{"id":2002,"date":"2019-11-19T15:32:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T15:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/?p=2002"},"modified":"2019-11-19T13:34:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T13:34:27","slug":"salim-nourallah-announces-new-ep-jesus-of-sad-set-for-release-on-january-31st-celebrated-texas-singersongwriterproducer-to-support-rhett-miller-on-us-tour-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/salim-nourallah-announces-new-ep-jesus-of-sad-set-for-release-on-january-31st-celebrated-texas-singersongwriterproducer-to-support-rhett-miller-on-us-tour-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"Salim Nourallah announces new EP, “Jesus of Sad,” set for release on January 31st | Celebrated Texas singer\/songwriter\/producer to support Rhett Miller on US tour in February"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Immediate Release
\nNovember 19, 2019<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Salim Nourallah announces new EP,\u00a0Jesus of Sad<\/em>, set for release on January 31st<\/p>\n

Celebrated Texas singer\/songwriter\/producer to support Rhett Miller on US tour in February<\/strong><\/p>\n

When asked to sum up his 25-year career in music, singer\/songwriter\/producer Salim Nourallah says, \u201cI feel like the Texas version of Nick Lowe, except I haven\u2019t entered my silver-haired crooner phase yet.\u201d When he was a kid, Nourallah looked up to Lowe, mainly because he was the best example teenage Salim could find of a musician who led a double life of sorts, making his own records while also producing other artists. It\u2019s still a relatively uncommon phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Salim Nourallah has been releasing solo albums since 2003. His seventh, the 21-song, double album,\u00a0Somewhere South of Sane<\/em>, was released in the fall of 2018. His notable production credits include the Old 97\u2019s, Deathray Davies, Rhett Miller, and The Damnwells. Nourallah has been recording and producing music from his Pleasantry Lane Studios in Dallas for as many years as he\u2019s been making his own. He\u2019s also in a supergroup trio called NHD – Nourallah, Harvey, Dezen. The H in NHD, Billy Harvey, is another accomplished songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist cut from the same cloth as Mr. Lowe and Mr. Nourallah. Salim enlisted Billy\u2019s help last year to record the four songs that make up his forthcoming\u00a0Jesus of Sad<\/em>\u00a0EP.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mutual friend, Bob Schneider, who is an Austin-based musician, introduced me to Billy\u2019s music years ago by saying, \u2018Billy is better than everyone else.\u2019 I agreed then as I still do now,\u201d says Nourallah. \u201cThere\u2019s no one I\u2019d rather make music with.\u201d\u00a0The four songs Nourallah and Harvey culled for the\u00a0Jesus of Sad<\/em>\u00a0EP are a small slice of a much bigger pie. Almost two dozen songs are currently in the works, in various states of completion.<\/p>\n

Nourallah\u2019s long-time friend, Rhett Miller, also figures into the equation. Nourallah and Miller wrote a handful of songs several years ago that ended up on a variety of their records. Two of the most well-known songs are \u201cJesus Loves You\u201d and \u201cShe\u2019s Hates Everyone (Misanthrope).\u201d Both compositions found their way to the latest Old 97\u2019s album,\u00a0Graveyard Whistling<\/em>, along with a third tune called \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Die in This Town.\u201d Nourallah recollects, \u201cWe wrote \u2018Misanthrope\u2019 in Albuquerque while we were on tour together. We were both worn out from traveling and I was at a real low point. After we knocked the song out that evening, it pretty much turned everything around. For me, there\u2019s always been a very therapeutic quality to writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why did Nourallah decide to take on his own version of \u201cMisanthrope\u201d? \u201cThe lyrics came out of my own personal experiences, so I thought perhaps they related to me a bit more than they did to Rhett,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cI also thought it would be interesting to see if I could take the alt-country element out of it. I\u2019ve always enjoyed standing songs on their heads and taking completely different musical approaches with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EP\u2019s title,\u00a0Jesus of Sad<\/em>, also gives a wry nod to Nick Lowe. Lowe\u2019s debut record from 1978 was called\u00a0Jesus of Cool<\/em>,\u00a0but in the UK only, since Columbia Records was uncomfortable with the title for a US release.\u00a0\u201cI have a songwriter friend here in Texas, Nicholas Altobelli,\u201d Nourallah recalls. \u201cWe were joking with each other one day and I called him the \u2018Jesus of sad.\u2019 I thought, \u2018Wait, that could make a nifty song title,\u2019 and I scribbled it down.\u201d Nourallah adds, \u201cI think a lot of classic male songwriting goes to the well of egoistic self-pity. So many songs I loved in my youth were directed toward women who somehow offended or betrayed the writer. Lord knows I\u2019ve written many songs from the \u2018woe-is-me,\u2019 wounded perspective over the years. So anyway, the Jesus of sad is supposed to be a caricature of the self-absorbed songwriter. The character is an absurd exaggeration, not meant to be taken nearly as earnestly as he takes himself!\u201d<\/p>\n

Another song of note is the sprawling, autobiographical \u201cBorn with a Broken Heart.\u201d Nourallah wrote it while his mother was suffering from Alzheimer\u2019s. She died within two days of its completion. Nourallah says, \u201cI found myself having an especially hard time dealing with all the anger I was feeling around the time of my mother\u2019s death. I felt like she had been ripped off in so many ways. I know feminism existed in the 1970s, but for women like my mother it might as well have been the tooth fairy. Even though she had a masters degree from the University of Illinois, she spent most of her life in servitude. There was nothing close to equality for many women of that time period. So, at the heart of this song, that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to get at.\u201d Though anger may have been the basis of Nourallah\u2019s inspiration this is yet another example of a song that doesn\u2019t take itself too seriously. Playful couplets like\u00a0\u201cwhy were all the grownups looking so damn old\/hamburgers and donuts for doing as you\u2019re told\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201call the bad guys had mustaches\/flash tracksuits and Santana!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0weave and bob\u00a0before Nourallah sticks the knife in with\u00a0\u201cput the bright ones on their knees\/let them cook, clean and breed\/that\u2019s how it was in the seventies.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Once again, this is serious music that doesn\u2019t take itself too seriously.<\/p>\n

Jesus of Sad<\/em>\u00a0comes out on Palo Santo Records on January 31, 2020. Nourallah and Miller are also touring the northeastern US together in early February (see confirmed dates below). These shows will not only be the first they\u2019ve played since 2016, they\u2019re also hoping to add to their growing pile of songwriting collaboration.<\/p>\n

Salim Nourallah tour dates with Rhett Miller:<\/b>
\nFeb 5 \u2013 Toronto, ON \/ Horseshoe Tavern
\nFeb 6 \u2013 Buffalo, NY \/ The 9th Ward
\nFeb 8 \u2013 South Salem, NY \/ The Heights
\nFeb 9 \u2013 Washington, DC \/ Black Cat<\/p>\n

http:\/\/salimnourallah.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Immediate Release November 19, 2019   Salim Nourallah announces new EP,\u00a0Jesus of Sad, set for release on January 31st Celebrated Texas singer\/songwriter\/producer to support Rhett Miller on US tour in February When asked to sum up his 25-year career in music, singer\/songwriter\/producer Salim Nourallah says, \u201cI feel like the Texas version of Nick Lowe, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Salim Nourallah announces new EP, “Jesus of Sad,” set for release on January 31st | Celebrated Texas singer\/songwriter\/producer to support Rhett Miller on US tour in February”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-2002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-press-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2003,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions\/2003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}