Dean Wareham Vs. Cheval Sombre
Stereogum: "Wayfaring Stranger" video premiere
"'Wayfaring Stranger' dates back to the early 19th century and has been covered by all sorts of artists over the years, including Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Neko Case, Joan Baez, Glen Campbell, and many others. Jonathan Bree of the New Zealand band The Brunettes directed the video" - Under The Radar
Dean Wareham and one-man-band Cheval Sombre (Chris Porpora) have joined forces to create an album of western dreampop: Dean Wareham Vs. Cheval Sombre, to be released October 26 on Double Feature Records.
The genesis of this project track to the early 2000s when Cheval Sombre began writing and recording songs in a studio apartment on the Hudson River, NY. After sending demos to Sonic Boom, recording sessions took place in 2006, supported by guest musicians Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. His debut album was released on Double Feature Records, Wareham’s label.
A decade later the two decided to take their collaboration one step further. Dean notes “I sent Chris a Youtube video of Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson singing “My Rifle, My Pony & Me” in the film Rio Bravo. That was the seed of this idea, to make an album of western songs together, with each of us taking turns on vocals. I chose old cowboy songs, some from Hollywood westerns; Chris went with songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley and Stephen Merritt.”
The album was recorded at Palmetto Recordings in downtown Los Angeles with producer Jason Quever (Beach House, Papercuts) backed by a band including Britta Phillips (Luna, Dean & Britta), and Anthony LaMarca (The War on Drugs).
Dean Wareham founded Galaxie 500 and Luna and has made 15 studio albums.
Cheval Sombre hails from upstate NY and has released two prior albums, produced by Sonic Boom and backed by Dean & Britta as well as Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser of MGMT.
Track list:
1. The Bend in the River (Marty Robbins)
2. Tomorrow is a Long Time (Bob Dylan)
3. Mountains of the Moon (Michael Holland)
4. If I Could Only Fly (Blaze Foley)
5. Wayfaring Stranger (traditional)
6. Alberta (traditional)
7. Wand’rin’ Star (Lerner/Loewe)
8. Greensboro Woman (Townes Van Zandt)
9. My Rifle, My Pony and Me (Tiomkin/Webster)
10. Grand Canyon (Stephin Merritt / Magnetic Fields)
On tour now! Contact us with any requests!
RIYL: Luna, Galaxie 500, Dean & Britta, Bob Dylan, Magnetic Fields
TRY: #5, 1, 3, 4, 10
Download full album here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/
More Info Here:
https://deanwareham.com
https://www.facebook.com/DeanWareham/
https://www.instagram.com/deanwareham/
https://twitter.com/warehamdean