sisters with their childhood friend Sue Ennis. The track utilized gambling metaphors like "Now I know I gotta play my hand" and "Got the feel of fortune / Deal me in" to describe a romantic pursuit, highlighted by the aggressive lyric, "I'm comin' straight on for you."

8. 'Never'
The second single from Heart's self-titled 1985 album, 'Never' was one of the band's few '80s hits that Ann and Nancy Wilson had a hand in writing. They co-wrote the track with Holly Knight, who had written hits for female rockers like Pat Benatar and Tina Turner. 'Never' was Heart's first Top 5 hit.

7. 'Barracuda'
Heart's 1977 hit 'Barracuda' has become one of the most recognizable classic rock songs, thanks to its distinctive chugging guitar riff. The song has received numerous references in films and in TV shows -- and was even used during Sarah Palin's 2008 vice presidential campaign. The sisters were not pleased and fired off a cease-and-desist letter, though McCain's campaign continued to use the song.

6. 'All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You'
Written by "Mutt" Lange, the No. 2 hit 'All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You' weaved a soap opera-style tale about meeting a stranger for a one-night stand and having his child. Some time later the two characters met again, leading to the dramatic line, "You can imagine his surprise / When he saw his own eyes."

5. 'Crazy on You'
'Crazy on You' was the group's first single and remains one of the most popular Heart songs. Appearing on the 1976 album 'Dreamboat Annie,' the song peaked with an explosive chorus led by Ann's strong voice. Heart performed 'Crazy on You' during the 2007 VH1 Rock Honors, and the song appeared on the video game 'Guitar Hero II.'

4. 'Magic Man'
'Magic Man' was an autobiographical song Ann wrote about her boyfriend and Heart manager, Mike Fisher, and a conversation she had with her mother about leaving home. "Try to understand," Ann sang, "He's a magic man, mama." The song was Heart's first Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 in 1976.

3. 'Alone'
In his search for a power ballad, Heart producer Ron Nevison found 'Alone,' a song written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, whose past credits include 'True Colors,' and 'Like a Virgin.' Although the demo presented to the band had no guitars, the completed version mixed piano-driven verses with a soaring rock chorus, and became Heart's second No. 1 single.

2. 'What About Love?'
By 1985, Heart had only scored two Top 10 hits in their career. Then the band signed with Capitol Records and released a self-titled record with a more commercial sound. The album's first single, 'What About Love?,' re-established the group as a force, peaking at No. 10 on the pop chart.

1. 'These Dreams'
After Stevie Nicks passed on recording 'These Dreams,' the mid-tempo pop song found its way to Heart, and gave Nancy Wilson a rare chance to sing lead. Much of her recording session was spent trying to recreate the raspsy tone in her first take, which had been recorded when she was sick. 'These Dreams' became the group's first No. 1 hit, and our top Heart song.

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Ann and Nancy on The Today Show

2010-10-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, here is Ann and Nancy's interview from the Today Show 8/31. :)

And the web-only backstage video. :)

Heart's Red Velvet Car, the First New Studio Album in Six Years From Ann & Nancy Wilson, Drives Straight Into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200

2010-10-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Press release 9/10 -

NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Velvet Car, the first new studio album in six years from the groundbreaking Seattle-based band Heart, is entering the Billboard 200 best-selling album charts at #10, becoming the seventh Top 10 album of the group's career. Heart's first album for Legacy Recordings, the critically-acclaimed Red Velvet Car marks the return of the group to the Sony Music Entertainment family. The album reached #1 in sales on Amazon.com on Sunday, September 5.

"We are thrilled and a little in disbelief," said Ann Wilson. "(Our producer) Ben Mink's amazing artistry and vision, along with the hard work and dedication of the people of Sony/Legacy made this a stunning first week. The Car is running fine, thank you! "

"After 3 plus decades, to have loyal fans, old and new, and to be acknowledged for our work as performers and songwriters is really quite beautiful," said Nancy Wilson.

Currently in the midst of a summer-fall tour supporting the release of Red Velvet Car, Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson will perform on the star-studded Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) primetime roadblock television fundraising event (September 10, 2010, at 8PM ET & PT / 7PM CT). The Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) telecast will raise funds that will accelerate innovative cancer research. The live, one-hour fundraising event will be simulcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Bio, Current TV, Discovery Health, E!, G4, HBO, HBO Latino, MLB Network, mun2, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, The Style Network, TV One and VH1 and hosted by network news anchors Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams. The broadcast will air in 195 countries, as well as on the Armed Forces Network.

Heart will be heard on NPR's "World Cafe" on September 17 to perform songs from Red Velvet Car. Both "Hey You" and "WTF," the first two singles from Red Velvet Car, are multi-format smashes, garnering airplay on the nation's AC, Triple A and Classic Rock radio stations.

The critical response to Red Velvet Car has been universally ecstatic. "The barracudas are back and at the top of their game," wrote Rolling Stone (September 2, 2010) while USA Today (August 25, 2010) called the album "Intimate, intense and anchored by Ann's powerhouse vocals and Nancy's aggressive acoustic guitar...." The New York Times (August 4, 2010) found Red Velvet Car "aggressive, delicate and enduring" while the Los Angeles Times noted that "Thirty-four years after the band's debut, Heart's dreamboat sails on."

For their first new album since 2004's Jupiter's Darling, the first ladies of arena rock took an acoustic approach to a collection of songs inspired by the world around them, arranged for an assortment of strings including guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle, viola, cello and autoharp, all played by Nancy Wilson and the album's producer, multiple Grammy nominee Ben Mink.

Nine of the album's songs were written for, and appear for the first time on Red Velvet Car. The album's closer, "Sand," is a newly recorded version of a song originally written and recorded by the Lovemongers, Ann and Nancy's 1990's acoustic side project.

Heart performed songs from Red Velvet Car, as well as classics from the band's repertoire, at selected Lilith Fair dates and in headline concerts across the U.S. and Canada from July through September.

Source

Heart's Rocking Return

2010-10-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

Heart's Red Velvet Car is their great new album by original members Nancy and Ann Wilson. Haven't heard the title track to the new album? They performed it on NPR's World Cafe along with "Barracuda." And if you're mad about missing it live, I did as well. Toni told me about it after the fact so I streamed online.

And this is the opening to Christina Fuoco'-Karasinski's must read article for the Flint Journal (September 2nd):

With a new generation being introduced to Heart annually, thanks to the inevitable performance of “Alone” by “American Idol” contestants, the Wilson sisters are enjoying their popularity. Selling out theaters and amphitheaters around the United States, Heart is now introducing fans to new music courtesy of “Red Velvet Car,” a collection of songs that hit stores Tuesday. It is its first new studio album in six years.

“We’re real excited,” guitarist/singer Nancy Wilson said during an interview with The Flint Journal. “We’ve been setting it up since we finished it, really. It’s getting close to the time — as they say — it’ll ‘drop.’ (Laughs) It’ll drop. It sounds like somebody comes out of the sky and crashed into the Earth.

“In many ways, we’re so happy and proud of the album. In some ways, we don’t want it to drop. It’s almost like having a baby: ‘OK, then the real scary stuff starts.’ The baby comes into the world and some people don’t think it’s adorable. Hopefully most people will.”

It is more than adorable. It's muscular, steamy and rocking. It is a great album. I downloaded it (via iTunes) and you can hear snippets of songs. I think any song stands on its own -- even in a thirty second snippet -- however, the album's conclusion is "Sand" and that is so well done. (Most downloads come with bonus tracks but the album is ten tracks proper.)

If you go to iTunes or Amazon and just listen to a nsippet of "Sand," you'll be downloading it. It's an amazing track and I just love the whole album.

If I was writing my review today, I'd probably note that the key is they're not trying.

I don't know if you play an instrument or not. I play a little piano. It can apply to sports as well. I play a little tennis.

If I'm at the piano and thinking, "I will play this A flat with my right hand while playing B flat with my left and . . ." of if I've got a tennis ball flying at me and I'm thinking, "I will return this with a backhanded serve as I turn three-quarters . . ." then I'm not worth listening to or watching play.

And if I'm trying, I'm forcing it.

The Wilson sisters are just doing it. It's natural, they're in the zone and that's why it all works so well and their album is so amazing. They already 'tried' while they were writing songs. By the time they got to the studio, they were just doing it. And Red Velvet Car is proof of just how great they can be.

Source

Heart on the Chart!

2010-10-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

After returning to the Adult Contemporary chart for the first time since 1994 (with "Hey You"), Heart celebrated its first top 10 on the Billboard 200 since 1990.

The veteran Seattle rockers, led by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, bow at No. 10 "Red Velvet Car." The album is the band's first top 10 since "Brigade" reached No. 3 in May 1990 on the strength of lead single "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You," which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100.

The new album is Heart's seventh top 10 dating to its first, "Dreamboat Annie," in 1976. Here is a recap of the group's Billboard 200 top 10s:

Peak, Title, Debut Year
No. 7, "Dreamboat Annie," 1976
No. 9, "Little Queen," 1977
No. 5, "Bebe Le Strange," 1980
No. 1, "Heart," 1985
No. 2, "Bad Animals," 1987
No. 3, "Brigade," 1990
No. 10 (to-date), "Red Velvet Car," 2010

Beyond chart positions, "Red Velvet Car" affords another link to 1990. The album's closing cut, "Sand," is a newly recorded version of a song originally written and recorded by the Lovemongers, the Wilsons' 1990 acoustic side project.

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Ann and Nancy on The Look!

2010-10-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Nancy Wilson and Ann Wilson of HEART showed up in true rocker style to the “Stand Up To Cancer” event in Los Angeles.

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Parts 3 and 4 of the Red Velvet Car Podcast!

2010-10-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Part 3 and Part 4 of the Red Velvet Car Legacy Podcast are up. In case you missed them, here's Part 1 and Part 2. :)

Heart Enjoying Return to the Top 10

2010-10-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Catching up on some of these older things again. Here's a little piece on the Top 10 Debut :)

Proving that age has nothing to do with topping the charts these days, Heart -- featuring sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson -- are back with their first Top Ten album in 20 years. Their new studio set, Red Velvet Car, debuted at Number Ten on the Billboard Top 200 chart, marking the band's highest charting album since 1990's Brigade peaked at Number Three.

We asked lead singer Ann Wilson how she and sister Nancy first got the news about Red Velvet Car charting high: "We were all sort of waiting around for the announcement of the numbers. And when it came, out manager Carol decided not to tell anybody (laughs)! I think she was going to spring it on us the next day or something, but we reached out and asked. And so, she had to tell us the night before."

Wilson said that having enjoyed both Heart's original success and then its runaway '80s comeback, the band is far more grounded with the new interest in Heart's music: "It's been many a year since we've had an album in the Top Ten -- it's been since the '80s. But I remember, since this isn't our first rodeo, I remember the first time around, back then what it was like to have a Number One album. And suddenly all these people come and say 'Wow! You deserve it! Wow! I knew this would happen!' The same people who, y'know, wouldn't take your calls like two weeks before (laughs). That's not to put any darkness on anything, but, it's just that people do suddenly relate to you a little differently."

Source

Ann and Nancy on KATU Portland

2010-10-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

This is a bit old now but it's too cute not to share. :)

Heart’s New Album Debuts At #10

2010-09-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Heart’s new album Red Velvet Car has not only cracked into the Billboard 200 Albums chart, but has debuted at the number 10 spot.

The new album marks the seventh top 10 album for the Seattle-based duo of sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson and their highest charting debut album to date. It is the band’s first top 10 album since 1990′s Brigade, which reached number three.

The new album contains ten tracks, including a cover of the Lovemongers’ song “Sand.” The album was released on August 31 and the sisters are already out on a tour of North America, which kicked off last January and will run until November. A European leg is expected to be announced for 2011.

Source

Another Photo from "Turn It Up!"

2010-09-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

What a cutie! :D

Little RVC Mention in LA Times Blog

2010-09-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

In the Critics Notebook blog, the writer, Ann Powers, posted this comment:

Pop is a wide open field. It really describes whatever is popular at the moment -- usually hybrid forms -- even Gaga's music is a mix of Euro dance and glammish rock via Elton John. Rock, on the other hand, developed an unfortunately stringent set of rules as it matured, and a very masculine stance. "Indie" rock has more room for different kinds of people, but mainstream rock remains pretty much a guys' game. Pop has big male stars -- Jason Mraz comes to mind -- but rock still lacks many major female artists.

Speaking of which, everybody needs to check out Heart's excellent new album, "Red Velvet Car"!

Back in the Drivers Seat: A Review of Red Velvet Car

2010-09-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since the Wilson sisters produced what I would describe as a classic Heart studio album, or one that has a home in the old Muirsical Box of goodies, but Heart's new album 'Red Velvet Car' has both of those boxes ticked.

What I find most satisfying - and pleasantly surprising - is Ann and Nancy Wilson have not taken the easy retro-rock route and tried to reinvent Heart's successful mid to late 1980s period. It may have been tempting, but surely not as musically rewarding. That melodic rock era was a huge success for Heart and the album of the same name was a multi-platinum seller. They continued that trend with their next two releases, but as the melodic 80s made way for the alternative 90s they suffered the same fate as many similar acts - diminishing returns and less cohesive releases.

A number of classic rock acts have revisited 80s melodic rock for inspiration or to try and recapture their successful past, but here Heart have gone back beyond their melodic rock years and returned to their musical roots. They have captured the vibe and sound of their early acoustic rock releases as featured on their 1976 debut 'Dreamboat Annie', the following year's 'Little Queen' and the classic 'Dog & Butterfly'. They have also managed to revisit without repeating, which is a third tick in the box for me.

There are clear musical references to the albums mentioned above, but you won't hear the same melodies or chord structures repeated on 'Red Velvet Car'. What you will hear are well crafted, well arranged songs and as much as this release is a perfect companion to the aforementioned albums, it could only have been written thirty years on. Like Heart themselves it's an older and wiser album, built on personal and musical growth. It may well also be their most mature release to date.

The album does carry a number of heavier or edgier moments where the band gets to rock out - 'WTF' is a great example - but it's the introspective or quieter moments that set the tone and produce the album's strongest tracks. The ten track album (in its base release form - see later) is short but sweet - and a clear case of where less is more. Highlights include the title track, 'There You Go Again' with its Stevie Nicks-esque groove and 'Sand'. 'Sand' is a reworking of a song Ann and Nancy did with 'The Lovemongers', the band the sisters put together in the nineties with Sue Ennis (who co-wrote some of the material on 'Dog & Butterfly'). This is a similar and lovely version which closes out the album's ten tracks.

The ten track album description is a little misleading however. Depending on what version you have/ hear, the track listing and track order will vary as the U.S. and European versions differ and carry bonus tracks. There are three bonus tracks on the Stateside downloadable version but (rather annoyingly) only two on the European CD version. All three - the ballads 'Closer to the Sun', 'In the Cool' and the quirky 'Bootful of Beer' - deserve a place on the album.

As regards the band, special mention should go to Ann Wilson. I believe her to be the finest female vocalist in the world of rock and she shines on this album, musically and vocally comfortable within the songs. I'm pleased to say her six-string sister Nancy still takes the occasional lead, being none too shabby in front of a microphone herself. The classic line-up is long gone, but the Heart sound of the last few years has been alive and well courtesy of Ann, Nancy, Ben Smith (drums), Craig Bartock (guitars), Debbie Shair (keyboards) and Rick Markmann (bass).

If your memories or affection for Heart relate to that big hair and spandex era (and that was just the guys in the band) and you're looking for another 'What About Love' or three then this album may not be for you. But if you always wished Ann and Nancy would do a throwback album to their formative and most creative decade, then this is an essential purchase. It's certainly an album after my own...Heart.

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VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time Snubs

2010-09-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

Recently VHI released their list for the 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time according to a poll consisting solely of other artists and musicians. While the list is fairly comprehensive and the top three are virtually not debatable (3. Bob Dylan, 2. Michael Jackson, 1. The Beatles), there are some major oversights as to who did not make it on the list. Here are some artists who deserved to be ranked the next time the poll is taken.

Heart

The Seattle by way of Canada based-band centering around sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson were pure hard rock with a touch of relatable vulnerability. Their hits ranged from gritty guitar rock (“Crazy On You” “Barracuda” “Magic Man”) to sentimental ballads that ensure them a spot in dentist office playlists forever (“These Dreams”). In the testosterone laden era of 70s rock, Heart stood out for being distinct and surprisingly ballsier than most of their peers.

Source

Billboard.com: Hot Tours

2010-09-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Total Gross
Show Dates
Show Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity)

#2: HEART

$3,105,545
July 20-Sept. 5
Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay, Ontario (1/0)
Mattawa Voyageur Days, Mattawa, Ontario (1/0)
Casino Rama, Rama, Ontario (1/0)
Bank of America Pavilion, Boston (1/0)
Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion, Gilford, N.H. (1/0)
MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Mashantucket, Conn. (1/0)
Pier Six Concert Pavilion, Baltimore (1/0)
Hammerstein Ballroom, New York (1/0)
Celeste Center, Ohio State Fairgrounds, Columbus (1/0)
Trib Total Media Amphitheatre, Pittsburgh (1/0)
Caesars Circus Maximus, Atlantic City (1/0)
Musikfest, Bethlehem, Pa. (1/0)
Innsbrook Pavilion, Glen Allen, Va. (1/0)
nTelos Wireless Pavilion, Portsmouth, Va. (1/0)
Raleigh Amphitheater, Raleigh, N.C. (1/0)
Road Runner Mobile Amphitheatre, Charlotte (1/0)
Ryman Auditorium, Nashville (1/0)
Chastain Park Amphitheatre, Atlanta (1/0)
Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Ala. (1/0)
Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre, Oklahoma City (1/0)
House of Blues, Dallas (1/1)
Sandia Casino Amphitheater, Albuquerque (1/0)
Paramount Theatre, Denver (1/0)
Heartland Events Center, Grand Island, Neb. (1/0)
DTE Energy Music Center, Clarkston, Mich. (1/0)
Family Arena, St. Charles, Mo. (1/0)
Downstream Casino Resort, Quapaw, Okla. (1/0)
75,695 (144,875)

LezGetReal: Review of Red Velvet Car

2010-09-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

It has been six years since the release of Jupiter’s Darling, and as with that album, I was nervous and concerned about the announcement of a new Heart album. I began listening to Heart back in 1984 with the release of their self titled album Heart, and I have not stopped listening to them ever since even though I have changed how I listen to them. When Jupiter’s Darling came out, I preordered the CD. When Red Velvet Car came out, I downloaded it to my computer and played it on my iPod.

The songs of Red Velvet Car range across the spectrum. The songs range from slow ballads such as “Sand” to harder rock driven songs such as “WTF”. Perhaps the best song on the album is the melodious and dream-like “Sand”, which actually had me closing my eyes and just enjoying the flow of the song. “Sand” is one of those songs that has the power to pull the listener in and transport them somewhere else with its simple lyrics and its acoustic flavor. The song is a tribute to Ann’s late gardener. It is reminiscent of their song “Love Alive,” or more accurately, of their song “Too Long A Time”, which has only ever been heard in a bonus track on Little Queen. It is Heart at their best.

Unlike so much music today which seems poorly mixed with an emphasis more on upping the loudness than anything else, Red Velvet Car had a stronger emphasis on the harmony of the music and the vocals of Ann Wilson, whose voice is as strong as it has ever been as Heart goes into the last half of its third decade in production.

Included in the download are three specials. There is the video for “WTF”, which is mostly concert footage, and two live classic Heart tracts. The live tracts are “Magic Man” and “Never”. The latter is often not heard in live compilations.

Ultimately, Red Velvet Car is stronger than their last album, Jupiter’s Darling. Its mix of different styles suits Ann Wilson’s voice beautifully, and the songs, for the most part, compliment each other.

Heart continues to be a strong recording force. As one of the first female-fronted Rock bands, they blazed a trail for many later artists. While there were many problems for them in the beginning, the group, which has featured sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson since their first album Dreamboat Annie, has managed to shift and survive through changes in the music scene. Let us hope that we do not have to wait another six years for the next Heart album.

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Classic Acts Deliver New Discs

2010-09-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

Ann Wilson used to like to unnerve the male members of the various local bands in her native Seattle by belting out Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” with a ferocity that matched Robert Plant’s original vocal. Along with her sister Nancy, their band, Heart, recorded a string of successful albums such as 1976’s “Dreamboat Annie” and “Dog & Butterfly” from 1978.

Heart hit the comeback trail in the mid-80s, and songs like “These Dreams” and “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You” extended their string of hits into the early ‘90s. After an extended break, Heart returns with “Red Velvet Car” (Legacy), an album packed with acoustic ballads and determined rockers that bear the indelible shimmer of the Wilsons’ melodic, still spine-tingling harmonies.

Wilson’s voice barely hints at how much time has passed since she first belted out “Magic Man” more than 30 years ago, and the equally theatrical “Safronia’s Mark” is a wide-eyed, rousing rocker in the same vein. Her sister Nancy still knows how to convincingly emote on “Hey You,” an especially tuneful performance that harks back to the sound of the band’s ‘80s power ballads. And despite the fact that the title track and “Death Valley” are by-the-numbers rockers, the pair of songs that close the album, the engaging “Sunflower” and the reflective “Sand” find Ann and Nancy Wilson still more than capable of upstaging any of their male contemporaries.

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Ann and Nancy on The Acoustic Storm

2010-09-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Each part aired on a different hour of the Acoustic Storm this Sunday. Nice interview snippets and incredible live performances! :D

Interview Part 1 & Acoustic Live Performance of Barracuda:

Acoustic Live Performance of Hey You & Straight On (Acoustic):

Interview Part 2 & Acoustic Live Performance of Crazy On You:

Cook With Fire from Universal City!

2010-09-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

Another great video from the Gibson Amphitheatre show :D

Six Degrees of Heart's Little Queen

2010-09-22T17:14:00.001-07:00

It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five other albums we've deemed related in some way. In some cases these connections are obvious, in others they are tenuous. But, most important to you, all of the records are highly, highly recommended.

Though they had been preceded in the '70s by such all-distaff middling sellers as Fanny and Birtha, Heart were, by any objective standard, the first really popular band to pass muster in their heyday as metal whose main members were women — namely, singer (and frequent multi-instrumentalist) Ann Wilson and her guitar-playing (and occasionally singing) little sister Nancy. The rest of the band was all male, sure, but can you name any off the top of your head? Didn't think so. Awestruck, zitfaced '70s high school Beavises inevitably hornily dubbed them "Led Zeppelin with tits," and critics followed suit: Mikal Gilmore, in the 1979 edition of The Rolling Stone Record Guide, started out, "Take Ian Anderson and Robert Plant, endow them with mammaries, and you have the essence of Heart." Which is both reductive and condescending — on the cover of 1977's Little Queen, the only visible cleavage belongs to the archer on the back. Who happens to be a man.

Which too is significant, as is the cover's entire Renaissance Faire motif where the dudes all look like pretty boys hired to service the ladies. Because one big thing Heart brought to hard rock was a free-flowing, machismo-free brand of lust, perhaps realized most voluptuously in "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man," from their 1975 debut Dreamboat Annie. That record originally came out on the Vancouver indie label Mushroom, which followed it with a pile of half-baked demos called Magazine, not to mention a Rolling Stone ad implying that Ann and Nancy were lesbian bedmates. Which incident, the story goes, inspired the ichthyological teeth-gnashing of "Barracuda," the first and signature song of Little Queen, the first album Heart actually recorded for a major record company. Thirty-one years later, "Barracuda" was appropriated as the theme song of Sarah Palin's vice-presidential campaign, to both the liberal consternation and royalty profit of the band.

Guitarwise and drumwise, "Barracuda" is one of history's great Zep rips ("Immigrant Song" or "Achilles Last Stand" — take your pick), but it's also one of only three truly loud rockers on Little Queen. The others are the concise, speed-freaked "Kick It Out" — an under-three-minute nugget that rarely gets its due — and the longer, more Zep-funked title track. "Say Hello" may well be an anomaly in the band's catalog, given its Brazilian pop-samba rhythm (similar to Paul Simon's "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard," and maybe even a far-distant great-aunt of something-or-other by Vampire Weekend), not to mention the audible audio-vérité sandlot baseball game (even some umpire shouting out "batter up!") going on in the background as it begins. The rest of the album is more folk: Celtic jangle, flower-power flutes, proto-New Age atmosphere, madrigal mysticism, even a borderline jazzish Joni Mitchell/Laura Nyro confessional called "Treat Me Well," crooned by Nancy not Ann. If you've got an imagination, you might hear Axl Rose circa Use Your Illusion presaged in parts of "Love Alive" and "Go On Cry"; the even more open-minded might note how Heart's bicentennial concert rendition of "Stairway To Heaven," added as a bonus cut upon the album's 2004 CD reissue, breaks into a "Sweet Home Alabama" rhythm at the end. But either way, "Dream Of The Archer" is clearly about that open-shirted Cupid on the album cover, shooting you with his poison arrow.

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Dozens of Ways to ♥ New York

2010-09-22T16:58:00.001-07:00

This is so cute!

Now that JetBlue Airways is using Milton Glaser’s famous “I ♥ NY” logo in a new advertising campaign, The Times asked readers to imagine commingling Mr. Glaser’s logo with other New York brands or slogans.

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Heart #1 on MadeMan's List of 10 Best Female Fronted Rock Bands

2010-09-22T16:21:00.001-07:00

Not only is Heart included on this list, they top it! Now that's what I'm talking about :D

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Nancy in the Trailer for "Turn It Up!"

2010-09-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

"Turn It Up!" is a feature-length celebration of the electric guitar. Hosted by Kevin Bacon, the film explores mankind’s passion for the electric guitar, and its effect on artists, everyday players, pop culture, history, and even politics.

Turn it Up! is the STORY of the electric guitar, from the invention in the 1930s to its golden years, right through the phenomenon of the Guitar Hero video-game and the digital guitars of the future. But, it’s also a series of guitar STORIES, where we’ll meet all kinds of people from rock stars, to congressmen, CEOs, and teenage virtuosos, to try to understand their emotional connection to their guitars.

Thanks to my Momma for this info ♥

Oregon Music News: Fasten Your Seatbelts, Heart’s “Red Velvet Car” is Revving Its Way Up the Charts

2010-09-22T01:29:00.000-07:00

For over three decades, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson have charted the course for Seattle-based, hard-rock band, Heart. In their first new album since 2004, Red Velvet Car is said to be their most personal and powerful work to date, returning to their hard rock roots with a largely acoustic-based sound. See them perform with Night Ranger this Friday, September 24th at the Sleep Country Amphitheater.

Arena rock legends, Ann and Nancy Wilson, were among the first female musicians taken seriously in a man’s world for their songwriting and instrument playing abilities when Heart debuted Dreamboat Annie in 1976. They were pioneers, creating a musical space where gender was not a part of the equation in performing heavy rock.

With most women in music performing folk, disco or singer/songwriter styles in the 70s and 80s, there were few women musicians to look up to as role models in the rock world. Since “no one told them they weren’t supposed to,” they looked to Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and The Beatles for inspiration and found success as professional musicians. They were considered serious rockers with Ann having one of the most distinctive and masterful voices with a remarkable three octave range, and Nancy having real chops and becoming one of the first women to grace Guitar Player Magazine in December, 1979.

Die-hard Beatles fans, “We didn’t want to be the girlfriends of The Beatles, we wanted to BE the Beatles,” shared Nancy at a recent Grammy Museum Live event speaking about their influences and the revolution they believe is still underway for women in the rock world to be seen as equals to their male counterparts.

Considered one of the top 100 hard rock of artists of all time and having sold over 30 million records, their arena rock hits include “Magic Man,” “Crazy On You,” “Barracuda,” ”Dog and Butterfly,” and power ballads “What About Love,” “These Dreams,” and “Alone,” to name a few.

Throughout their career, Heart maintained creative control over the music they released, with the exception of the 80’s. Pressured by label management to perform more commercially accessible songs and blend in with the sounds and styles of the time, Heart succumbed to the pressure of MTV’s halcyon days. While the band experienced a commercial breakthrough in 1985 with the album Heart selling 5 million copies, for a band used to having their own voice, the success was somewhat hollow given they were performing songs written by other people.

“We were definitely making a devil’s bargain in the Eighties, and looking back I’m glad we did because it did allow us to transit over a period when we could have fallen into a black hole,” Ann Wilson explains on the band’s website. “But we wouldn’t want to go back there and make any more music we don’t feel totally connected to. And now with this album, we feel like we have something very solid to stand on.”

Heart is among the rock legend elite to have a career successfully spanning three decades and still be releasing new material. Their latest album, Red Velvet Car, is the first since 2004’s Jupiter’s Darling. Entering Billboard’s 200 Best Selling album charts at #10 on August 31^st, this marks their seventh appearance in the Top 10 and the album is receiving high marks from die-hard fans (known as Heart Mongers), as well as music critics across the country who feel the band have found their way back to their roots.

The songs on Heart’s 13^th studio album came about organically, “starting with a groove and easy to write,” inspired by the world around them and personal experiences. The acoustic arrangements highlight a wide variety of strings that include guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle, viola, cello and autoharp; all played by Nancy Wilson and the album’s producer, multiple Grammy nominee and long-time k.d. lang collaborator, Ben Mink.

WTF: “It started like a jam, like that song by Cream “SWLABR.” Later when I wrote the words, they were really angry and they just blasted out of me, like I might have just as well said, “What the fuck?” (ANN) Craig had that amazing guitar part, and then Ann came in with this scream of lyrics. I thought maybe the song was about someone else, but then the other day Ann mentioned it’s kind of the way you talk to yourself. Basically, it’s intense, and to me it’s about making mistakes and how hard it is to stay human.” – (NANCY) Ann refers to WTF as “Son of Barracuda.”

RED VELVET CAR: “When I first said those words, I knew it right away that it was a phrase worth using in a song. Sue Ennis – our friend and our co-writer from way back – was in town and really needed a rescue from the Hollywood hotel where she was attending a seminar. I said, “Are you kidding me? I’d come get you in a red velvet car. I wrote it down immediately. Ann took that title and ran it. – (NANCY) Nancy is like Ringo in that sense. She’s always been great at coming up with cool turns of phrase that don’t really need to be explained because they communicate something powerfully. Musically, I’ve got to give it to Ben Mink, because I wanted the song to have that R&B sensuality to it, but also something fresh, and I think together, we got it.” – (ANN)

The album’s closer, “Sand,” is a newly recorded version of a song originally written and recorded by the Lovemongers, Ann and Nancy’s 1990′s acoustic side project.

Other side projects for the sisters have included solo efforts, a recording studio in the 90’s called Bad Animals and movie scores. Nancy has played a role composing music for most of husband Cameron Crowe’s films including Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, and Elizabethtown. In addition, both have made the time to make family a priority and raise children.

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The Weekender: Heart Retains Classic Energy

2010-09-22T01:01:00.000-07:00

Thirty-four years after Heart burst onto the scene with the multi-platinum “Dreamboat Annie” and forever changed the landscape for women in rock, it would be easy to count them out as over-the-hill and irrelevant. But the Wilson sisters still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

“Red Velvet Car” is the band’s first new material since 2004’s “Jupiter’s Darling.” Having built a career on creating a fusion of folky acoustics and Led Zeppelin’s hard rock dynamics, Heart enters 2010 as energetic as ever and successfully follows the same path. The band still plays both ends of the musical spectrum right out of the gate, but it never loses sight of its strengths.

The CD opens with the acoustic-based “There You Go” before ripping into “WTF,” a song with a killer riff that harkens back to the ass-kicking guitar sound of “Barracuda” and “Crazy On You.” The acoustic songs such as the title track and the bouncy “Hey You” (with vocals by Nancy Wilson) sound both intimate and intricate, aided by the detailed production of Canada’s Ben Mink. Flipping over to the hard rock side of the coin, “Wheels” and “Death Valley” place the electric guitar front and center, right where it belongs on any great Heart recording.

Ann Wilson still hits every note every time. Her performance is spot-on for the mandolin-tinged “Safronia’s Mark,” proving that recently turning 60 hasn’t drained one ounce of power out of her vocal chords. The closing track, “Sand,” was originally released on the Wilson sisters’ Lovemongers project in 1997 but gets a fresh take and ends “Red Velvet Car” on an upbeat note without sounding sappy or maudlin.

Most of the band’s fans would never have bet on “Red Velvet Car,” Heart’s 13th studio album, to sound both diverse and dynamic, but it’s as strong as anything in the band’s catalog. Luckily, the band has matured past the ’80s bombast phase that alienated many of the original fans by drifting too far into overproduced pop territory. Perhaps this is the album that should have come out between “Dog & Butterfly” and “Little Queen.” Heart is a band that doesn’t just sound like it’s looking in the rearview mirror. After 34 years, the band still has something to say.

Rating: W W W W

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Goldmine Magazine: Heart Hits Trademark Sound With 'Red Velvet Car'

2010-09-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

4-Star Rating :D

Heart’s first album since 2004’s “Jupiter’s Darling” gets off to a bluesy start with “There You Go,” but soon kicks into high gear with towering vocals of “WTF,” meaning the record mixes it up between Heart’s trademark acoustic sound and good old-fashioned rocking out.

Now, there might not be enough of latter for those of you who prefer Heart in “Crazy On You” mode. “Safronia’s Mark” is the best at capturing the old fire, starting out slow, but steadily building in intensity, and “Wheels” and “Death Valley” are both upbeat, the latter featuring an especially strong vocal workout (and both Ann and Nancy Wilson are in fine vocal form throughout the album).

The rest of the album is in a more laid-back vein. Producer Ben Mink (who also performs on the album), highlights the musical skills on display as fully as the voices, emphasizing the point that Heart was always a band, not some singers with a backing group. “Queen City” drags a bit, and is least interesting lyrically, and at 10 songs the album feels short. But the smoldering “Red Velvet Car,” the pretty acoustics of “Hey You,” and the poignant, heartbreaking “Sand” (a re-recorded version of a song by the Wilsons “alter-ego” band, the Lovemongers), should make Heart fans happy that the band’s finally has new material on offer.

Source

Grammy.com Review: Heart in Universal City 9/18

2010-09-20T19:14:00.001-07:00

Saturday night. Los Angeles. What to do?

Luckily this was one weekend evening I had mapped out already, as I had made plans to see Heart at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., months in advance.

Heart hit the stage just past 9:30 p.m., entering to the tribal beats of "Cook With Fire," the lead track to 1978's classic Dog & Butterfly that cautions men not to dance too close to a deceptive female's flame. "She's going to burn ya/She's gonna make you a fool/But it'll learn ya/Way, way better than school," sang Ann Wilson. (In a rare moment of concert clarity, I thought, "Too bad they didn't teach that in school.")

The '80s made a grand entrance in the presence of "What About Love?" — the lead single from Heart's 1985 quintuple-platinum, self-titled album. Added back to their set this year, the song still resonates as it did a quarter century ago.

Sister Nancy Wilson made her first splash of the evening in laying down some funky riffing on her aqua-blue-swirled Fender Telecaster. Guitarist Craig Bartok joined the fun and off the band catapulted into the pointed "Straight On." The Wilsons' patented crystal-clear harmonies shone through on this hit, also from Dog & Butterfly.

Nancy, an overlooked lead singer in her own right (par for the course when your sister is Ann Wilson), took the mic for two songs. First up was Heart's first-ever No. 1 single, "These Dreams." Saddled with her trusty mandolin, Nancy introduced the song as the "spare a little candle version" in describing the intimacy of the rendition to come. Indeed, the song features a more stripped-down, mature treatment nowadays, while still maintaining a meditative quality.

Segueing into the brand-new "Hey You" — a romantic poem set to song perfect for any longstanding couple weathering the proverbial storm of love — Nancy displayed her musicality in playing autoharp.

The evening's sonic experiment came via a garage band-worthy mash-up of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" with "Even It Up" from 1980's Bebe Le Strange album. I like to think Mick and Keith would have approved.

The understated title track for Heart's new album, Red Velvet Car, followed. Ann described the song as "a soul rescue vehicle. It's about that friend you call in the middle of the night when you're stuck." An anthem of friendship and loyalty, the performance was hypnotic, and augmented by red lighting.

The monumental ballad "Alone" played out like a solemn prayer. Ann's vocals were complemented sparingly by Nancy on acoustic guitar and the pig-tailed Debbie Shair playing a harpsichord-type keyboard patch. Usually a high point at any Heart concert, tonight's rendition was particularly mesmerizing as Ann evoked the character of the song's protagonist like an Oscar-winning actress.

Picking the pace back up, the band ripped into "WTF," another new song from Red Velvet Car. With a driving groove — convincingly led by drummer Ben Smith and bassist Kristian Attard — and a sea of acoustic guitar strumming by Nancy, lyrically the song centers around a theme of self-examination with Ann warning: "The hardest thing you'll ever learn is what bridge to cross and what bridge to burn."

With her cascading strawberry-blonde hair, the timelessly beautiful Nancy Wilson moved across the stage with a combination of agility, grace and fervor for the entire evening. Her tour de force was her acoustic guitar solo preceding "Crazy On You," which featured an extended treatment with an excerpt of the main riff of "Hijinx" (a Heart diehard-only catch), a little bit of blues and a few bars of Led Zeppelin's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You."

"Crazy On You," along with "Magic Man" before and "Barracuda" following, received arguably the best reactions from the L.A. crowd. A well-placed trio of veritable rock classics.

What does a band like Heart do for an encore? They read a few pages from the classic rock songbook. On "What Is And Never Should Be" from Led Zeppelin II, Ann matched Robert Plant's every nuance while Bartok played the song's memorable slide guitar solo, doing his best to evoke Jimmy Page.

The evening came to an end via the Who's dense "Love Reign O'er Me," an uplifting finale. As the last echoes reverberated, the band exited the stage to thundering applause.

With a band such as Heart having a vast catalog of music, there are always going to be songs you wish were played. (As a matter of fact, no songs were played from my favorite Heart album, 1990's Brigade.) But I found the 90-minute set well balanced and paced perfectly. As for the songs from Red Velvet Car, they fit together comfortably amid the band's classics.

True to the band's duality, the concert was ripe with dynamics. It was hot and cold; aggressive yet subtle; loud and quiet; powerful and delicate; and introspective yet communal. But most of all, it was full of heart.

Set List
"Cook With Fire"
"Heartless"
"What About Love"
"Straight On"
"Dog & Butterfly"
"These Dreams"
"Hey You"
"Gimme Shelter"/"Even It Up"
"Red Velvet Car"
"In the Cool"
"Alone"
"WTF"
"Magic Man"
"Crazy On You"
"Barracuda"
"What Is and What Should Never Be"
"Love Reign O'er Me"

Source

LA Weekly: Heart at the Gibson Amphitheater

2010-09-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

On Wikipedia, the band Heart pops up in search results before the blood-pumping organ does. From the ecstatic beer and arm swaying rapture rattling the Gibson Amphitheater Saturday night, it's possible that over the last 35 years, Ann and Nancy Wilson have become more popular than the most precious human muscle. At least for people in their 40s and FM radio junkies.

Though Heart continues its legacy in the hands of 13 year old boys playing Guitar Hero, this was mom and dad's night out and the kids could stay at home raiding the liquor cabinet. This was a night for power ballads, for high kicks, for rape and murder (in a Rolling Stones cover), and a chance to get to know Meatloaf's daughter Pearl, who opened the show.

When Ann Wilson emerged from darkness carrying a flute, three-quarters of the room forgot how to breathe. She said, "Nothing left to do but open each other up and let our soul sing out. Ok? Ok!" and led us through Heart's discography without missing a hit. There was a time in Heart's career when cameras were all on Nancy, but at this show Ann was center-stage and in focus the whole time, with Nancy preferring to loom in the shadows, hopping and high-kicking. The only time Nancy seized all attention was in the inimitable intro to "Crazy On You." Many of us played along as if a black plastic guitar materialized before us, counting red, yellow, red, blue, red-yellow, blue, red-yellow, green+whammy...

"Alone," "These Dreams," and "What About Love?" brought back the glorious '80s, when the power ballad found its most enduring form. Heart also offered some new songs, such as "Red Velvet Car," which may sound like a euphemism for genitals but actually refers to the person you call when you're super drunk to pick you up.

The highlight of the night belonged to the 1970s, in a back-to-back "Magic Man, "Crazy On You," and "Barracuda" triple slam as well as a badass Led Zeppelin cover during the encore. There was a moment during "Crazy On You" during one those amazingly high notes when Ann reached down and scratched her wrist. She held the attention of thousands transfixed by her voice (which is sounding tip-top), and could still just scratch her wrist like she was waiting in line at the supermarket. It reminds us that humans are capable of wondrous things and still remain human.

Source

A Conversation with Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson

2010-09-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

GREAT interview with Ann and Nancy! Really intelligent questions and just a really enjoyable read. Also looks the Night at Sky Church DVD is set for a Spring release! :)

Ever since their groundbreaking 1976 album Dreamboat Annie debuted, the band Heart--essentially, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson--have recorded some of the most memorable rockers and ballads to date. Racking up hits like "Magic Man," "Crazy On You," "Barracuda," "Heartless," "Dog and Butterfly," "What About Love," "These Dreams," and many more, Heart has contributed more than a band's fair share to the story of rock. Their latest album, Red Velvet Car--featuring future classics such as "Wheels," "WTF," "Queen City," and the title track--is one of Heart's best releases, and another solid addition to their amazing catalog and legacy.

A Conversation with Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson

Mike Ragogna: Can you catch us up on your new album, Red Velvet Car?

Nancy Wilson: Well, Red Velvet Car, our new album, just came out at the end of August, and we heard Friday that it was going up on the Billboard charts, so we're really happy. We worked for a couple of years writing songs between the touring and getting other musical stuff together. But working with Ben Mink, our producer on this, was just what the doctor ordered, and people are responding so well. After being around for a while and doing this, our thirteenth studio album, we're really happy to report that it's debuting stronger than any of our other albums ever did.

MR: When you were writing for this record, I guess you overwrote and you still have a few extra songs?

Ann Wilson: Yes, I think we had about sixteen songs, and there are ten on the album.

MR: You guys are so prolific, and you're very good at having an album at least every couple of years. You also have Lovemongers material and all sorts of stuff. How do you keep a balance between all of your projects?

AW: Well, one project helps you evolve into the next. I think that you write some songs, and then you move on when you have things that happen in your life. I think all the songs on Red Velvet Car are autobiographical, and all the songs have come from things that have happened in our lives because we always write from our lives. But this time more than ever, it's just amazing to see these things actually speak.

NW: Yeah.

MR: What's the story behind the title track, "Red Velvet Car"?

NW: "Red Velvet Car" is a story about unconditional love and trust between two people. That can be between me and my sister, Ann, here, or it can be more of a universal statement about something very personal, where you're talking about some people that would do that for each other. There's a wide, wide world of people who would not go rescue anyone, no matter how bad they were. It's more of a statement of what love is about, and the honor, love, and trust that you will give somebody, and a rescue that you will give to someone because you love them no matter how ridiculous it might be, how bad it might get, or how far it is to go.

MR: Now, I have some favorite tracks on this album, and I know you're not supposed to ask an artist to pick a favorite among their children, so to speak, but if I were to ask you which of your songs on this new album you would like to hear right now, what would it be?

NW: Well, I like "There You Go." I think "There You Go" really hits home, and it's a cautionary, finger-shaking tale written to a young girl like a Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, or a Snookie, if you will. But it's just saying, "Hey, look out kid. Don't be a fool. It's a jungle out there." That's why it's done in this really swampy style. That song, by the way, was recorded with all the musicians sitting in one room, with all the strings ringing together sympathetically, and there are no real electric instruments on there, they're all wooden.

MR: Nice. You've done a lot, even going back to your first album, with acoustic instruments. People think of you as a good, rocking act, but you're such great acoustic artists, too.

NW: Thank you. That's one thing we've always done, as well as big rock songs--they could rock acoustically. You don't hear acoustic guitar used as a big, fat, rock guitar as much as you do with Heart, usually. I play an aggressive acoustic, as well as a sensitive acoustic guitar, and "There You Go" is a really great example of a big, heavy rock sound with acoustic instruments.

MR: This new album rocks, and it rocks in many different ways. It rocks electrically, and it rocks acoustically. While we were setting up this interview I said, "By the way, we're a solar powered radio station," since it also will broadcast. What do you think of solar power?

AW: We're trying to get off the grid, for sure. This summer, when we're touring, every time the tour bus pulls in to fuel up, I kind of grind my teeth because we have a multitude of buses, and every time they have to fill up, it's a tooth grinder.

NW: At home, we do the smallest carbon footprint possible, and we have hybrid cars. We really try to reuse everything, throw everything in the right bin, and we don't use plastic bottles because we have water filters at home and we use canteens. So, we're eco-friendly as much as we can get away with, but it would be awesome to be completely off the grid.

AW: We had some wind power and some solar power over at the farm in Seattle for a while, but we're still upgrading as technology allows.

MR: It's great to hear that we're talking with "Eco-friendly Heart."

NW: Well, we're sisters, and we're women, and we've had our ear to the ground, listening to Mother Earth for a long time as songwriters, and what Mother Earth is going through right now is pretty drastic, and we're feeling it too. We need the playground of Mother Earth and the bosom of Mother Earth to still be around for our kids, and the kids of our kids, as beautifully as she was there for us. So, we must be the custodians, harder than ever.

MR: That's really beautifully said.

NW: That's our mother! There's a lot of disrespect to our mother going on.

MR: There really is. So, let's talk about another one of the songs on this album, which comes to mind?

AW: I'd say "WTF," you know?

MR: Okay, "WTF" it is.

AW: The song is probably the son of "Barracuda," not on purpose necessarily, but this song came out of a blast of feeling that happened from looking in the mirror after making a series of repetitive, stupid mistakes.

MR: Like everyone, I guess.

AW: Like everyone, and expecting a different result, but not getting it, and finally just looking and saying, "What...!!" There is a lot of anger in the song, and frustration, but also a very clear message of hope to it because you're talking to yourself.

MR: That's wonderful, and no one does hope and anger better than Heart.

AW & NW: (laugh)

MR: Let's go to the news. Anything interesting on your radar?

AW: Yeah. All of a sudden, there's a country song that says I don't know the difference between Iraq and Iran. Did you hear that last night on CNN?

NW: No, really?

AW: That's igno-licious. And all of a sudden, we're in Afghanistan because, suddenly, that's what it's all about. There are a whole bunch of people that are going to have to have their post traumatic stress dealt with in some way, when they get home, yet we don't have the healthcare to cover that, really. What else do you want to talk about? It's a f**king pickle, is what it is.

MR: The interesting thing is that we have smart people that are in charge right now. Of course, everybody is on Obama's case for everything because he inherited the worst possible conditions, in every field, and we're kind of impatient with him getting things done. On the other hand, I can see the argument because things really aren't getting done as quickly as they need to be, in my opinion.

NW: When have they ever been able to get done as quickly as they need to be, though?

MR: You're right. Doesn't that go hand in hand with our ADD culture?

NW: Yeah, I think America is kind of the teenager of the world.

MR: That's pretty interesting. But have we regressed? We used to be adults, I thought.

AW: We thought we were.

NW: Well, people used to go to school, know how to spell and write papers, and were a little more educated, you know? On the world stage we're getting dumber, and dumber, compared to many of the more well-informed countries, and when people go like, "Iraq, Iran, what's the difference?" That's the case in point. We don't even know what the war is or who we're fighting and why, or why we didn't start in Afghanistan.

MR: And didn't we learn anything from Russia?

AW: That's a real storm front for me because I'm a real history buff, and it's just amazing to me how we've got this short little span of attention for huge things that have happened in the past, and it's just not possible now for anyone to remember these lessons from history.

MR: Ann, what is the deal, with the wars especially? The Afghanistan thing was in our face, that was such a humiliation to Russia, so that should have been one of the first obvious things to us. Of course, we went in there at first because of 9/11, but at the same time, every time we step into war in a major way, it's the corporations that are taking us to war, it seems to me. It's not even the brain trust that we elected into office, and it's like we're being dictated to by, well, the oil companies, and we had an oil administration, so, that made perfect sense.

AW: Yeah, and you can feel that even if you're just a plebe down here on the street and you watch the news. You can feel the fact that someone else is pulling the strings. You can feel that the strings are being pulled by people who are invisible to us.

MR: Yeah, it used to be the "shadow government," except they don't really care about being all that shadowy anymore, do they.

AW: (laughs) Right, I know. I don't blame people for feeling so powerless, but I'm from a generation that just goes, "Powerless, shmowerless. You have to still mouth off." You have to continue on.

NW: Try to understand and try to educate yourself enough to know what it is at least. I think the pop culture just takes us down the sheep dip, you know? It's like, "Okay, all you sheep, we're going to herd you over here into all this reality television." The "car crash" television--meaning the television that you just cannot look away from--I think it's really the dumbing of America. It replaces other information, where people could be preparing themselves to make a better world with less war, and just to know more--how to vote, how to help the administration, how to complain, and how to write their senators.

MR: Exactly, especially these days when you've got Fox News representing The Tea Party, and you've got Glenn Beck doing all of his nonsense.

NW: Yeah, there's so much polarization, it's just ridiculous. And the whole rapture thing? It's just like, "Wow."

MR: I was really shocked and saddened by the whole Qur'an burning thing. I didn't realize pockets of our country could be that stupid.

AW: And suddenly he just changed his mind. It was like, "Oh, some power must have been brought to bear on that guy."

MR: Yeah, or money.

AW: Or money. He was just selling his furniture on eBay, right, to finance his church? So, it's like, "Oh yeah, I'm ready to back off of my big thing, but I'm rich now, surprisingly."

MR: What a surprise.

NW: America just needs to educate.

AW: I agree.

MR: You're right on, and I just wish education was as high a priority as I remember it being. I'm with you, and I'm in the same age group, so I remember when that was an important thing.

AW: The way we become no longer a super power is if we're super stupid.

MR: Yeah. Okay, let's get back into the Red Velvet Car and be happy.

AW: It's okay, this is life, and we're all living it. It's great that we get to talk about it, you know?

MR: I know, and what was sweet was that you were sharing your thoughts so articulately, and you were so right on. I agreed with everything you said, and I wish this country well, but we really have to get our heads out of...

NW: ...out of our reality TV!

MR: Nice. Let's keep this rolling by telling me what track you'd like to discuss next.

NW: How about "Hey You?"

MR: What's the story behind that?

NW: "Hey You" is a song that I had rolling around in my brain for almost ten years, but I could not for the life of me come up with the "one more thing" it needed. I tried one thing that didn't work, then I'd try something else a couple of years later that wouldn't work, and over the years it just wasn't finished until we ran into Ben Mink and started working on this album. I pulled it out again and I said, "Do you have another part? This song needs a part." And he definitely had the perfect part.

MR: What's the working relationship like in the studio?

AW: What an amazing artist and a funny guy and extremely intelligent. He's intellectual, but also able to tell tall tales from his road, and his past. We were first turned onto his work when he was working with k.d. lang on the Ingenue album, and that really stuck with us. I think we tried to contact him in the '90s, but we couldn't get together because he was busy doing other stuff. Then, when I was going to do a solo album several years ago, it worked out that we could work together. Well, we brought Nancy in to work on my solo album, of course, and Nancy and Ben Mink just hit it off. It was like they were siblings, too. They are like total guitar and strings siblings, and to hear them play together is uncanny. It's almost like they're cut from the same (cloth), you know?

MR: So, he's sort of like an unofficial member at this point.

NW: Yes. In Red Velvet Car sessions, we played mostly just with Ben, myself, bass, and drums, and Ann singing, so those were all the basics. That's how we played everything at once, together, at the same time, and in the same room with eye contact. The conversation of that, you can really hear on the album because it's definitely not layered, digitally constructed stuff.

MR: That's pretty important these days, isn't it? I was just talking with the Goo Goo Dolls the other day, and John Rzeznik was discussing how important it was for that group to sit down in a room, and finally reconnect with each other during the recording process.

NW: How rare that stuff is these days.

AW: Yeah, I never thought I'd live to see the day when the natural process of musicians playing together would be something that you had to try to return to. That's the core, primal thing, really.

NW: You mean, actually playing and singing?

AW: (laughs) It's this new thing, actually singing and playing.

MR: Well, with Pro Tools and the like, you can pretty much just throw on a part and say, "There it is."

NW: You can pretty much construct things out of other things, right?

MR: Right, and you don't even need to be able to sing because we've got a pitch corrector for that.

AW: Oh boy, don't get me started.

MR: No, let's get you started.

AW: If I had money for every take I had to redo because I sang something off pitch, (laughs) I'd be rich.

MR: I'm with you, and if a pitch corrector was never invented, I don't think we'd have a Top Ten right now.

AW: And it's funny how that pitch correction thing has a digital thing that goes through it, kind of making people sound anonymous.

MR: Yes. It makes them generic, good point.

NW: It's really hard to distinguish a lot of the singers now.

MR: It's like a lot of the Disney-ish or American Idol-ish kids who are making records follow this template that have this same three note interval span in the chorus, and you have to include a sixth or a fourth in there so it has a tiny bit of emotion, or I guess that's what it's supposed to do.

NW: Interesting, yeah, you're right.

MR: Then you have, of course, the soulless block vocal that sounds like every other block vocal.

AW: It's interesting because it's also affected the sound or the way people sing without pitch correction. If you hear a lot of new singers, the vowels and the way they change notes almost sound pitch corrected already. So, it's become the new accent of pop music singing.

MR: Wow, people trying to emulate pitch correctors. So, being a fan since Day One, what's great is that you've always got stuff coming down the pike, like your new DVD.

NW: Yeah, there's a new DVD coming in the Spring of a Seattle show we did at The Sky Church, and that has a few of the new songs, and Ben Mink plays fiddle and guitar on that DVD as a guest star, and Alison Krauss comes out to sing a couple of songs with us as well. So, look for the DVD this spring.

MR: You know, this is a really interesting period for Alison Krauss. There's that album Robert Plant did with her.

NW: That album was amazing.

MR: I like the cross-pollination.

AW: I like it, too. It's really great for us because a lot of the time people sort of put us in this box that's really small. It's like, "They do rock music." But we like lots of types of music, and Americana is no exception. Alison is squirming to get out of her box too, so when we met and sang together and became friends and everything, it was a really great stretch for all of us.

MR: Yeah, and with Robert Plant. I couldn't believe I was listening to that.

AW: He, of course, on that record, is singing so great, and some people are sort of like, "Well gee, he's supposed to sing like he did in Led Zeppelin, where he's up there real high, screaming and wailing." Well, he is more sexy, I think, when he croons, you know? If that's possible, for Robert Plant to be more sexy than Led Zeppelin? I really think, for instance, on the song "Nothin," on Raising Sand, he's just on. There are a couple of moments that are just so amazingly sexy, and they're great.

MR: Have you reached out to him because, you know, you do have a history there.

AW: Haven't reached out to him, but we did get to meet. We went to see the Alison Krauss-Robert Plant show at The Greek Theater a couple of years back, and we got to talk with him afterward and hang out a bit. We had a little talk, and it was a little bit stilted because Zeppelin has always been a man's things, and they heard that we cover their stuff. So, the two of us kind of went, "Oh, hello." It was so amazing for me to try and forget that he is so amazingly powerful in his presence and just talk to him like a human being. It was a great moment for me.

MR: Right. I feel like what you said earlier is so true about perceptions; people don't allow artists to grow in a lot of cases. Regarding the Robert Plant thing, none of us should really be surprised by that, just as Heart doing really beautiful acoustic music should not be a surprise. You get to grow in your art, the way you want to grow in it, and I think your fans, for the most part, have come along with you.

AW: They have, and it speaks well because that takes attention span, and Heart people really have it, they really do.

MR: I feel like there's so much that you've gone through over the years that you could probably write a book about life on the road, about music, and about the music industry, right?

AW & NW: (laugh)

NW: It would be like when people ask, "What do you say to people that are coming up?" What is it really? It is a business, even though you don't really want to think of it as a business. I think without some kind of true calling and dogged determination and survival mechanisms built in, you shouldn't even try. Turn back, unless you're really burning up with passion, desire, and a purpose to do this, you know? I think, like probably a lot of things in the world, to do something really well, especially something a little bit outside of the box, there just isn't a lot of context for it, and it can be the loneliest, most heartbreaking world you can try to do something in. Ann and I, I think, should consider ourselves really lucky because we have each other and we're sisters and confidants. But there are others--like Sarah McLachlan and Chrissie Hynde--who have sort of done it on their own, and I don't know how they do that. I don't know if I could do that. Anyway, becoming an upstart now, with the way the attention span is so short and the pitch correction aspect of music making people kind of anonymous, it narrows the field, and I think it might even be tougher than before.

AW: Yeah, I think it probably is.

NW: With the imaging of everything now, I'd just say that if you have a soulful, poetic ear for doing some music, go underground or go rock, and do all the work.

AW: Do the work. Don't expect one day to be in your bedroom with your hairbrush, looking at the mirror, and the next day be like Lady Gaga. That happens to, maybe, one millionth of one percent of all the people in the world. If you want to spend ten years in the pipeline, forming a musical soul and putting all the miles in, then maybe you're going to be unusual, and you might stay around a little bit.

MR: Very nice. I always ask artists the question, "What advice do you have for new artists," and you've already answered it perfectly.

NW: Becoming competent takes a little time, and that will give you enough time to figure out whether you're built for it, too.

MR: That's good advice because a lot of people go into it without realizing that they're in it for the long haul once they've committed.

NW: Yeah, for better and for worse.

MR: Seriously, the whole fantasy of the American Idol "win" is exactly that, and for people that are getting into this for their art, it's not going to matter. They're going to do exactly what you said.

NW: People always ask us, and it always really amazes me because we have some albums that have been "hits" and some that aren't. So, when we have one that isn't, people say, "Well, why do you make albums? Are you going to make any more albums?" The answer, of course is, "Yes," because that's what we do as functioning musicians. We don't live and die by our sales. And it's for the love of music and the way people come back to us and say, "Oh, you saved my life with your music." It's so meaningful to people when you can reach them and they can hear your music and you can share your music with them. It's completely meaningful.

MR: Do you have any information about your tour?

AW: Yeah, it's been going on now for several months, and it's going to be going on solidly until the end of September. Then, we'll be doing a few more dates through the end of the year. We'll take thirty seconds off for Christmas, and then, ten seconds later, we'll be back out on the road.

MR: Are you doing any Rockin' New Years Eves?

AW: I guess not because I can see our manager shaking her head, so I guess not.

MR: I'll share just one tiny story with you. When I moved on from one of my jobs, I was packing my office and played "Strong, Strong Wind" like it was a loop. That was my "time to move on" song.

AW & NW: Oh, yeah.

MR: That particular Heart recording was very touching to me, so I'll just throw that out there.

NW: That's what music does to people, and that's how it orchestrates our lives and protects us through our lives, as well. The songs that we take with us are our protectors.

Source

Photos and Videos from the Gibson Amp Show!

2010-09-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Pro shot photos (if unwatermarked versions become available I will post them! :D)

Fan photo and videos.

HD Alone and Crazy On You, with an incredible intro and decent footage of the kick! And Magic Man :D

Heart Playing Gibson Amphitheater in LA

2010-09-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

Gibson Amp show is getting a lot of love on Twitter!!!

Pearl and Scott Ian (show opener):

@Scott_Ian: Heading over to Gibson Amphitheater now for PEARL/HEART show.

@PearlAday: En route to sound check for our gig w @officialheart 2nite in L.A. Here we go!

@PearlAday: Just took a dorky fan girl pic bckstage w a Nancy Wilson road case. Oh boy, let the radness begin!

@PearlAday: Song of the moment: "Barracuda" (because @officialheart is soundchecking it live rt now!)

@Scott_Ian: Nancy Wilson singing These Dreams. It's so good I'm fucking dying.

@Scott_Ian: Sold out Gibson Amphitheater. Packed when we went on. Killer hometown show. Thank you Heart and thank you Los Angeles!!!

@Scott_Ian: Ann singing Gimme Shelter. Fucking insane.

@Scott_Ian: Fuck me. Heart doing What Is And What Should Never Be. All time. The copious hair on my arms is standing up.

@Scott_Ian: And now Love Reign O'er Me. Ann Wilson should sing every song. I can't speak.

Fan tweets:

@ValkyrieBlue: Hanging out at Universal Citywalk waiting for the Heart concert! Can't wait to see my girls!

@Tabithaberry: Got generous offer to see Heart in concert at Universal City tonight. Very excited!

@Pochita68: Heart <3 @ Gibson Amphitheatre tonight! See u there.

@pdhamilton: Just scored awesome seats for Heart at Gibson Amphitheater for tonight's show!

@RealSteveGaines: Heart concert tonight at Universal City, the Gibson. Sitting in row A behind the pit. Very happy!

@Kaore: http://twitpic.com/2pqq4m tonight I will be basking in the glory of @officialheart

@ashleighmusic: going to see Heart at Gibson right now...ohhhh Barracuda!

@Angeeeeld: FINALLY @ GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE. GUNNA SEE HEART. yaaay (=

@flowerbelle_: At the Gibson waiting for Heart to come on stage! I can't wait to see them!

@anthonyguerrero: Heading to the Gibson to see Heart tonight!

@kanamalia: Getting ready for the Heart concert tonight at the Gibson.

@itsmetara: Heart baby!!! (@ Gibson Amphitheater w/ 5 others)

@Lbcalgal: Rockin' the Gibson with my girl Yoli @ Heart!!

@PyroKid: At the Gibson Amphitheater in Hollywood... HEART just took the stage!

@CaliCG: Enjoying Heart at the Gibson w/@divadol :) What about love... http://plixi.com/p/45940777

@nessa_guerrero: Heart is working it out at the Gibson!!

@MissMelisaMae: Jesus Harold Christ...Ann Wilson can sing! Barracuda BAY-BEEE

@anthonyguerrero: Heart just played Barracuda. And it was one of the heaviest songs I've ever heard live. YES!!!

@beachbum4osu: if there is a God, and if that God has the voice of a female, it is the voice of Ann Wilson!!!

Heart on NPR's World Cafe

2010-09-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Led by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, Heart is widely regarded as one of the great rock bands of all time. Now, after a six-year break and 34 years since its debut, the group is primed to make a return to the limelight with the new album, Red Velvet Car.

Heart cut its first LP, Dreamboat Annie, in 1976 and quickly became one of the biggest bands on the planet. It went on to sell more than 1 million copies with two hit singles, "Magic Man" (No. 9 on the 1976 Billboard charts) and "Crazy on You" (No. 35 on the 1976 Billboard charts).

Riding the momentum, Heart released its second album just one year later, 1977's Little Queen, and that, too, sold 1 million copies, fueled by arguably its biggest hit, "Barracuda." The Wilson sisters were bona fide rock stars, appearing on the cover of the July 1977 issue of Rolling Stone and becoming the subjects of countless boyhood crushes. In 1978, Heart went on to release two more platinum albums in Magazine and Dog and Butterfly, and despite the absence of founding member Roger Fisher, the group released its highest charting album in 1980, Bebe Le Strange.

Listen to the sisters' interview with World Cafe host David Dye and hear the band rock out on the World Cafe Live stage.

A little extra info for those interested. Judging by tour dates and Ann saying they had just played 3 shows in a row, this seems to have been taped on the 6th at the WXPN Stage in Philadelphia, PA. :)

And here we are. Full performances, interview and web bonuses split up track by track.

Interview Part 1:

Dog & Butterfly:

Hey You:

WTF:

Interview Part 2:

Barracuda:

Red Velvet Car:

Ann Interview with 96.9 WGRF-FM Buffalo

2010-09-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

Ann speaking to JP from 97Rock in Buffalo the day after the release of RVC! Great interview :D

Heart Has Plenty Of It As Sisters Approach 60

2010-09-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

My absolute favourite review. This was just breathtaking to read. Enjoy :)

Not only does Heart even it up; they kick it out on their introspective, lifetime-in-the-making, spanking new disc, “Red Velvet Car.”

Seattle's rock chick siblings (Ann and Nancy Wilson, 60 and 56, respectively) prove they are still better rock 'n' roll role models than most pop stars half their age. Not only do they have longevity (selling more than 30 albums and scoring 21 Top 40 hits in a career that spans 34 years), they have integrity to boot.

In the mid-'70s, Heart built a reputation as the premier, hard-driving, rock 'n' roll band fronted by two strong-willed pagan goddesses. In the mid-'80s, the sisters became teased-hair, corset-wearing video vixens and mega-selling, pop-rock hit makers. And, for a while in the '90s, the Wilsons established themselves as the female equivalent of Bon Jovi. Who said rock 'n' roll wasn't an equal-opportunity business. Heart's 13th studio release, “Red Velvet Car” is a return to the sisters' breakthrough 1976 release, “Dreamboat Annie,” without being a maudlin or half-hearted affair.

Sounding like they're performing around a bubbling cauldron, the two bewitching sisters prove they still have plenty of mojo on the foreboding opener, “There You Go.” As elder stateswomen who have seen it all, they offer worldly wisdom for young up-and-comers whose lives are on the fast track and (whether they know it or not) spinning out of control. Ann Wilson weaves together this cautionary tale of tawdry success and toxic excesses with her smoky, alluring voice, while kid sister Nancy delivers earthy and organic acoustic guitar riffs and enchanting harmonies.

The powerhouse duo shows why Heart was always the closest thing to a female equivalent of Led Zeppelin on the confident, cocksure rocker, “WTF.” With her howling, Robert Plant-like vocals, Ann surmises, “The hardest thing you'll ever learn is what bridge to cross and what bridge to burn.” So when in doubt, burn everything to the ground. Ann Wilson is mesmerizing as the emasculating marauder while ax-wielding sister Nancy shifts from serious Jimmy Page-inspired blue riffage to Pete Townshend power chord crunch. Although this adrenaline-pumping offering is all too brief, it single-handedly flattens any misgivings left over from Heart's cheesy '80s past (even though Heart at their cheesiest still runs circles around most of today's prefabrication pop divas at their best).

Ann Wilson is a combination chauffeur, savior and survivor on the bluesy, acoustic-tinged title track, “Red Velvet Car.” Tender but tough as nails, Ann passionately cries with the power and conviction to wipe away all the tears and years of misery and self-doubt. Never have the words, “I'm coming for you/I'm coming for you/I'm coming for you” sounded so reassuring and welcome as they do here. In the end, “Red Velvet Car” is a combination of holy apparition and a godsend of a number.

From Jimi Hendrix to grunge (with Heart prominently falling somewhere in between), Ann and Nancy Wilson are both very familiar with the rich musical legacy of their native Seattle (and, if they weren't, I'm sure Nancy's hubby, Cameron Crowe would fill them in if he had to). With the fiery, psychedelic rocker “Queen City,” the Wilsons take the listener on a whirlwind tour of the Seattle of their restless rock 'n' roll youth, concluding that there's something in the air that entices fellow Seattleians to become rock stars. Nancy Wilson shines as the passionate, poetic and poignant paramour smitten by the intoxicated effects of love and, later, reeling from the lingering aftereffects of love lost on the '60s-inspired folk-rocker, “Hey You.” At first, a guitar chiming Nancy Wilson is deliciously sweet and spacey declaring, “Swear by my September stars/I will go where you are going/Forever's never very far/As my love is overflowing.” Then, when the romance turns sour, she snaps, “Did you tangle with the trees/Did it bring you to your knees/Have you had enough of me/Hey you.” In addition to being emotionally rich and satisfying, it's one of the album's true highlights.

Ann and Nancy Wilson burn some rubber and leave the neon lights and the shiny people in the dust on the wanderlust opus, “Wheels.” Accompanied by revved-up guitar chords, locomotive bass lines and rumbling drum beats, Ann advises, “Just close your eyes now/And breathe a sigh now/We're going out of here/Out of here/Riding the wheels.” You can practically smell the petrol fumes on this high-octane rocker.

With its twangy acoustic guitars and impassioned vocals, “Safronia's Mark” has all the makings of being a “Dreamboat Annie” for the new millennium. Ann Wilson delivers a richly told story about heartbreak and human frailty as evident in the lines, “Though her eyes are far away she looks at you/Through her windows darkly she don't see/Her face is like a door you wanna walk on through/'Cause something deep inside just might belong to you.”

“Sunflower,” a song Nancy Wilson wrote about her sister and gave her as a birthday gift, is a deeply delicate and loving ode from someone who obviously has a deep connection with the subject-matter. Nancy's sensual, earth-mother musings and dreamy delivery give Sheryl Crow a run for the neo-hippie troubadour title.

Originally done on the Wilson sisters' acoustic-based offshoot project “The Lovemongers” back in 1990, “Sand” certainly deserves another shot to be heard and discovered. Ann Wilson sings, “A trick of light upon our eyes/A trick of time upon our lives/Ancient songs cry out to you/Surely this sweet sand is slipping through.”

Alas, life is fleeting but the hope that this is not the last we hear of Heart springs eternal.

Source

Kat's Korner: Heart's Smooth Ride

2010-09-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

Another great and lengthy review! :)

"How much talking does it take to talk about your bad mistakes?" asks/howls Ann Wilson on the second track of Red Velvet Car. Fortunately, she's more interested in rocking than talking.

It was America's bicentennial. My oldest niece was in a panic because she had to do a diorama of Betsy Ross creating the American flag. And it was summer school because she'd goofed off. The project was due the next day and, due to the slacking that landed her in summer school, she didn't really feel she could go to her parents on this one which is how we ended up hitting all the dime stores in the area looking for anything that could be used in the diorama.

Finding some of the basics wasn't too difficult. There was some generic bears and Goldie Locks package with a table and chairs. We could use one of the chairs for Betsy to sit on. Since it was 1976, finding flags everywhere in all sizes and forms (including the original 13 stars one) was no problem. But we couldn't find any Betsy. Finally, it came down to Malibu Barbie or the Bionic Woman. We went with Lindsey Wagner. Back at the apartment, I called my friend Lou who could sew anything and told her we had a 12 inch doll we needed a colonial costume for. While she got busy on that, I dug the wedge heel boots out of my closet. They were then dumped on the floor as I turned the box they came in over to my niece to use for her stage and backdrop.

We were rushing around like crazy and just when everything -- including giving Lindsey Wagner 'colonial hair' -- was coming together, Heart's "Crazy On You" comes blaring over the radio. We did air guitar and sang along. It was a song you couldn't escape on AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio that summer. The diorama ended up perfect and my niece passed summer school with flying colors.

Two weeks ago, while I'm on the road, she calls me up and says, "Aunt Kat, remember . . ." And recounts the story above which I do remember very well. We were laughing as we took turns adding details to the story. I asked her what brought all this back and she told me she'd just downloaded Red Velvet Car.

That's Heart's new album, their first studio album since 2004. Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson are back and the best news for Heart fans are that they're rocking out.

From her first notes on "There You Go," Ann's demonstrating that she still stands with the vocal giants Janis Joplin and Robert Plant. And no one can bend a voice like Ann. She's got the notes, she's got the power, she's got the shading. This woman remains the finest voice -- man or woman -- in rock music today.

With Ann and Nancy and various revolving members, Heart's added various tracks to the rock canon -- "Magic Man," "Heartless," "What About Love," "Alone," "Never," "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You" and "Barracuda" among them. In the process, they were a rarity, women who could get played on AOR. Rock radio found no woman worthy after the death of Janis Joplin. They briefly flirted with Joni Mitchell but that was really it for the first half of the decade. Along came Ann and Nancy and Christine and Stevie. Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks who were getting airplay on the songs they wrote for Fleetwood Mac such as "Rhiannon," "Landslide," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Women," "Sisters of the Moon," "Sara," "Sugar Daddy," "Don't Stop," "Say You Love Me," "You Make Loving Fun" and "Think About Me."

To be a woman who loved rock then was something glorious. While Joni, Carly Simon and assorted other women certainly rocked as hard as Elton John and other light-rock men played on AOR, because they were women, they didn't get the airplay. A woman had to rock it twice as hard as the average guy to get the airplay. As the seventies were winding down and the eighties were reving up, many AOR stations would end the year with a rundown of the most requested songs. The top three from 1981 to 1983 more or less remained the same. There was Led Zep's guitar classic "Stairway To Heaven," of course. But the real news was that Heart's "Barracuda" from 1977 was holding on and that the new battling titan was Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen." Stevie was doing solo work (such as that song) and Fleetwood Mac work. And it looked like women might achieve parity. Then AOR, still calling itself AOR, quickly got lost in the Miami Vice synthesizer sounds and women were pretty much locked out except for Stevie and the Wilson sisters who'd already earned their stripes during the briefly open window.

Heart caught a lot of flack in the mid-80s when they returned to the pop charts (they'd been played on AOR even when they weren't having hits). They were accused of selling out because they had a synth sound on many tracks, because they were working with outside writers other than Sue Ennis, because they were having hits. I'd rather hear "Alone" than Glen Frey's "You Belong To The City" and would argue it has more honest emotion than any thing Frey, Phil Collins, Don Johnson (yes, kiddies, he was briefly a radio star) served up at the same time. Was it everything I wanted from Heart? No. But neither was the latest from Aerosmith which was also working with outside writers, also adding synths but not getting any of the flack Heart so regularly did.

I knew it was over for them, their pop chart run, when I first heard "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You." I knew it because young kids were singing the chorus and really into it. But they hadn't caught the song yet. When they did? It was a period of mindless material and when they caught on to the plot twist and realized the song had a little more to say than rah-rah-get-your-rocks-off, that was it.

Heart continued the formula that had brought them back on to the pop charts for a little bit longer, they started a sidegroup (Lovemongers) and then, when most people didn't expect it, Heart released one of their finest albums: The Road Home. Not only did they serve up some of their 70s classics, they brought more rock into their 80s hits and via "Up On Cherry Blossom Road" demonstrated that Heart was never, ever to be counted out.

It also served to announce that, hell or high water, Ann and Nancy were together. And now here they are with Red Velvet Car and the album's already a top ten Billboard hit. Possibly because it sounds a lot like The Road Home if that had been a studio album, meaning the music is the bedrock, natural music, real music, performed by actual people.

"Sunflower" is a song Nancy takes lead on and she slips right into the groove doing instinctively what Sheryl Crow appeared to be after (but never quite accomplishing) on Wildflower. In fact, to be the ultimate in classic radio, all this song is missing is harmony vocals from David Crosby. The album's classic, however, is "Sand." This 1997 song the sisters wrote with Sue Ennis and Frank Cox is the standout of this album. And it's a testament to how strong the album is that it's the closing track. (If you buy the disc at a store, it's the closing track. If you download from iTunes -- I did -- you get two additional studio songs and a video; download at Amazon and you get a video bonus as well as live versions of "Never" and "Magic Man.")

The whole album builds to that moment and there's not a track that has you reaching for the remote to skip it. "Safronia's Mark" would have been a strong Heart song and performance on any album. In fact, listening to it, you might find yourself wishing Stevie Nicks would cover it on her upcoming album. It would be a comfortable fit because the Wilson sisters and Stevie didn't just prove women could rock back in the seventies, they did so without resorting to the "I hate girls" pose that so many would be rocking women have attempted over the years. Whereas many men and the pud-teasers like the Runaways made sure women felt they were at a concert to serve men, the Wilsons and Stevie, with their songs and their performances, always telegraphed, "This is your rock party too. Have fun." So how appropriate that the title song is one of friendship and rescue. Ann hollers, "Just call and tell me where you are.'' And she hollers it with such strength, you just know she and that Red Velvet Car she's coming in are going to be able to protect you. And that's part of what makes the album such a smooth ride.

Source

Metal Odyssey: Red Velvet Car is 100% Pure Classic Heart

2010-09-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

This incredible review needs a page unto itself. ♥

Ann and Nancy Wilson have revived their very own Classic Rock roots, to such an extent that Red Velvet Car is unmistakably 100% pure Heart Classic Rock. I don’t think I can hear a single note on this new Heart album to tell me otherwise. Released on August 31, 2010, on Sony Legacy, Red Velvet Car is the thirteenth studio release from Heart. This new album of Heart songs won’t reveal an Even It Up from 1980′s Bebe le Strange, nor will you hear anything remotely close to What About Love, from their 1985 self titled album Heart. What I hear is Ann and Nancy Wilson making a triumphant return to the sound that captured my very own heart, some thirty plus years ago.

Throughout the decades, I’ve listened to so many bands try to reinvent themselves, through sound, style and/or persona. Sure, Heart may have dabbled in some of their very own “change” in the mid 1980′s, only it was never drastic enough for these two incredibly talented sisters to cease making memorable Rock Music. I went along for that stylistic ride back in 1985… seeing Heart in the arena setting of The Hartford Civic Center, with the ever charismatic Autograph as the opening act. There was always a place for Heart… in my Metal heart, ever since my first album of theirs was spinning on my turntable, that album being Bebe le Strange.

While there are those bands that changed and never recovered, there are still other’s that seem to have forgotten their Rock ‘N’ Roll roots with an almost defiant glee in their eyes. Not Ann and Nancy… not Heart. These two gals have taken not just a piece of their Rock ‘N’ Roll past for Red Velvet Car, they have taken it all and this album essentially salutes it with a double high five… throughout all ten songs. As I took a ride inside the Rock Music of Red Velvet Car, I not only took a ride into the Classic Rock past, I am also taking a ride into the Classic Rock present of Heart for as the legendary Bob Seger has sung… “Rock ‘N’ Roll never forgets”.

Ann Wilson’s vocals on each and every song she sings comes through with the same spirit and resonance as the earliest of Heart albums. To listen to Heart’s 1976 debut album, Dreamboat Annie, immediately following Red Velvet Car is quite the Rockin’ treat, realizing that both albums are nearly 35 years apart is astonishing. The same can be said for Nancy Wilson’s guitar, being over three decades removed from Dreamboat Annie doesn’t seem real when the similarities in sound, style and fresh energy are so comparable.

There is even a slight demo-esque feel and quality about Red Velvet Car that makes it all the more alluring to me, whether this is intentional or not, the end result separates this album from having that overly polished and deliberate commercial gloss. From the onset, There You Go sets the tone as to the exact direction Red Velvet Car steers towards. There You Go is acoustically brash with an attitude usually reserved for a hungry up and coming Rock band, only this is Heart in 2010 and thus they are rejuvenated with their song writing. It only get better…

WTF has Nancy’s guitar tone emanating the feeling and desire of 1977′s Barracuda, making me wish I owned a vintage Chevy Nova jacked up and ready to go for that Summertime road trip to the beach. If WTF doesn’t grab you, then you have never listened to Heart before. Ann sounds as invigorated and Rockalicious as ever on the song Red Velvet Car… velvet vocals and all. If I am to drift off into Heart never, never land… then this is the song to bring me there.

Alright, this is the “stand up” and get your groove on portion of Red Velvet Car… Queen City is now playing. When Ann cry’s out – “yo-ho, yo-ho gotta keep afloat” it’s enough to make me feel like Heart has taken back what once was old and made it new again. Let’s not forget that Nancy Wilson can sing with a sparkle like a dew covered peach in the morning Summer sun. Hey You is an acoustic, up-tempo, semi-sweet ballad that carries it’s Rock fragrance of Heart with it’s infectious melody and Nancy’s sweet harmony.

Wheels and Safronia’s Mark both have the atmospheric sound and sensory feel of all things glorious about Classic Heart. Ann and Nancy please, take a bow now for you both have put me on a Classic Rock cloud that is drifting me further away from the lame-o and negative laced Rock Music that devoured everyone in the ’90′s. Hallelujah and Metal be thy name.

I’m going to make it a point to listen to Death Valley and Sunflower, while laying on the grass of my backyard on one of these last hot Summer days… and stare up at the blue sky and puffy white clouds with a retro grin on my middle-aged face that stretches from ear to ear. Is it wrong for my classifying Red Velvet Car as a Classic Rock gem? Calling out Heart’s return to Classic Rock prowess? I don’t think so. Exemplary Rock Music will always rise to the top, despite what is being played on radio or (gasp) MTV. Classic Rock exists for it will never go away, as it rears it’s triumphant head whenever a legendary band such as Heart brings it to life through their albums… both past and present with Red Velvet Car.

Classic Rock has rescued me once again, thank you Ann and Nancy. Red Velvet Car has the Classic Rock ‘N’ Roll fuel and I’m telling anyone whose listening to hitch a ride. Heart has pulled up in their Red Velvet Car and taken me for ride that I’m looking forward to taking again on a consistent basis… for a very, very, long time.

Source

Red Velvet Car Reviews and More

2010-09-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Just about every album review I missed posting. Enjoy!

5 Stars (only the second time this was ever awarded) from About.com! :D

Let's be honest here. Speaking from experience, if you were a young heterosexual male in the '70s, you were probably attracted to Heart primarily because they were fronted by two very attractive young women. The fact that sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson were exceptionally talented was a bonus. They're older now (albeit no less attractive) but the wisdom of age allows us once-young men to experience a new appreciation for the musical portion of the equation.

What'll it be?

Aside from their musical and physical attributes, the lead vocalist (Ann) and principal lyricist/guitarist (Nancy) brought something stylistically new: a fusion of folk and hard rock. They also put on a whale of a live show. Their debut album (not coincidentally, released on Valentine's Day 1976) was an immediate hit, rising to #7 on the U.S. album chart. Although there would be even greater chart success among the 11 studio albums that followed, it was Dreamboat Annie that firmly established the band and produced several of what would become their signature songs: “Magic Man”, “Crazy On You” and the title track.

There were ups and downs, and a lot of turnover among the non-Wilson members of the band, but Heart are not just surviving, they're thriving in 2010. They've been touring extensively the past couple of years, and are celebrating the 34th anniversary of their first studio album with the release of their 13th, Red Velvet Car.

Based on the pre-release publicity, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It spoke of an “acoustic approach” and made much of the “assortment of strings” employed, including “guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle, cello and autoharp.” Was this going to be the Heart we've known and loved (and lusted after) all these years, or a venture into some experimental realm?

Forget acoustic. The opening track, “There You Go” isn't raucous but it is intense, melodically and lyrically. It showcases some of that great Ann-Nancy family harmony.

After the cerebral intensity of the opening cut, “WTF” smacks you in the face with drums, electric guitar and some of Ann's best gravelly growling.

“Red Velvet Car” is pure blues. Forget the girly-girl implications of the title. It's bluesy-blues – hypnotic and, yes, sexy.

“Queen City” is a combination autobiography and tribute to the band's hometown, Seattle. The imagery of “keeping afloat in a leaky boat” is compelling.

“Hey You” is interesting because it employs multiple styles. It starts out with a bit of a country flavor, but then suddenly (but seamlessly) erupts into a '60s pop sound. The story (broken hearted lover) fits both.

My first impression of “Wheels” was that it sounded like it could be part of a movie soundtrack. Then I read an interview with Ann in which she explained that it actually evolved from a song they were “trying to write” for the movie, Midnight Run. This one keeps your attention because it makes you want to know how the story turns out.

The folk influence is much in evidence in “Safronia's Mark”, which Nancy describes as a “gypsy folk urchin song and another Seattle story.” It has a slightly supernatural quality to it that draws you in.

A rare exception is Heart

As the title implies, “Death Valley” is not a happy song. It is (in more or less equal parts) about life on the road, and the allegorical “bad trips” we all take as we stumble through life.

Nancy wrote “Sunflower” for (and about) Ann as a birthday present. Like the back story, the lyrics are touching.

“Sand” is the only song on the album that wasn't written specifically for Red Velvet Car. The Wilsons recorded it in the early '90s with an acoustic group they put together called The Lovemongers. The song is about endings, and makes a great closing track.

This album is as good as rock gets, and Heart sounds as good as they ever have.

Like most people, I have three or four favorites on any given album that are the ones I primarily listen to. Rarely does every song get equal replay. Red Velvet Car is one of those rare exceptions. About.com uses a five-star rating system for reviews. In the five years that I've been writing these reviews, I have only given one perfect score (for Bob Seger's Face the Promise.) I hereby award the second one to Heart for Red Velvet Car.

About.com: Classic Rock

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4 Stars

Once in 1982, a beautiful girl in a car sped past Brad Hamilton, a senior jerk at Ridgemont High. Who would have foreseen nearly 30 years later, the same girl would drive up to us again, this time, in Heart’s excellent Red Velvet Car?

A red velvet car is Heart’s ark for the lonely and the mistreated. The sisters Wilson sing about who gets to ride in their backseat and who is left to rot with the vultures, namely: bad boyfriends (“There You Go”), record company officials (“WTF”), and assholes that cut you off on the highway (“Safronia’s Mark”). It’s no secret that Heart’s most compelling material is often drawn from a dirty wound.

“WTF” is the hard rock powerhouse. Guitarist Craig Bartock provides a galloping “Barracuda” beat that stops just short of Ann threatening some unlucky soul at the other end of the tunnel: “There’s hell to pay and it’s your turn” while Nancy does her signature hop-scotch high kicks. “There You Go” has a stripped down bluegrass feel despite the string harmonies. Ann whisper-howls the long vowels, sounding remarkably close to her 26-year-old “Dreamboat Annie” self.

Circle of life imagery of trees, raindrops, and sunshine is in no shortage on this album. “Hey You” and “Sunflower,” sung by Nancy, are lilting and innocent, her guitar work dynamite whether she’s by a campfire or in the center of a football stadium. She mixes a bit of both these strengths on “Sand,” a favorite of their spinoff group, the Lovemongers. The recording balances instrumental frills with Dog & Butterfly delicacy.

Red Velvet Car has something for every kind of Heart fan, whether it’s virtuosic ‘70s guitar solos or soaring ‘80s choruses, Heart as lovesick Ophelias, or headbanging femme fatales. Since the musicianship quality is so inventive and fresh, it would be easy to say this album could fit anywhere in the Heart discography, but Red Velvet Car is simply a sterling album made by a pair of classic rock underdogs who really aren’t underdogs anymore. Heart has been one of the only bands of their generation to consistently produce hot new material that is both inventive and true all of their roots. Of course it’s Heart. It always has been, silly, silly fools.

VenusZine

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3.5 out of 4 Stars

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the new Heart album — one of only two the group has released over the last decade and a half — is as strong as it is. Outlasting expectations comes naturally to Ann and Nancy Wilson, who in the mid-’80s transformed Heart from the lean hard-rock act responsible for “Magic Man” and “Barracuda” to the slick power-ballad factory behind “These Dreams” and “What About Love.”

Still, rare is the band doing work this good at such an advanced age; rarer still is the band doing it, as Heart does on “Red Velvet Car,” without employing a sober return-to-roots approach.

The best tunes here are as fun — and as delightfully trashy — as anything in the Heart songbook: In “WTF,” Ann flexes her powerful She-Ra vocals over Nancy’s killer fuzz-grunge riff; “Queen City,” an ode to the Wilsons’ native Seattle, features a chorus lyric composed in large part of pirate slang. Later, “Death Valley” earns its title with some gorgeous evil-angel harmony singing.

“Red Velvet Car” also emphasizes Heart’s mystical-folkie side in cuts like the slow-burning title track and “Sand,” which the Wilsons first performed with their acoustic side project, the Lovemongers. But even there you can hear a joy and a sense of humor in the music that distinguishes it from the grim output of so many heritage acts.

Thirty-four years after the band’s debut, Heart’s dreamboat sails on.

LA Times

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If you’re a fan of Heart, you probably have an affinity for their early stuff, as in the Dreamboat Annie days. Or you might have been hooked in the ‘80s, when, as singer Ann Wilson says, the band “made a devil’s bargain” – i.e. they wrote pop songs that the label wanted them to, such as “Never” and “If Looks Could Kill.” Not that those songs were bad; in fact, some would argue that this is when Heart really arrived. Still, these sisters and their band mates appear to long for the “good old days,” when they could emulate their biggest inspiration, Led Zeppelin. And now with Red Velvet Car, Heart’s first studio album since Jupiter's Darling in 2004, they have succeeded. A big reason is producer Ben Mink, who has re-created the best of the “old” Heart but has given it a slick, current feel as well. The songwriting is top-notch, and while Ann Wilson’s voice is showing signs of weathering, you can put this album up against any heritage act’s new material and it will stand up, and above, just about anything. “There You Go” kicks off with a similar rhythmic riff to one of Heart’s biggest hits, “Straight On,” and it’s a solid start. And the Zeppelin vibe is in full glory on “WTF,” “Queen City,” and in particular on “Death Valley,” with Nancy Wilson emulating Jimmy Page’s tone and playing with sick precision. But the band shines big on the title track, on which Ann belts it out like in her heyday, and on a track Nancy sings, the acoustic driven “Hey You.” “Safronias Monk” feels like 1978, and the closer, “Sand,” also sounds like classic Heart, but maybe more like an anthem from the ‘80s. It can’t be easy to say you want to go back to your roots and actually do it, but Heart appears to have done just that. And despite the fact that the sisters Wilson have been rolling along for years on tour, Red Velvet Car is the type of effort that should, and might, win “comeback of the year” awards.

Eat, Sleep, Drink Music

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Ann and Nancy Wilson, figureheads of this classic rock band set up in the early Seventies, are the archetypal rock chicks and it’s great to see after so long and a six-year break they have lost none of their throat‑damaging, ear-splitting ways on this return to top form.

A mix of thrashing guitar throwdowns and gentler ballads (nothing too soppy, naturally), this is a collection of proper grown-up songs, best enjoyed with a bottle of beer and leather trousers.

UK Daily Express

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LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Nancy Wilson of Heart says the travel aspect of touring remains "just as hard" after almost four decades. "But the sweeter thing," she adds, "is to still be doing it."

She and sister Ann Wilson are touring in support of their first studio album in six years, "Red Velvet Car" (Sony Legacy, August 31). Written on the road and featuring the act's signature rock sound with deep acoustic currents, the album is gaining traction on adult contemporary radio with "Hey You."

"The heat at radio reminds me of the old days," Nancy says. "It's good to see stations adding it and people requesting a simple love song I've had in my back pocket for quite a while."

Guitarist Nancy and singer Ann have quite a few previous hits in their back pockets. Co-founders of '70s-spawned Seattle band Heart, the sibling frontwomen/songwriters forged a gateway for female rockers. Among the act's 21 top 40 hits: "Magic Man," "Barracuda," "These Dreams" and 1987's "Alone," which has become a favorite of "American Idol" contestants.

"'American Idol,' Fergie doing 'Barracuda,' 'Guitar Hero' ... all the different imprints of the songs we did in the '70s and '80s are connecting the dots, bringing a new generation to our live shows," Nancy says. "We've even seen people showing up with kids 10 years and younger."

"We have to get this baby born and on the map," Nancy says. "It's our calling."

Reuters

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Nothing beats live music. Hands down, the live experience trumps any audio or video recording I've ever seen of an artist performing. That said, the next best thing is a concert recording, preferably video so you can see the actual performance instead of simply listening to it.

I have never seen Heart live other than the occasional performance I've seen on television. It's on my list of things to do. But their album Red Velvet Car is probably more intimate than I could possibly be, even if I was sitting in the front row. From beginning to end, I felt each track like it was recorded in my living room. It might have been a LOUD living room at times where the windows rattled, but you know what I mean...

The sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson have been queens of rock and roll ever since Dreamboat Annie hit radio waves in 1975, but Red Velvet Car is their first release in six years. This album manages to capture the classic Heart sound - from the style of "Barracuda" to "Dog and Butterfly" - while adding a new dimension that only age and experience can provide. From the duo's voices that sound as good as 35 years ago to the guitars, songwriting, and harmonies that only they can create, it's damn good to hear them rocking out again with some new tunes.

And with ten new tracks, we got a lot of new music to enjoy. I don't know whether it's the quieter tunes like "Hey You" and "Sand" or the rocking tunes like "There You Go," "Wheels," and "Death Valley" that echo most in my mind long after listening. But whether you enjoy the fierce energy of electric guitars or the solace of getting lost in acoustic guitars and voices emotionally telling what can only be personal tales, there's something for anybody who enjoys good music on this album.

The opening track "There You Go" tells a cautionary tale about losing control and being burned. With guitar melodies and rhythms sounding barely under control, you feel like the train is rushing forward only to crash in a ball of flame... "There you go again / Walking straight into the freezing flame / There you go again / There you go in the media insane..." The band is telling some poor innocent soul to be wary of the whirlwind of fame, to watch out for herself.

"Wheels" is another song that just drives along like a freight train in the dark. Again, the guitars and bass lines simply pound the song forward to some unknown destination. As they sing "Just close your eyes now / And breath a sigh now / Out of here" - like some great escape on the rails or open road. It's impossible not to tap your toes as it drives on. (Note to self - don't listen to this song while in the car with a known speed trap).

But it's "Sand" that sticks with me the longest. The last song on the album, it's a story of endings or loss. The acoustic guitars set the stage and Nancy's expressive voice felt like I was listening to a song played at a funeral. Something private shared with a crowd to let them know whomever it was that left them is still with them, like sand in the wind. "I asked a distant star / I wonder where you are / the shadow at my door / the friend who is no more..." I couldn't help but think of a friend I'd lost years ago... "Surely this sweet sand will run out by and by / and while the days come down to you / you are just a traveler passing through..."

It's the intimacy that just floors me each time I listen to the album. I truly felt as though I had somehow slipped into a jam session as a fly on the wall... soaking up the music and the tales.

Red Velvet Car will be released on August 31, 2010 and I would encourage anyone who's heard Heart in the past to pick up a copy. It's another great album from Ann, Nancy, and the band to listen to over and over again.

SeattlePi

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On their first new studio album in six years and their best new album in ages, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart balance the cool allure of acoustic instrumentation with enough grinding rockers to match the magic of their early years.

Too often overlooked and underappreciated among the mega-metropolitan elite, the Wilson sisters have nevertheless been a hugely influential force on rock and this disc could offer a blueprint to a lot of new acts looking to get their feet off the ground.

Back on a Sony-related label for the first time since 1983, Heart sparkles on cuts that include the scorching “WTF,” the acoustic-based beauty “Hey You,” and the sizzling “Wheels,” all of which fit neatly alongside their earlier classics like “Barracuda” and “Magic Man.”

“WTF” has some particularly touching lyrics, includes the line “The hardest thing you’ll ever learn is what bridge to cross and what bridge to burn,” which was directly inspired by journal writings from the Wilsons’ late mother who passed away about four years ago.

Ann’s voice can still rip a roof off a house and Nancy’s work with producer Ben Mink on instruments such as autoharp, guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo and more, offer a mesmerizing soundscape throughout the 10-song disc.

For my extensive interview with Nancy Wilson click here.

Tracks to download: “WTF” “Hey You”

MassLive

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Some classic rock reunions are driven by marketing, some driven by a desperate need to reconnect to the past, some exist merely for the music. Red Velvet Car, Heart’s first album since 2004’s Jupiter's Darling, belongs to the latter camp: it’s music with no seeming commercial aspirations, music that is connected to the past but doesn’t strive to replicate it. Heart eschews their teased, corseted ‘80s bombast and sticks to the Zep worship of the ‘70s, an obsession that’s proved quite fertile. The Wilson sisters are clearly older than they were when they belted out “Barracuda” — the tempos are generally slower, Ann’s voice doesn’t reach the same heights — but they embrace their age, a move that gives their excursions into folk including a revival “Sand” from their 1990 Lovemongers sideproject, a record that pointed the way toward the textured movie here. Red Velvet Car has something of a meditative mood — the punchy Townshend power chords are used as color, not fuel — triggered somewhat by a preponderance of textured, acoustic-laden arrangements and miniature epics, all elements that hearken back to Heart’s golden age yet wind up feeling right in line with their vibe in 2010.

AllMusic

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The first collection of original songs by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, along with their current players, since 2004’s forgettable Jupiter's Darling, takes several spins to absorb. But the effort pays off. What we get is moody rock ‘n’ roll that crawls beneath the skin (”There You Go,” “Safronia’s Mark”), begs for head-bobbing (”WTF”) and proves emotionally arresting (”Red Velvet Car”). A solid record, indeed, that reminds us why we still love Heart.

Dallas Morning News

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This classic Seattle band is the all-time best female-fronted outfit – at least the best that doesn’t have Joan Jett or Deborah Harry in its lineup. Ann and Nancy Wilson go the quieter route on album 13, their first in six years. “WTF” is a classic rocker in the “Crazy On You” mode, but mostly these 10 tunes feature mandolin, fiddle, dobro and other acoustic instruments. Ann, at age 60, can still hit those freakish high notes with ease and guitarist Nancy shines throughout, especially on the song to download, “Safronia’s Mark.”

Boston Herald

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Red Velvet Car comes on (or off!) like a slinky black dress, a tickled chin-coo that occasionally forms a fist and thumps you one ’cross the kisser. It’s a sleek, compact, muscular vessel, the kind Heart used to make when it pumped thunder and crunch behind a rock-solid grill.

The album, the Wilson sisters’ first all-new studio venture since Jupiter’s Darling (2004) and their first under the Sony umbrella since Passionworks (1983), cruises past the canon misfires and market capitulations to summon the seasoned essence of what rattled eardrums and severed cortexes many Dreamboat Annies and Lovemongers ago.

Ann and Nancy Wilson don’t rock harder — Velvet’s a mostly acoustic beast — but smarter. They’ve logged some serious road time on their odometers, and they pack an education into “There You Go,” a plugged-in unplugged tumble with a heavy bass ticker (Ric Markmann, billed within as Citizenship; Ann and Nancy are Forces of Nature and Weather Systems, respectively — consult your local smitten meteorologist for details). “You’re riding so dirty, dirty and fast,” warns head belter Ann, her delivery still clear and sharp, edged with a hard-earned raggedness.

And she knows of what she sings, even when reduced to the Internet shorthand of “WTF,” a rage amplified by Nancy’s steady six-string gallop. But with her legendarily stratospheric range, Ann doesn’t project in text-message brevity; when she produces a cell phone on “Death Valley” — where all are joined by none other than Rush’s Geddy Lee (Mazel) — she pounds the following message across her sister’s leveled valleys: “Heaven forbid this place / It’s hotter than hell and I’m losing my cool / This is not of the human race.” In short: >:O.

Nancy’s hot and cool as always, whether she scalds, burns, soothes, or hums. Abetted by producer Ben Mink (Magic), she breaks out a tingling coterie of acoustic implements to kick back on a porch and address the descending sun. “Hey You” glides like lemonade over a sing-song break; “Sunflower” bends softly in an agreeable summer gust. On the previous she laments, “And the symphony is gone, gone,” but Mink-guided strings are in abundance throughout Velvet, though never intrusive. They stir, among others, the helping-hand title track, the chest-clutch of “Safronia’s Mark,” and “Sand,” the contemplation of mortality that ends the disc on a solemnly thoughtful note. “And while the days come down to you,” Ann muses in adios from a figurative driver’s seat, “you are just a traveler passing through.”

Streaks of spectral residue trail from fading tail-lights. A horizon unfolds, growing ever closer. The red velvet car is always in motion. There are bridges to cross, to burn, as the song goes. Luckily, Heart has many more miles to travel before they make that final turn.

The Daily Wrazz

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The Wilson sisters of Heart were hard rock’s main mamas in the ’70s. Biting, clarion-clear vocalist Ann Wilson; harmony-singing, guitar-slinging sister Nancy; and the pair’s cleanly emotive brand of Zep-inspired folk-and-pop-metal melody ruled the charts. Eventually, they turned into a hair band doing Bic-flicking power ballads and became their own acoustic side project (Lovemongers) in between semiretirements.

Along with gearing up for a catalog overhaul, Heart recorded this stirring first new studio album in six years with warmly dramatic producer Ben Mink. The results are closer in cloyingly contagious melody and intimate lyricism to their early music, as in the cocksure “Queen City.” Yet the album’s mostly acoustic palette of cello, autoharp, banjo, and such allows songs such as the softly sonorous “Hey You” to take your breath away without ever eschewing their ability to rock out, as Heart does on the rousing “WTF.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Having released their first album in Seattle on Valentine’s Day, 1976, Heart is one of the most enduring rock bands in music. The new album, Red Velvet Car, is only their second album since 1993. Jupiter’s Darling, released in 2004, an excellent album and a return to their hard rock roots was very overlooked, selling only around 100,000 copies. Red Velvet Car is a celebration of the acoustic along with the Mandolin, Dobro, Fiddle and Viola among other instrumentation.

It kicks off in great fashion with the opening track There You Go, heavy on bass and acoustic followed by the rocker WTF which has a bit of The Who’s, Won’t Get Fooled Again to it. The title track is an excellent ballad with some nice string arrangements and is followed by the sister’s ode to Seattle, Queen City. Next is the folksy, Hey You with Nancy showing off her very capable chops with lead vocals followed by the fast-paced Wheels. Safronia’s Mark comes next and is a song that I’d really like to know the meaning behind and then it’s the slightly edgier Death Valley. Sunflower, again sung by Nancy, slows things down again and the album is closed by the very capable Sand.

It’s worth mentioning that Target has two exclusive bonus tracks, Closer to the Sun and In the Cool, no mere cast-a ways they are every bit as good as every other track on the album with In the Cool being lyrically, one of the most powerful.

As one of the best female vocalists, Ann hasn’t lost a thing. She sounds every bit as good as she did on hits like Magic Man, If Looks Could Kill and Barracuda. Nancy, of course, is one of the greatest guitarists in music. You won’t be skipping a single track on this album as every song brings something to the table. Much like David Gilmour with On an Island and Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, with his recent Roadsinger, Ann and Nancy Wilson seem to be in a place in their career where they are unencumbered with the pressure of producing hit singles and are now doing what they love out of sheer enjoyment and happiness. Albums like this make me look forward to turning 60. Heart may have fallen off a lot of people’s radar and indeed many of the younger generations may not even be aware of them but to music lover’s I say buy this album and to those of the younger generation I implore you, give the Lady Gaga albums a rest and open your Heart.

Fangirltastic

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Sound: We all know the Heart sound, and although Red Velvet Car doesn’t feature the keyboards that we know and love, it doesn’t need to; instead focusing on Heart’s other qualities, which the band has in abundance.

Much is made of Nancy Wilson’s skills with a guitar in her hands, and the fuss is vindicated on Red Velvet Car. She is an accomplished guitarist, avoiding superfluous flash, embracing the art of song writing: every note played suits the song perfectly. Just listen to the bluesy rocker WTF, in which Nancy admirably turns a classic sounding bluesy note sequence into a rock tune with attitude and style. Strangely enough, a lot of the heavier guitar playing shuns a proportional amount of distortion, instead relying upon attitude and dynamics. It makes for some interesting exploration of ideas, even raising questions regarding how authentic distorted hard rock bands really are.

Not only is the guitar playing on the ball, but the percussion manages to stay keen to the idea of the song, varying from hard rock (WTF, Wheels, Safronia’s Mark), to mellow folk rock that even borders on bluegrass influences (Hey You). This is the sound of an experienced band, accommodating for the lack of innovation with a classic sound only too often the subject of weak counterfeiting by the young pretenders of modern music. // 7

Lyrics and Singing: Lyrically speaking, Heart has always been championed upon some sort of pedestal. This was a reaction to the full page ad in Rolling Stone insinuating that the Wilson sisters were involved in an incestuous homosexual relationship, an event to which the sisters took exception. Thus, the classic song—Barracuda—was born. This time round, Heart tackles issues such as losing youthful nihilism and burning out (There You Go), and even the loss of loved ones in the form of the intimate song, Sand. The lyrics do at times struggle for relevance, but it isn’t that Heart has nothing to say; it’s just that they have said it well before now, whilst vocally, Ann Wilson remains impressive both in terms of skill and diversity. She has often been compared to Robert Plant, and although she doesn’t command an audience quite like the Led Zeppelin vocalist, she can surely boast a voice of similar power. // 7

Impression: This isn’t the Heart of old, but Red Velvet Car has been widely touted as the best Heart album in years. It’s hard to find fault with such a verdict, but one is inclined to keep a lid on any hype surrounding the release of this album. Heart might be widely respected as one of the first bands to prove that girls can do rock, but that legacy alone won’t sell records; fortunately, the Wilson sisters seems to be aware of this, and have crafted an album that does no harm Heart’s legacy. // 7

Ultimate-Guitar

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After seeing Heart twice in concert, one could guess that I'm a Heart fan. So it be no surprise that I RAN to the store to get this album when it was released! First album of new materiel since 2004's Jupiter's Darling, Red Velvet Car proves to be a worthy of wait! This album could possibly be their best since 1980's Bebe la Strange. That's saying a lot!

Returning back to the roots of the heyday of the 7o's, the Wilson Sisters and company will rock you breathless and memorize you with their folkish ballads. The album starts out with the intense acoustic "There You Go" before slamming into the all out rocker of "WTF" Title track "Red Velvet Car" reminds me of "Dog & Butterfly"-simply gorgeous. "Queen City" is an homage to their hometown of Seattle. Nancy Wilson offers her seductive voice to the country flavored "Hey You".

The album gets better at this point! "Wheels" proves that Heart can still rock like barracudas. My favorite track, "Safronia's Mark" begins with a mandolin laden lush that builds to climatic ending. Grunge like rocker "Death Valley" tells about the life on the road and the "bad trips" we take in life. In the beautiful "Sunflower" Nancy writes to her sister Ann with some touching lyrics. The closing number "Sand" is a retake of what they did in the Lovemongers. I believe I heard that song the last time I saw Heart last summer. It was a dedication to Micheal Jackson, who had died the day before.

Only a shell of the original band remain. Sisters Ann and Nancy are still taking the reigns while newcomers guitarist Ben Mink and bassist Ric Markmann fill in the vital places. Ben Smith rejoins on the drums. Long time member Howard Leese left in 1997 and now touring with Bad Company.

I highly recommend this album! ....Even if you are not a Heart fan.

Drew's Odds and Sods

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Ann and Nancy Wilson were two of the first girls to show the world that girls can rock too. Since the 1970′s, Heart has been topping the charts with tracks like “Barracuda”, “Crazy On You”, “What About Love”, “If Looks Could Kill” and many more. Heart has packed out shows, sold more than 30 million records, and has 21 Top 40 Hits. Their newest album, “Red Velvet Car”, and their 1st in 6 years, is truly a masterpiece. These girls definitely know how to rock with the best.

SiegeAudio

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Nancy Interview with 89.3 KPCC-FM Los Angeles

2010-09-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Wilson Sisters, Ann and Nancy, have just released their first new studio album in six years. Perhaps better known as Heart, the duo’s “Red Velvet Car” features nine new songs as they return to their hard rock/acoustic roots of the late 70s.

KPCC’s Hettie Lynne Hurtes talked with Nancy Wilson as they prepare for their concert here in L.A. this weekend. She talked about what inspired the title “Red Velvet Car.”

HEART will be at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios Saturday night.

Rockline!

2010-09-16T14:49:00.001-07:00

Audio is up from Ann and Nancy's appearance on Rockline last night! :D

Storm Sessions: Heart!

2010-09-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Ann and Nancy will be the featured artist on this weeks Eye of the Storm on Acoustic Storm.

This weekend on The Acoustic Storm (9/18-19), we've got Heart in the Eye of The Storm, with some music from our exclusive acoustic session and excerpts from our interview with Ann and Nancy Wilson.

On August 31, Heart released "Red Velvet Car," featuring "Hey You", "WTF", "Sand" and the title track.

Get more information on Ann and Nancy Wilson on the Heart Web site , and get ready for some acoustic Ann & Nancy Wilson on The Acoustic Storm this weekend!

Click here for a list of stations where you can listen :)

Exclusive Video Interview with Ann and Nancy

2010-09-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Check out this great Ann and Nancy interview with Spinner! Gorgeous photos too! :D

Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson came to musical prominence in the '70s, a decade in which muscle cars like the Camaro and Trans-Am were rock stars in their own right. The iconic sisters' new album, 'Red Velvet Car' -- their first studio effort in six years -- and the track 'Wheels' brings to mind that era with a recurring automobile motif.

When the Wilson sisters visited AOL's L.A. studios for a video chat about the new album, guitarist Nancy explained the origins of the title track. "We started working on the song, 'Red Velvet Car,' and we went, 'Wow, this album is about travel,'" she said. "There's something about the modern psyche and the heart of the modern culture that is on its way through. The good old image of home and heart has really altered lately. Everything is fast and moving, everyone's on a plane and that's the lonelier aspect of the modern world. 'Red Velvet Car,' it's another travel song with a lonely center, looking for a rescue, which is what a red velvet car is: A friend who comes, no matter what, with a red velvet car to get you."

Since we were on the subject, we asked the sisters about their most memorable rides. "When I went to college, my parents gave me a car that was a 1967 red Chevrolet Impala. That was at the height of my psychedelic time as a young person, so I called it the Astroplane and painted it all up inside," Ann recalled. "I was at art school, so I used acrylic paint. In Seattle it rains quite a bit, and acrylic paint is water soluble, so I had to keep repainting it again and again -- you know, gotta have that peace word on it." "The car was living art in progress," Nancy added, laughing.

For more from Heart about cars, Lady Gaga, Lilith Fair and why these songs take them back to their 'Dreamboat Annie' days, check out the exclusive video interview and gallery below.

So beautiful! ♥

Source

Crazy On You from the Experience Music Project in Seattle!

2010-09-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

The full video of Heart's performance of Crazy On You at the Experience Music Project in Seattle from March 5th. My Mom and I were there :D

This DVD is going to be completely amazing.

Stand Up 2 Cancer 9-10-2010

2010-09-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

You can now buy the entire SU2C show on iTunes! As well as a 5 track album featuring the closing song, "Stand Up to Cancer" with Ann and Nancy. Thank you to the Heartlinker for this info!

Here's 6 videos and 85 photos of Ann and Nancy at the event! Enjoy! :)

A few performance shots, backstage and lots of arrivals pics! :D

Heart at PC Richard and Son Theatre Private Show 9-1-2010

2010-09-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Beautiful photos and videos from the PC Richard & Son Theatre show from the 1st! :D

Pro releases:

Gorgeous audience shot video. Hey You, Barracuda and Crazy On You. ♥

Thank you to JamieMoroni for shooting and uploading these videos! What a treat!

New MP3s of the Week

2010-09-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

We're back with all new MP3s of the Week! :) Some RVC Love Live this time around. Hey You from Chicago Lilith Fair and Red Velvet Car from the Thunder Bay, ON show. Enjoy! ♥

Ann and Nancy on Rockline 9/15

2010-09-14T01:52:00.000-07:00

Don't forget! Ann and Nancy will be on the radio program Rockline tomorrow the 15th!

Heart will be the featured guest on the nationally syndicated radio show ROCKLINE on Wednesday night September 15, 2010 at 8:30pm PT / 11:30pm ET. Fans are encouraged to call to speak with Heart at 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). For a station near you and for information regarding how to log onto the Internet for the broadcast go to www.RocklineRadio.com This show will be streamed for two weeks on the Rockline website beginning the evening after the broadcast.

Ann and Nancy on The Mark and Brian Show!

2010-09-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Ann and Nancy stopped by the Mark and Brian Show today!

This is a really great interview, lots of funny stories and call-ins. A&N always entertain and the boys have nothing but lovely things to say about them. :) Stay tuned a bit after Ann and Nancy leave for Mark discussing Nancy's new top hat! :D

Listen

Thanks to my Momma for sending me the link :) ♥

Source

Red Velvet Car 2010 - 2011 Calendar

2010-09-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

And they're in! :D Please check out the RVC 2010 - 2011 Calendar section for my 12 month Red Velvet Car inspired downloadable and printable calendars :) As I can't have comments on "pages" please leave your comments about the calendars on this post. I would love to hear your feedback! :D

Also;

New MP3s of the Week coming today as well as *some* news updates. Tomorrow the serious updating begins. :)

Tour date calendars will resume come October.

HeartLove ♥

Nancy at Stand Up to Cancer Rehearsals!

2010-09-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Due to a giant calendar project I decided to take on I haven't updated in quite some time. I am nearly done and when I am, I will be updating the site primo, working from all the past news I haven't posted yet. I have some 200 alerts and sites to comb through. I hope this can help tide everyone over until I am back at full force. Thank you to anyone who frequents my site and I promise to be better to you once this project is complete.

Here is an adorable photo of Nancy with fellow female guitarist Orianthi at the Stand Up 2 Cancer rehearsals today! :D

Seattle Times: New DVD Chronicles Heart Concert in Seattle

2010-08-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Nancy and Ann Wilson are two of Seattle's most famous names. Making up the rock band Heart, they've sold more than 35 million albums worldwide.

Last March, the sisters — now 56 and 60, respectively — filmed an upcoming DVD, "Heart: Night at Sky Church" in Seattle. There's a free showing of the film Friday night at Experience Music Project |Science Fiction Museum.

The March concert was an intimate glimpse of the popular '70s rock group, which played new songs from the album "Red Velvet Car" (due out Tuesday) and old hits, like "Crazy on You." Alison Krauss joined in as guest artist on the mike and fiddle.

Nancy Wilson spoke recently by phone from Albuquerque about the DVD and the rock scene today.

Q: What was it like playing to a hometown crowd?

A: It's always really fun to play in Seattle. We love our own hometown so much. ... Ann is living in Seattle all the time and I still have a place in Seattle. I have to spend a lot of time in L.A., but I always get to Seattle whenever I can.

Q: Why did it take six years for this new album?

A: We've been pretty busy being moms. ... Ann did a solo album since "Jupiters Darling," called "Hope & Glory." ... Plus, we did a children's book for the anniversary of "Dog & Butterfly" and another version of "Dog & Butterfly" for Amazon.

Q: What is the new album like?

A: It's very hard rock acoustic — that's something Heart does that you don't really find elsewhere very much. ... It's not a digitally constructed sound at all, or a layered sound. It's a very on-the-spot, human conversational sound.

Q: Over the years, have you seen more women enter the business?

A: There are more women that are successful in pop culture, but as far as rock 'n' roll is concerned, I don't really see any. ... When you see Lady Gaga, it's unbelievable to see what she's done with her image. I know she's quite talented, too, but it's the image that makes you notice, more than what she sounds like. It's like, wow, is that what it takes anymore?

Q: How do you and Ann get along?

A: Our relationship is really strong. We tour together through the summer. We work on songs together. ... The kids come out with us on the tour. We're really a family business.

Q: How do you two stay friends?

A: We are rare that way. We're a military family ... being shuttled around from base to base. We still feel like we have our little fighting unit out here, but instead of guns, we have guitars ... spreading the good word with our music, town to town.

Source

ShopNBC Videos and Info!

2010-08-25T03:03:00.000-07:00

When you buy your copy of Red Velvet Car off of ShopNBC you get a bonus 2010 tour shirt and 5 track Greatest Hits collection! Check it out! Way cool :D

Also check out their main Heart page here for another brand new picture. So beautiful!

Here's two videos featured on ShopNBC's YouTube channel. For those not wanting to hear any new song clips, steer clear. I had to watch them on mute and read lips to get the info. 6 more days! We can hold out :D

Ann and Nancy in Parade Magazine!

2010-08-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

There will be an interview with Ann and Nancy in the September 19th issue of Parade! :D

Part 2 of the Red Velvet Car Podcast!

2010-08-24T04:09:00.000-07:00

Click here to check out Part 2 of the RVC Legacy Podcast. Click here for Part 1. Really great stuff here guys! :D

Ann and Nancy on Off the Record!

2010-08-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 29th: OFF THE RECORD with Joe Benson will feature the music of Heart as well as Joe's brand new conversation with Ann and Nancy Wilson. YAY! :D

For when and where you can catch Ann and Nancy's Off the Record interview please see the source link and check out the list of all the stations carrying this show :)

Source

Heart in USA Today!

2010-08-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Check out the 8/25 issues of USA Today for what we believe will be a cover feature on Heart! :D

Contest! Win a Seat at the Taping of the Jimmy Fallon Show

2010-08-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Attention all fans of Heart:

On September 2nd, 2010 Heart will be performing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Here is where you come in…

How would you like a chance to be close to Heart’s performance on the show?

Click on the link below and you will be directed to their “Band Bench” Sweepstakes entry form. Enter for a chance to win seats on the band benches and an opportunity to surround the stage during Heart’s performance.

Please make sure you include the following band code: HRT, in your entry form.

http://www.fallonbandbench.com/

Heart's TV Schedule 8/25-9/16

2010-08-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

The Joy Behar Show - CNN Headline News (CNN) August 25 - 9pm EST CNN Appearing (Interview)

HEART Night At Sky Church (Palladia) August 27 - 9pm EST Palladia Broadcast

HEART Night At Sky Church (Palladia) August 28 - 8pm EST Palladia Broadcast

Shop NBC Performance & Presale August 29 - 1pm CT / 2pm EST Shop NBC Live 1hr performance, discussion, and presale on Shop NBC (home shopping network)

VH1 News Piece August 30 to September 6 VH1 / VH1 Classics :90 news piece running on VH1 / VH1 Classics release week

HEART Night At Sky Church (Palladia) August 31 - 12:30am EST Palladia Broadcast

The Today Show (NBC) August 31 - 10am EST hour NBC Appearing (Interview)

Fox Network News (FOX) August 31 (week of) FOX Appearing

CNN News August 31 (week of) CNN Album review and artist Q&A

Fox and Friends (FOX) September 1 - 8:30-9am EST FOX Performing

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC) September 2 - 12:35pm EST NBC Performing

NPR: Weekend Edition September 4 NPR

HEART Night At Sky Church (Palladia) September 4 - 8am EST Palladia Broadcast

HEART Night At Sky Church (Palladia) September 10 - 11am EST Palladia Broadcast

Stand Up To Cancer (All networks) September 10 - 8pm EST (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN, etc) NATIONAL live telecast benefit concert

HEART Night At Sky Church (VH1 Classic) September 11 - 9pm EST & Midnight EST VH1 Classic Broadcast

HEART Night At Sky Church (VH1 Classic) September 13 - 1pm EST VH1 Classic Broadcast

HEART Night At Sky Church (VH1 Classic) September 14 - 2am EST VH1 Classic Broadcast

HEART Night At Sky Church (VH1 Classic) September 16 - 8pm EST VH1 Classic Broadcast

Soundspike Q&A: Nancy Wilson of Heart

2010-08-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

With a new generation being introduced to Heart annually thanks to the inevitable performance of "Alone" by "American Idol" contestants, the Wilson sisters are enjoying their popularity.

While packing theaters and amphitheaters around the U.S., Heart is now introducing fans to new music courtesy of "Red Velvet Car," a collection of songs due out Aug. 31. It is the band's first new studio album in six years.

"We're real excited," guitarist/singer Nancy Wilson said during an interview with SoundSpike. "We've been setting it up since we finished it, really. It's getting close to the time -- as they say -- it'll 'drop.' [Laughs] It'll drop. It sounds like somebody comes out of the sky and crashed into the Earth."

Wilson, who is joined in the band by singer Ann Wilson, spoke to SoundSpike about "Red Velvet Car," working with producer Ben Mink and the unique sounds of acoustic instruments.

SoundSpike: The shows are getting great reviews. You must be very pleased.

Nancy Wilson: I've seen a couple of really good ones. I'm very happy about that. It's nice when you work this hard and [are] acknowledged for it.

On Aug. 31, you're releasing the album "Red Velvet Car." What can you tell me about it?

In many ways, we're so happy and proud of the album. In some ways, we don't want it to drop. It's almost like having a baby: "OK then the real scary stuff starts." The baby comes into the world and some people don't think it's adorable. Hopefully most people will.

Did you record this album any differently than you have your past records?

Yeah, we worked with Ben Mink, who's an amazing producer from Vancouver, BC, who we'd always hoped to get together for Heart. I think his direction was exactly where we wanted to go. He took us back in a way, back to an updated -- but yet more original -- Heart sound. It sort of comes from the acoustic guitar as a rock 'n' roll instrument. It's hard-rock acoustic. It's a little different.

Did you decide before you recorded the album that that was what you were going to do, or did it come out that way organically?

We had a powwow. We talked about the direction and the sound and the ethic that we wanted on the album. That's what Ben Mink does best, and his partner David Leonard, who's actually out of Nashville. They record acoustic instruments, kind of like that T-Bone Burnett thing where you really hear the wood and you really hear the humanity of acoustic instruments, which is unusual. You get all the passion of the acoustic instruments. That's where we started, the sound we wanted to start with, as well as the performance aspect where you're playing at the same time, in the same room with people looking at each other. That's part of the sound too. That's not stuff that's layered on in a computer. It's very, very real.

Why was now the time for this project?

Well, the last studio album Heart did was about five-and-a-half, six years ago. Ann did the solo album since then with Ben Mink called "Hope and Glory." You know, we've been out working on summer tours every summer to keep the rent paid. It's what we do. I think we need to be songwriters and we need to be current with our creative juices in order to feel vital. So we wrote the songs and we wrote another album because it's what we need to do. It's what we're put here to do. It's what we love to do. It makes no financial sense to do it because we do it all out of pocket. It's not set up anymore the way it used to be, where you have a record company that's there to develop you and support you. We had to do it on our own and hopefully gain the interest of somebody like Sony, who we're lucky to be with.

How many new songs are you playing live?

Depending on the situation, we're playing, like, three of the new songs live right now. The DVD, though, we have a couple more.

How's the reaction been to the new songs?

It's actually been amazing. The new songs, it's hard to get people to sit still for that because it's not familiar. But they have been really responsive to the new songs. I think particularly because they sound familiar in a way because they sound very much like Heart. The people who come to our shows are coming to see us. I think they recognize the character of the new songs and accept them really readily. I'm very excited about that. If I go to a rock show, somebody I love, and they play a new song, I'm kind of like, "Oh great. What's that going to be like?" You go to see your favorite rock performer do stuff you recognize, when you hear some new stuff and you like it, it's really a treat.

Your music has really stood the test of time. I think part of it is due to soundtracks, as well as "Guitar Hero."

And "American Idol" has something to do with that. "Alone," everybody does "Alone" on "American Idol." People probably don't remember as well that we originally did that song. A lot of other people have been doing it since. When the songs can withstand the test of time like that and keep re-emerging in the culture somehow, and they connect the dots between us and the new generation and the older generations, it's really exciting. That's the coolest thing of all. Being a mom now, I have two twin 10-year-old boys. They are the future. They come to my rock shows and see Auntie Ann and their mom up there rockin' on stage. They really like the new stuff too.

What song still thrills you to play?

I have a lot of thrills playing a lot of these songs. "Barracuda" is always really fun. It's a big rocker. Right now for the ballad we're having a big resurgence with a new version of "Dog and Butterfly" that we put together with a new sort of arrangement. "Alone" is one of those, too. We've reinterpreted it to a more acoustic arrangement. It's very fun to play.

Nancy Mentioned in a Jerry Cantrell Interview

2010-08-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

I’m an intense person, and when I get into something, I go full into it, but for some reason I never really got into collecting guitars or gear, so I always have to borrow stuff [Laughs]. I used some cool guitars from Nancy Wilson, she’s always loaning me shit. She’s got a ton of great stuff. I recorded with one of her Les Paul juniors and some of her acoustics.

If you're an Alice in Chains fan I recommend this interview. It was a really great read :)

Source