(Jim Brickman Official Website) - One of this generation's most acclaimed and successful music makers,
Jim Brickman is offering his inimitable perspective on one of entertainment's most influential and enduring legacies: Disney. In doing so he's incorporating the stylistically expansive collaborations for which he's become known, pairings that consistently feature his love for Nashville's music community.
The Disney Songbook is a mixture of Brickman-reworked classic film songs and two new songs inspired by the movies. The album coincides with the late November debut of his latest PBS special, Jim Brickman at the Magic Kingdom: The Disney Songbook, shot in front of the iconic castle at Walt Disney World. The televised event is one of PBS's pledge drive cornerstones.
Both the album and special highlight the inclusive approach Brickman's taken over a career that's spanned 11 albums. A forerunner of the iPod culture, he's long recognized that music lovers pay scant attention to the genre boundaries thrown up by the music industry.
"I've always enjoyed tapping into an eclectic mix of styles and genres," he says. "Great music is great music." For this project, that means inviting TV star Wayne Brady and country artists Lila McCann and Josh Gracin to the studio. Titles include classics "Beauty and the Beast" and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight," as well as new tracks "Beautiful," featuring Brady, and "I'm Amazed," as sung by country star Lila McCann.
Brickman's country collaborations have always been well-received. His song "Valentine," as sung by superstar Martina McBride is one of music's most successful cross-genre singles. "When we released 'Valentine' to AC radio, they said a country singer would never fly," Brickman says. "But it's been an enormous success at both formats. I'm not known as a country artist, but there's an adjacent part of that audience that has embraced my music."
A pop artist in the broadest sense, Brickman says his connection to Music City was almost inevitable. "I've got an affinity for country singers and writers, because they make music in a way that's reflective of the way pop music used to be made.
"Great melodies are hard to sing, and Nashville truly values the ability to perform those soaring, rangy melodies," he says, quickly addressing the city's close knit songwriting community - the closest thing to New York's heralded Tin Pan Alley still in existence.
"There's a shorthand writers in Nashville use, a way of communicating that's very comfortable. I've worked with Beth Neilsen Chapman, Tom Douglas, Victoria Shaw and others from Nashville with whom it's easy to develop a connection. It's difficult to explain how special and creative a place Music Row is to people who haven't experienced it."
In record stores, on national television and in a 35-city tour, Jim Brickman is offering his take on one of America's cultural icons. And this unique musical experience is fueled in part by his association with the country's last cohesive music center.
