David Crosby has announced a new record entitled For Free, and shared its first single “River Rise”, which you can hear below.
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Joining Crosby on the record, which is slated for release on July 23, are Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen, Sarah Jarosz and his son James Raymond, who also served as the album’s producer. For Free also features a few of the musicians who had joined Crosby on 2017’s Sky Trails, including saxophonist Steve Tavaglione and drummer Steve DiStanislao. Joan Baez painted the cover artwork.
The album’s title comes from Joni Mitchell’s “For Free”, a track that Crosby covers on the record. “Joni’s the greatest living singer-songwriter, and ‘For Free’ is one of her simplest,” Crosby said in a statement. It’s one of my favourite songs because I love what it says about the spirit of music and what compels you to play.”
The album opener, “River Rise”, features Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, who co-wrote the song with Raymond.
“‘River Rise’ came from wanting to write something very evocative of California, but almost with a country-song perspective – something that speaks to the empowerment of the everyman or everywoman,” Raymond said in a statement.
You can hear the single below.