Scarlett Johansson Featured on MySpace Artist on Artist

Scarlett’s debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head is now available in stores and online.  The album features 10 Tom Waits covers and one original track.  I have listening party streams below featuring six tracks from the album, streaming video of Scarlett’s first single “Falling Down,” and other assets  below.

Scarlett Johansson MySpace Artist on Artist:

http://www.myspace.com/artistonartist

Scarlett Johansson planned to record standards for her debut album, an idea that eventually unraveled when she became convinced that she had to sing the Tom Waits and Bette Midler duet, “I Never Talk To Strangers.” “I thought, ‘Maybe I could add more Tom Waits songs…’ Then it became, ‘Maybe I should just do all Tom Waits songs…’” Atco Records, an imprint of Warner Music Group’s Rhino Entertainment, presents ANYWHERE I LAY MY HEAD, an atmospheric collection that is anything but standard. On May 20, this 11-song album was available at all physical and digital outlets, including www.scarlettalbum.com, for a suggested list price of $18.98, and $9.99 for digital, with ringtones for two tracks—“Falling Down” and “I Don’t Wanta Grow Up”—available at all mobile carriers.

The disc includes covers of 10 songs written by Waits—many of them in collaboration with his wife Kathleen Brennan. Also featured is “Song For Jo,” an original penned by Johansson and producer by David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio). On the album, Johansson is joined by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Sean Antanaitis from Celebration, and David Bowie, who provides backing vocals on two tracks, “Falling Down” and “Fannin’ Street.”

Before recording began for ANYWHERE I LAY MY HEAD, Johansson and Sitek first met in L.A. and then drove from California to Louisiana. There, they spent five weeks at Dockside Studios with a band of multi-instrumentalists handpicked by Sitek. In the studio, the band experimented relentlessly, creating what Johansson and Sitek call the album’s “Tinkerbell on cough syrup” sound.

Some songs are immediately recognizable covers of the Waits originals while others are almost re-imaginings. Johansson’s song selection explores more than 30 years of classic Waits, tapping eight albums for inspiration. She reaches back to 1976 for “I Wish I Was In New Orleans”—the collection’s oldest song—which was recorded 30 years before “Fannin’ Street,” the collection’s most recent track. ANYWHERE I LAY MY HEAD also includes a

pair of songs each from 2002’s Alice (“Fawn” “No One Knows I’m Gone”) and 1992’s Bone Machine (“I Don’t Want To Grow Up” “Who Are You?”), plus track from Swordfish Trombones, Rain Dogs,  Big Time and Real Gone.  Johansson is still buzzing from the experience of trying something so radically new. “I’m not trying to prove anything on this album. I could never impersonate Tom Waits. I just love his music.”

“Falling Down” Music Video:

http://www.imeem.com/scarlettjohansson/video/1ziTrNr9/scarlett_johansson_falling_down_music_video

Anywhere I Lay My Head Listening Party Streams:

http://rhino.edgeboss.net/qtime/rhino/listeningparties/454524/454524_specialops.mov
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/wmedia/rhino/listeningparties/454524/454524_specialops.wax
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/real/rhino/listeningparties/454524/454524_specialops.smi

Anywhere I Lay My Head Official Site:

http://www.scarlettalbum.com

and MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/scarlettalbum