4X GRAMMY® AWARD-WINNER SHOOTER JENNINGS
MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF COUNTACH (FOR GIORGIO)
WITH FIRST-EVER COLORED VINYL VARIANT
GROUNDBREAKING 2016 TRIBUTE TO GIORGIO MORODER
FEATURING GUEST APPEARANCES FROM BRANDI CARLILE, MARILYN MANSON, AND MORE TO BE CELEBRATED WITH EXCLUSIVE NEON PURPLE PRESSING
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES ONLY
4x GRAMMY® Award-winner Shooter Jennings is marking the 10-year anniversary of his groundbreaking seventh studio album, Countach (For Giorgio), with a limited-edition new Neon Purple vinyl reissue. Available exclusively while supplies last, the limited pressing of 500 copies marks the first time Countach (For Giorgio) has been produced in a variant color. Pre-orders are available now; shipments will begin on or around Friday, May 1.
PRE-ORDER COUNTACH (FOR GIORGIO) NEON PURPLE VINYL PRESSING
A genre-defying tribute to GRAMMY® and Academy Award-winning producer/composer Giorgio Moroder — the legendary Italian-born “Father of Disco” and sonic mind behind such iconic soundtracks as Midnight Express, Top Gun, The NeverEnding Story, and Flashdance — Countach (For Giorgio) fuses fiddle, outlaw country grit, DX7 synthesizers, and LinnDrum programming into something entirely its own. Now, nearly a decade after its original February 26, 2016 release on Jennings’ own Black Country Rock label, the record’s genre-blurring DNA — outlaw country, synth-disco, cinematic pop — feels more culturally resonant than ever. The album opens with an archival vocal from Waylon Jennings himself, threading the outlaw lineage directly into Moroder’s electronic cosmos. From there, Shooter creates a one-of-a-kind sound-collage journey through 80’s and 90’s culture, fusing innovative songwriting, fiddle-meets-synthesizer soundscapes, and guest appearances by Brandi Carlile, Marilyn Manson, the late country-rock pioneer Steve Young, and computer-game visionary Richard Garriott de Cayeux. The result is as unlikely as it is essential – a love letter to the ‘80s written in the language of outlaw country.
“I just started digging and researching and all of a sudden it hit me how much music Giorgio had made that had been an influence on me, even without knowing that it was him who was responsible for it,” says Shooter Jennings. “Hearing all that stuff and adapting it to live instruments was, in a way, showing people how ahead of his time he was. Dissecting his pieces, doing each part by part, and really understanding it from the inside…it made me fall in love with making music again, in a way.”
Countach (For Giorgio) proved both a critical and commercial sensation upon its arrival, with worldwide applause and placement on multiple year-end best-of lists from such publications as Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Consequence of Sound, Stereogum, and more while also peaking at #7 on Billboard’s “Top Dance Albums” – a remarkable crossover for an artist then still known primarily as the son of outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings. The chart placement affirmed the album’s genuine electronic roots as well as Shooter’s remarkable ability to reach audiences well beyond his core country following.
PRAISE FOR SHOOTER JENNINGS + COUNTACH (FOR GIORGIO)
“Welcome to the world of Shooter Jennings, a man who gives every impression of being on a singlehanded mission to keep country music as weird as possible… To Jennings’ immense credit, the album’s core sound genuinely works. It’s muscular and potent in a glossily undeniable 80s AOR anthem way, its elements seamlessly melded: the lonesome whine of the pedal steel guitar fits neatly among the panoply of vintage synth noises, as does the fiddle, which is frequently required to play motifs that sound more Middle Eastern than country.”
– THE GUARDIAN (****)
“With this mesmerizing and unexpected tribute to dance-music pioneer Giorgio Moroder, Shooter Jennings finally finds a way to combine all of his diverse influences. There’s outlaw country, moody prog rock, and soaring Eighties pop. It’s all tied together by the pop-culture geek mind of Jennings, who hides sonic Easter eggs throughout…
But the heart of the project remains the songs of Moroder,
which Jennings interprets with reverence. And a whole lotta synthesizer.”
– ROLLING STONE (15 GREAT ALBUMS YOU DIDN’T HEAR IN 2016)
“Countach (For Giorgio) is very much outlaw country – despite musically sounding nothing like the forefathers of the genre, or even the past work of Jennings himself… Fiddle plays alongside street-strutting guitars and four-on-the-floor percussion. Like Neil Young’s Trans, this contrast results in a more metallic, futuristic version of country, or – to flip the script – a more humanistic version of electronica.
– CONSEQUENCE
“The album manages to bring together several of (Jennings’) favorite artists, all very unique.”
– BILLBOARD
“The concept of country rocker Shooter Jennings covering disco originator Giorgio Moroder is bizarre enough to be an early contender for album of the year.”
– AV CLUB
“The weirdest country album of 2016.”
– STEREOGUM
# # #
SHOOTER JENNINGS
COUNTACH (FOR GIORGIO)
(Black Country Media)
Tracklist:
1. Loading… (feat. Waylon Jennings)
2. Countach
3. From Here to Eternity
4. I’m Left You’re Right She’s Gone
5. Born to Die (feat. Steve Young)
6. Chase (feat. Richard Garriott de Cayeux)
7. Love Kills
8. The Neverending Story (feat. Brandi Carlile)
9. Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (feat. Marilyn Manson)