Over the course of four albums, live performances around the globe, and
collaborations with notable and beloved artists, Rita Wilson has proven to be a
powerful musical force.
With her ambitious new album Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets, Rita solidifies
her place in today’s musical landscape. Co-produced by Rita and GRAMMY
Award-winning producer Matt Rollings, Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets sees
Wilson return to exploring her gift as an interpretive singer, as she revisits the
songs that made her fall in love with music. A collection of classic, timeless songs
from the Seventies, arranged as duets featuring Rita’s crystalline vocals alongside
some of the greatest male singers of our time.
The selections are a set of true modern standards, including masterpieces like
'Without You,' "Where is the Love,' 'Let It Be Me' and 'If.' Her partners on the
project—including giants Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Josh Groban, Tim
McGraw, Smokey Robinson, Elvis Costello, Keith Urban, Leslie Odom Jr, Vince
Gill and Jimmie Allen, —illustrate the high regard in which Wilson is held by her
peers.
'This album is really a continuation of sharing who I am musically, and what it is
that I want to say,' says Wilson. 'Songwriting and performing has made me feel
more connected to who I am creatively than I’ve ever felt.'
For Wilson and her all-star colleagues, this collection is a tribute to the songs that
made them discover music, and the melodies and stories that defined a
generation. 'I wanted to honor where I came from with songs from the Seventies,'
she says. 'It was really about showing enormous appreciation for the songwriting
of that period—how these songs are still relevant even though they’re fifty years
old.' For Wilson’s fans, meanwhile, Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets may serve
as an introduction to some of the finest songs ever written, a master class in the
narrative power and meticulous craft that allow these compositions to sound so
fresh decades after they were written.
It’s an idea that Wilson had been considering for several years but trying to get
enough collaborators to commit during their regular touring and recording lives
always proved difficult. When the pandemic shut down the world, she reached out
to producer Matt Rollings, thinking that musicians who were stuck at home would
be longing to make music. 'And that’s exactly what happened,' she says. 'It all fell
together incredibly smoothly.'
Starting with long lists of potential songs, they began feeling out possibilities and
narrowing down assignments. The first person to jump on board was no less than
Willie Nelson, for a version of Paul Simon’s 'Slip Slidin’ Away.' Others followed,
including Smokey Robinson, with an impassioned rendition of Roberta Flack and
Donny Hathaway’s 'Where is the Love,' a blistering vocal from Elvis Costello on
Bruce Springsteen’s 'Fire' (popularized by the Pointer Sisters), and a majestic
performance on 'Massachusetts' by Leslie Odom, Jr.
Additional inspired interpretations include the stirring Van Morrison track 'Crazy
Love' with Keith Urban, the moving ballad 'If' with Tim McGraw (originally
performed by Bread), Fleetwood Mac’s classic 'Songbird' with Josh Groban and
the Jackson 5’s 'I’ll Be There' with Jimmie Allen.
As music has come front and center in Rita’s life, she recalls a conversation with
an icon that shaped her sense of possibility. 'Years ago, I was talking to Bruce
Springsteen, and I said to him, ‘You’ve been writing music all your life, so what
makes me think that I can start writing now?’ And he said, ‘Because, Reets,
creativity is time independent.’ That was a license for me to just keep going, that
there are no limits—we limit ourselves by our own ways of thinking and by our
fears and our failures. It’s never too late to pursue your passion and explore
whatever creative outlet you might be drawn to. For me it was always music.'
'I still think about what Bruce said,' she continues, 'because who defines when
you’re supposed to be a creative person? Do you only have a window in your 20s
and 30s and then it stops? There is no time frame here – there are no rules - so I
guess, I have just turned off all the clocks.'
