Diana Jones will release new album Song to a Refugee on 25th September 2020 on Proper Records.
The new album finds Diana looking into the wider world to shine a light on current issues close to her heart. It is produced by Grammy Award winning producer and musician David Mansfield, who also plays multiple instruments on the record
Special guest artists on Song To A Refugee include Richard Thompson, The Chapin Sisters, Jason Sypher on bass, Glenn Patscha on piano and Will Holshouser on accordion.
The single We Believe You was added lastly with the help of Steve Addabbo (Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin) producing and guest artists Steve Earle, Richard Thompson and Peggy Seeger each singing a verse, Mark Hunter on piano and Joe DeJarnette on bass.
The album began its life in 2016-17 when Diana was recovering from a serious illness caused by a gas leak in her apartment. As she recovered she found the harsh realities of what was happening at the US-Mexican border particularly distressing; scenes of mothers separated from their children resonating with her own experience of being adopted.
She explains “The devastating election of 2016 had left myself and many of my artist friends unable to respond creatively. During the spring of 2018 I landed back in New York after a tour with no new songs. I had admired Emma Thompson’s work as an artist and a humanitarian forever. After randomly bumping into each other twice in a park near my apartment we had a long lunch and Emma told me about her work and her work as president of the Helen Bamber Foundation. I don’t think anyone could have called me out of my writer’s block the way Emma did and I began to write the stories that I found so devastating, one voice at a time. My own need to “re-humanise” the people who were being de-humanised by governments and the press resulted in a flood of songs.”
The album is available to pre-order now from https://smarturl.it/songtoarefugee.
