WIWS Banner

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • Holiday Gift Guide
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

From Hollywood to Veracruz: Van Dyke Parks Teams with Verónica Valerio For New EP

May 3, 2021 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Van Dyke Parks and Veronica Valerio Only in America

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

Over the course of a career spanning more than half a century, Van Dyke Parks has collaborated with Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Ry Cooder, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, and Silverchair; penned the legendary SMiLE with Brian Wilson; re-teamed with Wilson for the subsequent concept albums Orange Crate Art (recently reissued by Omnivore Recordings) and That Lucky Old Sun; played the accordion on The Beach Boys' chart-topping "Kokomo;" and even arranged Baloo the Bear's famous ode to "The Bare Necessities" for Walt Disney's The Jungle Book.  As a solo artist, Parks followed up his genre-bending, boundary-breaking Song Cycle with some of pop's most varied projects including the calypso celebration Discover America and Jump!, a reimagining of Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus stories.  The composer-lyricist-multi-instrumentalist-arranger-orchestrator has continued his exploration of the varied corners of Americana with a vital new collaborative project due on June 11 from BMG/Modern Recordings in vinyl and digital formats.

Van Dyke Parks Orchestrates Verónica Valerio: Only in America teams the musical iconoclast with singer-songwriter-harpist Verónica Valerio for a new, four-song EP.  It merges the sensibilities of the Mississippi-born hero of California music with the Veracruz, Mexico native to create a miniature suite that very much reflects the times in which we're living.

Valerio reached out to Parks to initiate the pairing.  Valerio, who studied music in Veracruz and New York, reflects in the press release, ""Two years ago, I wrote Van Dyke because he is a sincere person, a selfless communicator, polite, a fighter and great artist."  Parks returns the compliments: "Her music got me out of the hall of mirrors of pop culture which is unavoidable as we turn on a radio or television. This was my exit...the record I wanted to do with this girl in quarantine! Never met her. But I have a longstanding love for Hispanic music -- I think it's the moment to be part of the 'browning of America': crossing the aisle, learning the lingo. It has idiomatic value, a supreme unimportance to the value of profit."  He continues, "We're not talking about music that punches you in the face. It's part of a discovery. We found America and it does not stop in El Paso or begin in Juarez. This is a shared vision of what America is all about. I'm trying to learn how to cross the aisles in my work and I'm exploring with the freedom that Verónica has allowed me."

The EP was crafted during the COVID-19 pandemic with Parks and Valerio working apart with their hand-picked musicians.  As the title indicates, Parks orchestrated all of the music; Valerio sings in Spanish.  He explains, "We got this record done with a fabulous group of string players -- all long-distance. In quarantine! In isolation! She would send me a voice and a harp. Or maybe voice, harp and percussionist or violinist. And I would surround that with a chamber orchestra -- seven strings, five woodwinds, so forth. Amazing adventure for me."  Parks' deft, intricate orchestrations are an inviting, ideal match for Valerio's persuasive vocals: whether cinematic on the opening "Veracruz," lightly contemporary on "Cielito Lindo," beguiling on "The Flight of the Guacamaya," or alternately urgent and delicate on "Camino a Casa."

Klaus Voormann has provided the striking cover artwork for Van Dyke Parks Orchestrates Verónica Valerio: Only in America.  It's due on June 11 from BMG/Modern Recordings and can be pre-ordered at the links below.  "There's something about 'the browning of America' that fascinates me," says Parks.  "And I want to see the rhythms become part of my language as they become a part of America's revised pop culture."

Van Dyke Parks Orchestrates Verónica Valerio: Only in America (BMG/Modern, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Veracruz
  2. Cielito Lindo
  3. The Flight of the Guacamaya
  4. Camino a Casa

Categories: News Formats: Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Everything Else, Pop Tags: Van Dyke Parks, Verónica Valerio

Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

You Might Also Like

  • Def Leppard Volume 3Release Round-Up: Week of June 11
  • RSDBlackFriday 2020The Second Disc's Guide To Record Store Day Black Friday 2020
  • RecordStoreDayBlackFriday RSDF logo squareThe Best of The Rest: Even More RSD Black Friday Releases Confirmed!
  • Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks Orange Crate ArtReview: Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, "Orange Crate Art: 25th Anniversary Edition"

Comments

  1. Anthony says

    May 4, 2021 at 3:06 pm

    "the browning of America"..... hhmmmm

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • Carole Bayer Sager Sometimes Late at Night
    Sometimes Late at Night: Expanded Edition
    Carole Bayer Sager
    February 03, 2023
  • Carole King Home Again
    Home Again: Live in Central Park
    Carole King
    February 10, 2023
  • Robert Palmer Island Years
    The Island Records Years
    Robert Palmer
    February 17, 2023
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,537 other subscribers

Popular

  • headquarters
    Review: The Monkees, "Headquarters: Super Deluxe Edition" posted on January 24, 2023 | under Reviews
  • Bob Dylan Fragments Bootleg 17 Cover
    Release Round-Up: Week of January 27 posted on January 27, 2023 | under Release Round-Up
  • Marshall Crenshaw 40
    Something's Gonna Happen: Marshall Crenshaw's Expanded Debut Coming Back to CD posted on January 26, 2023 | under News

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces' "Here Come The Nice" Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 84 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil "The U.S. Albums" Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang's Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • SoulMusic Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me, Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2023 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy