New Pernice Brothers Song Streaming Thursday
We wanted you to be the first to know. Don't tell the others. (Actually, DO tell the others.)
Hello friends-
We wanted you to know first that today we are releasing another song from the upcoming Pernice Brothers album. We hope you like it.
“The Purple Rain” can be streamed today in many of the usual places, and you can listen at the link now. It is the final track on the upcoming album Who Will You Believe (which will be released in full on April 5, 2024).
According to Joe, “In March of 2019, my cousin Joe Harvard (founder of Fort Apache Studios in Boston), died of cancer. He was like a brother to me. His death was hard for me to believe and process. By September of that year, two friends, Gary Stewart (former head of A&R at Rhino Records) and David Berman (Silver Jews/Purple Mountains), had taken their own lives. It was a heavy time, to say the least. It was a while before I’d feel like trying to write any songs. But when the time came, I was still feeling mournful. It’s no surprise they would have found their way into some songs. I wrote and recorded 'The Purple Rain' pretty fast. The song’s anthemic quality seemed right to me as it’s an elegy to some remarkable people. I’ve performed the song live a handful of times since recording it. It feels good to do so. But I’m honestly not sure why, and I don’t care to find out.”
If you attended any of the house concerts Joe did this year and last, you’ve heard the stripped-down version of this beauty. In the studio, it is augmented with some beautiful instrumentation and the powerful voices of the Toronto-based choral group Choir! Choir! Choir!
Joe has a couple of shows coming up very soon. We are hoping to add more U.S. shows this summer, and would love to get to Europe soon. No promises, but we are working on it. It’s been a while!
April 3, Le Poisson Rouge, New York
April 4, Rough Trade In-store performance, New York (album purchase required)
April 5, House Concert, Boston (very few tickets left)
April 6, House Concert, Boston
We hope you are enjoying the songs from the album that are already streaming: the title track, Who Will You Believe, and the duet with Neko Case, I Don’t Need That Anymore. One more streaming song, December In Her Eyes, is available exclusively at Bandcamp.
If you haven’t already, you can pre-order the album at a bunch of the usual places.
That’s it for now. We are grateful for your support, especially those of you who have been hanging around for 25 years or so. We couldn’t do this without you! Well, maybe we could. But we wouldn’t want to.
Joyce (and Mercy)
Ashmont Records
Dorchester, Mass.
P.S. If you have not checked out Joe’s Substack, you might like to.
Bandcamp store
Oh, man. This is wrenching and gorgeous.