Today, Rita Wilson has announced her sixth studio album, Sound of Woman, is slated for release on May 1. The most visionary and revealing work to date in her ever-evolving musical cannon, Sound of a Woman was co-produced by Wilson and nine-time Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton) and recorded at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville. This new collection of deeply personal songs elevates the artist’s soulful brand of singer and songwriter music into daring new terrain.
A breathtaking entry point for the album, the title track “Sound of a Woman” opens with a majestic swell of strings that soon recede to spotlight the quiet intensity of Wilson’s voice. As it unfolds through scenes of hidden pain and heartbreak, its piano-driven arrangement gathers a potent momentum—eventually building to a glorious crescendo graced with sublime gospel harmonies. “To me the choir on this song feels like an exaltation,” says Wilson. “Their voices represent all the people who’ve helped you get to a place of self-acceptance; they could be the artists who’ve inspired you, everything you’ve read, everything you’ve lived through. The idea is that all that power is available to you, somewhere deep within you, and it can no longer be contained.”
The singer adds: “I’ve come to a stage in my life where I’m only now just finding my voice, both metaphorically and literally. Many times, I’ve felt muted, not necessarily by the world itself, but by my own sense of propriety as a very private person in a very public life and profession. Finally, I asked myself, ‘Does anyone actually know what I think or how I feel about anything?’ Understanding and accepting that everything that life has thrown at me, as painful as some of it has been, has brought me to a place where I am more fully myself. I don’t think I am unique in that experience.”
Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz
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