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RCA/Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release Elvis Presley - Where No One Stands Alone, a new Elvis album celebrating the artist's everlasting love of gospel music, on Friday, August 10.
Produced by Joel Weinshanker, Lisa Marie Presley and Andy Childs, Elvis Presley - Where No One Stands Alone introduces newly-recorded instrumentation and backing vocal contributions from music legends who'd performed on-stage and/or in-the-studio with Elvis. It also includes a reimagined duet with Elvis and his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, on the album's title track and spiritual touchstone.
"It was a very powerful and moving experience to sing with my father," wrote Lisa Marie in her notes for the album. "The lyrics speak to me and touch my soul. I'm certain that the lyrics spoke to my father in much the same way."
Background vocalists on the album include: Darlene Love (who first sang with Elvis on his 1968 NBC television special); Dr. Cissy Houston (who, with The Sweet Inspirations, sang with Elvis on-stage beginning in 1969); Terry Blackwood, Armond Morales and Jim Murray (members of The Imperials, who sang on Elvis'How Great Thou Art - with the title song winning the 1967 Grammy® for Best Sacred Performance); and Donnie Sumner, Bill Baize, Ed Hill and Larry Strickland (members of Presley's longtime backup group, The Stamps).
Elvis Presley - Where No One Stands Alone provides new musical perspectives on 14 of the singer's favorite pieces of gospel music, from the reverential to the celebratory, with song selections including Presley's beloved enduring gospel classics (the 1965 Top 5 smash "Crying In The Chapel," "How Great Thou Art," "You'll Never Walk Alone"), praise-filled gospel-rockers (Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller's "Saved") and traditional hymns and spirituals ("So High," "Stand By Me," "In The Garden," "Amazing Grace").Prior to its release, the album is already highly anticipated with the media. Just last week, "Saved," which features Darlene Love on backing vocals, exclusively premiered with Parade.com.
Elvis Presley once said, "Since I was two years old, all I knew was gospel music. It became such a part of my life, it was as natural as dancing. A way to escape my problems, and my way of release." It was Elvis' explosive mix of styles-blues, bluegrass, country, swing, pop-that generated his iconic world-changing rock n' roll, but it was the hymns, spirituals and church music of his childhood, the deep-seated gospel roots that sustained Elvis and his musical vision throughout his life.
Friends and family would often recall hearing Elvis sing gospel tunes at home and to warm up before concerts. "We do two shows a night for five weeks," Presley said in an interview featured in the documentary Elvis On Tour, recorded during one of his residencies at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. "A lotta times we'll go upstairs and sing until daylight-gospel songs. We grew up with it...It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine."
"This was his favorite genre - no question about it," says Lisa Marie in her album notes. "He seemed to be at his most passionate, and at peace while singing gospel. He would truly come alive - whether he was singing just for himself and me at home, or on stage in front of thousands of fans."
Lisa Marie Presley will participate-along with Joel Weinshanker, Andy Childs (album co-producers) and John Jackson (Senior Vice President, A&R, Legacy Recordings/Sony Music Entertainment)-at a special "Where No One Stands Alone" event to be held at the Graceland Soundstage (1pm, Saturday, August 11) as part of Elvis Week 2018. Tickets for this event may be purchased individually through Graceland Reservations by calling 800-238-2000 or 901-332-3322 or online at ElvisWeek.com.
Elvis Presley - Where No One Stands Alone will be available in digital, CD and 12″ vinyl album configurations. The album is now available for pre-order.
Shop.Graceland.com will have exclusive, limited edition versions of the album on blue 12" vinyl and cassette configurations. Fans purchasing the CD, exclusive blue vinyl, and cassette together from Shop.Graceland.com will receive a limited edition lithograph signed by Lisa Marie Presley. Pre-order and more details can be found here.- # # # -
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