Tony Lucca new album, "Rendezvous With The Angels," will hit stores on July 13, 2010, on Rock Ridge Music (through Warner Music Group's Alternative Distribution Alliance). "Rendezvous With The Angels" finds Lucca crafting his most thoughtful, tuneful, and mature work yet. The album includes appearances by Lucca's 2009 tour mate Sara Bareilles (who duets on "Back to Me") and Lady Antebellum guitarist Jason "Slim" Gambill (featured on the bonus track "Nobody But You").
Most of the record was recorded in the fall of 2009 by Ron Probst -- who also served as executive producer of the album with his wife Linda -- at Mitch Easter's Winston-Salem, North Carolina, studio, the Fidelitorium. Four tracks – "Long Love Letter," "Make You Mine," "Love Light," and "Anchored" – were cut by producer Todd Beauchamp at his Vienna Circle Studios in Los Angeles.
The album includes appearances by Lucca's 2009 tour mate Sara Bareilles (who duets on "Back to Me") and Lady Antebellum guitarist Jason "Slim" Gambill (featured on the bonus track "Nobody But You").
"We are so proud of Tony's continued growth as a songwriter and performer," says Rock Ridge Music President Jason Spiewak. "The new record is a great listen from start to finish, yet each song is well crafted as a stand-alone piece of work, which will play well in our new 'shuffle' based music culture."
Says Lucca of the album: "A lot of my earlier records have break-up songs on them, and woe-is-me songs, and pointing-finger songs. Those make for emotional music, and a lot of people can relate to those songs. But that's not really so much where I am anymore."
Now married for three years and the father of a baby girl, Lucca found the expanding emotional parameters of his life working their way into his material. "'Always' was a song I wrote for my baby girl," he says. "The idea of being able to honestly, unconditionally love someone, forever and always, became an overwhelming source of inspiration. 'Love Light' follows that, and is a creative take on the miracle-of-life adventure, about how wonderful it is to pass things along." Three tracks on the album – "Stay With Me Tonight," "Song to a Martyr," and "Nobody But You" – are longtime concert favorites that attained a life of their own via exposure on the Internet and YouTube. Lucca decided to record them after years of fan requests at shows.
The album also includes a nod to one of Lucca's key influences in a cover of Billy Joel's "Vienna." He says, "That was a song that I have loved since I was a kid. I spent a lot of time with Billy Joel's 'The Stranger' and '52nd Street.' Those two records were in full rotation when I was growing up. When I started learning how to play piano, I, of course, took to Billy Joel and Elton John. 'Vienna' was always one of those tunes that you had to tackle. I started playing it live, and the lyrics really hit home for me."
