The singer-songwriter has announced a series of matinee and evening shows at Ronnie Scott’s in London to launch his forthcoming album Greek Street Friday.
It has been confirmed that multi-award winning singer-songwriter Ian Shaw will perform four shows at Ronnie Scott’s across two days on Thursday 31st August and Friday 1st September.
As well as performing tracks from the album Greek Street Friday, the evening will be packed with witty anecdotes and stories, as Ian debuts the record with his full band of seasoned musicians.
Talking about the news, the singer said: “Ronnie Scott’s has been a huge part of my growing as a performer – Ronnie was massively encouraging – so to take this new album into the venue for four shows, with a lot of the songs about my experiences as a gigging singer, makes total sense. We will play the whole album of newly written songs, with a few surprises thrown in, to reflect the actual venue.”
Greek Street Friday is inspired by Shaw’s early musical and lyrical influences — Bowie, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, early Elton John, Billy Joel – to create 11 autobiographical portraits of people and places: 1980s London, New York, loving and losing, basement bars, poets, friendships, lovers, near-escapes and far-away places.
The first single, ‘To Be Held,’ has its title inspired by a Truman Capote interview with Dick Cavett, and which later expands into a tribute to lost friends, the power of connections, imperfections and navigating the strangeness and beauty of being alive on what Ian describes as “this beaten-up planet of ours”.
Meanwhile, the album also a new take on a favourite song from one of his musical idols, ‘Blinded By The Hunt’ by Rickie Lee Jones.
The album features an all-star band of session players, including drummer Ian Thomas (George Michael, Van Morrison, Céline Dion), guitarist David Preston (Melody Gardot, Curtis Stigers) and saxophonist Iain Ballamy (Everything But The Girl, Hermeto Pascoal, Loose Tubes).
The full track list for the album is as follows:
1 People Who Go Ta-dah! – Shaw/Safir
2 Greek Street Friday – Shaw/Safir
3 Falling Uphill – Shaw/Safir
4 George – Safir
5 Jackie’s Blues – Shaw/Safir
6 To Be Held – Shaw/Safir
7 Say A Prayer For Baby Blue – Shaw/Safir
8 Little World – Shaw/Safir
9 Blinded By The Hunt – Rickie Lee Jones
10 Years – Shaw (Bonus track on CD only)
11 We Stopped Talking – Shaw/Safir
The album will be released on CD and digital on September 1st via Ian’s own label Silent Wish Records, with the vinyl released on October 20th. To book tickets for the shows visit: https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/ian-shaw-greek-street-friday