“It’s rare to find someone capable of injecting such life into every single lyric.” – London Jazz News
“We Are America is a celebration of great Americans and American music. I want to remind us all of who we are.”
This is a celebration of American composers and performers who deeply influenced American culture. Here, all of whom are the children of immigrants, or descendants of our formerly enslaved Black American brethren. “My music and these performances are part of a dialogue. That’s what art is. It’s engagement, community. I believe more than anything in getting together with people and listening to music and conversing. Music is the only way I’ve ever built community.”
Much like songbird Edith Piaf, Madeleine Peyroux spent her teenage years busking the busy streets of Paris. Just like the ‘little sparrow’, Madeleine befriended the city’s street musicians and made its Latin quarter her first stage. Years later, Peyroux would cite iconic Piaf as an influence on her music. There, her rendition of Piaf’s classic “La Vie En Rose”, soulfully captures the tune’s romanticism and melancholy.
Madeleine “grew up in a house filled with music” and from an early age “instinctively realized music’s soothing power”. Then, young Madeleine moved to Paris with her mother in 1987 following her parents’ divorce. “To soothe me during the upheaval”, she recalls, “I was given a guitar and took to playing in the streets almost immediately.”
Thirty years after her formative busking days Peyroux is the proud curator of nine beguiling albums. The soundtrack of Oscar-winner The Shape of Water features her atmospheric version of Serge Gainsbourg’s “La Javanaise”. Additionally, her countless accolades include the coveted BBC International Artist of the Year honor.
Recommended for fans of Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Diana Krall and Stacey Kent.
