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Paul Simon Announces New Album In the Blue Light

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 25: Paul Simon performs onstage during the Brooks Brothers Bicentennial Celebration at Jazz At Lincoln Center on April 25, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Brooks Brothers)

Paul Simon will be finishing up his final tour ever this fall, and today he has announced what seems like a potentially fitting conclusion for his recording career: a new album featuring reworked versions of old songs. The upcoming In the Blue Light is a 10-song LP consisting of selected album tracks from throughout Simon’s solo career, with the earliest album represented being 1973’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (no crossover classical revamp of “Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard” to look forward to here, folks) and the latest being 2011’s So Beautiful or So What.

There are a number of notable collaborators on the album: jazz warhorses Wynton Marsalis, Bill Frisell, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Gadd and John Patitucci, as well as the contemporary classical ensemble yMusic, with whom Simon has performed during his farewell tour shows (including at last year’s Eaux Claires festival). The ensemble’s arrangement on “Can’t Run But,” originally included on 1990’s Rhythm of the Saints, comes from The National‘s Bryce Dessner. In the Blue Light is due out on September 7 on Sony Legacy. Check out the cover art and track list below.

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