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Australian Singer-Songwriter Paul Kelly To Play "A to Z" Live Dates September 12-27 In New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver And Toronto

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The A to Z shows
In North America, Paul Kelly is loved by a fervent following of devoted, discerning listeners. In his native Australia, though, where his songs are lodged deeply in the country's soundtrack, Kelly is virtually a national hero.

On September 6 (digital) & October 25 (physical), Gawdaggie Music/CEN, through RED Distribution, released Kelly's Songs From the South, Volumes 1 & 2 in the U.S., featuring a tour of 40 songs spanning 1985 through 2008. List price for the two-CD set is $13.98, and $9.99 for the digital version.

Additionally, Kelly will come to North America in September to perform his “A to Z" repertoire in five major cities: Chicago (Sept. 12/13), Los Angeles (Sept. 14/15), Vancouver (Sept. 18/19), Toronto (Sept. 23/24) and New York (Sept. 26/27).

In a career that spans more than 30 years, Kelly has released a steady stream of albums that showcase his emotionally vivid, musically expansive songwriting, capturing the essence of the Australian landscape while demonstrating Kelly's uncanny ability to distill a novel's worth of narrative and character detail into a straightforward, effortlessly accessible melodic pop tune.

Rolling Stone's David Fricke has called Kelly “one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise," while Neil Finn of Crowded House has said, “There is something unique and powerful about the way Kelly mixes up everyday detail with the big issues of life, death, love and struggle—not a trace of pretense or fakery in there." Or, as his fellow Australian Kasey Chambers put it, “If I was only allowed to listen to one artist for the rest of my life, I would choose Paul Kelly."

Kelly's stature as a world-class troubadour is confirmed by the release of Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits: Songs From the South (Volumes 1 & 2), the most comprehensive compilation to date of his recorded work, on Gawdaggie Music/CEN (distributed by RED). The career-spanning two-CD set features 40 songs drawn from Kelly's esteemed album catalog, combining fan favorites, rare gems and numerous notable songs previously unreleased in North America.

Songs From the South (Volumes 1 & 2) spearheads an ambitious reissue program that will restore Kelly's remarkable body of recordings to the American market. The campaign also encompasses his dazzling eight-CD, 105-song live box set The A-Z Recordings, which will be available exclusively via Amazon, as will Kelly's mongrel memoir How To Make Gravy, and its corresponding iPhone and iPad App, which combines the book and the music. His entire (non-A&M) catalog will be made available digitally as well. In January 2012, physical reissues of Kelly's original albums (most of which have long been out of print, or never released, in America) will begin to become available via Amazon Disc on Demand.

In the years since the release of his 1981 debut album Talk, Kelly has maintained a prolific pace that's helped to win him a permanent place in the hearts of fans around the world. The Adelaide native first picked up a guitar and began to write songs in his late teens. He traveled extensively around Australia during his youth before settling in Melbourne, where he quickly established himself as a force in that city's diverse musical community.

In recent years, Kelly has showcased both the depth of his songbook and his skills as a solo performer with his long-running series of Paul Kelly A-Z shows, in which the artist works his way through an alphabetical list of more than 100 songs during a four-night stand of unplugged concerts.

In addition to his recording and touring career, Kelly has explored a varied array of other creative pursuits. His interest in aboriginal issues has led him to collaborate with aboriginal songwriter Archie Roach and the multicultural group Yothu Yindi. He wrote songs for, and acted in, the Australian stage play Funerals and Circuses, and has provided music for numerous Australian movies and TV shows, including award-winning scores for the films Lantana, One Night the Moon and Jindabyne. He's also written songs for several other Australian artists, and was the inspiration for the tribute album Women at the Well, on which 14 female artists performed interpretations of Kelly compositions. Kelly's “mongrel memoir" How To Make Gravy has won considerable acclaim, including winning the Australian Book Industry Award for best biography, and he's published four volumes of his song lyrics, and written pieces for the prestigious Australian magazine The Monthly.

Kelly has won also won numerous awards, including eight Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards, and was induced into that organization's Hall of Fame in 1997.

In spanning his entire recording career, Songs From the South (Volumes 1 & 2) demonstrates that Paul Kelly's recent output has remained as adventurous and compelling as the early work that first established him as a major artist. His songs remain as fresh and inspired as ever.

Paul Kelly The A to Z Tour

  • Sep 12—Chicago, IL, Schuba's
  • Sep 13—Chicago, IL, Schuba's
  • Sep 14—Los Angeles, CA, Hotel Café
  • Sep 15—Los Angeles, CA, Hotel Café
  • Sep 18—Vancouver, BC, Electric Owl
  • Sep 19—Vancouver, BC, Electric Owl
  • Sep 23—Toronto, ONT, The Dakota Tavern
  • Sep 24—Toronto, ONT, The Dakota Tavern
  • Sep 26—New York, NY, The Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2)
  • Sep 27—New York, NY, The Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2)


Quotes

“One of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise." —Rolling Stone's David Fricke

“There is something unique and powerful about the way Kelly mixes up everyday detail with the big issues of life, death, love and struggle—not a trace of pretense or fakery in there." —Neil Finn (Crowded House)

“His songwriting is up there with the greats....the bittersweet and hard-core honesty of his lyrics—and his perfect, direct, often hilarious delivery—is the sort of thing you'll only see once in a lifetime if you're lucky. Drop everything, gather your posse, and go see him while he's over on this side of the planet: he's astonishing." —Amanda Palmer

“If I was only allowed to listen to one artist for the rest of my life, I would choose Paul Kelly." —Kasey Chambers

Paul Kelly Songs From The South (Volumes 1 & 2)

Disc 1, 1985-97:

  1. From St Kilda To Kings Cross
  2. Leaps And Bounds
  3. Before Too Long
  4. Darling It Hurts
  5. Look So Fine, Feel So Low
  6. Dumb Things
  7. To Her Door
  8. Bradman
  9. Everything's Turning To White
  10. Sweet Guy
  11. Careless
  12. Winter Coat
  13. From Little Things Big Things Grow
  14. When I First Met Your Ma
  15. Pouring Petrol On A Burning Man
  16. Love Never Runs On Time
  17. Song From The Sixteenth Floor
  18. Deeper Water
  19. Give In To My Love
  20. How To Make Gravy

Disc 2, 1998-2008:

  1. Nothing on My Mind
  2. I'll Be Your Lover
  3. Love Letter
  4. Our Sunshine
  5. Gathering Storm
  6. Every Fucking City [Live]
  7. Be Careful What You Pray For
  8. Love Is the Law
  9. If I Could Start Today Again
  10. The Oldest Story in the Book
  11. Won't You Come Around
  12. Gunnamatta
  13. Your Lovin' Is on My Mind
  14. Song of the Old Rake
  15. They Thought I Was Asleep
  16. Everybody Loves You Baby
  17. God Told Me To
  18. You're 39, You're Beautiful and You're Mine
  19. Thoughts in the Middle of the Night
  20. Shane Warne

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