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

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)

Veracruz
Cielito Lindo
The Flight of the Guacamaya
Camino a Casa

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.