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M.WARD YOU'VE CHANGED

Californian jazz-folk artist M. Ward has released a cover of 'You’ve Changed', set to land on his upcoming Billie Holiday tribute album, Think Of Spring, which sees a reimagining of songs from Holiday’s 1958 album Lady in Satin and more in open guitar tunings. Ward will also perform a livestream concert at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT that same day to celebrate the release.  Ward's version of 'You've Changed' is centred around a combination of acoustic guitar plucks and strums of luscious jazz chords. His vocals hoarse vocals carry Billie's words with a very personal feel, making for an intimate and heart-touching rendition. M.Ward explains the origins of the song, 'The music for “You’ve Changed” was written in the early 40s by pianist/composer Carl Fischer – a Californian of Cherokee descent. He was born into poverty but his parents raised enough money to provide some music lessons and he wrote this song in his late 20s with lyricist Bill Carey. Fischer died in 1954, a few years before Billie Holiday recorded her version of his music for Lady In Satin. The descending chromatic chord progression reminds me of songs Antonio Jobim and Brian Wilson would write a few decades later. To arrange the music for solo guitar I changed “You’ve Changed” to EADGBbD. #cherokeenation'. Lady in Satin arrives on Friday, December 11 via ANTI-Records., with all proceeds going to PLUS1, a charity that works for social and environmental justice. -Ellie Rose-Davies

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