Katey Sagal may have finally broken free from her Peg Bundy cage. The “Sons of Anarchy” star has more talent than acting, which she’s pretty fantastic at. Music was her first love and her first passion. Before becoming a TV star, her focus was on recording music. Now, she has released her first album in 9 years, with a little help from her friends.
She was a member of “The Group With No Name” in 1976. Katey contributed to their album “Moon over Brooklyn”. She also enjoyed status in 1978 and 1982–1983 as a member of Bette Midler’s backup group “The Harlettes”.
She then moved on to perform back-up vocals on Gene Simmons’ self-titled album, and also provided background vocals on Olivia Newton-John’s 1985 single, “Soul Kiss”.
Her new album, “Covered” is packed with star power as well. “Covered”, as the title indicates, is an album full of Katey Sagal covering songs with her signature talent and class.
The songs are songs that she says inspired her in her musical life, like Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin'” and Jackson Browne’s “For A Dancer”. So why the long wait and why the covers?
“Probably a lot of writers’ block, and a real busy schedule,” she tells Billboard. “I love to play music, and I was playing gigs and doing a lot of songs off my other records. I thought ‘I really need to have some new songs.’ I’ve been trying to write, but I realized that I like the process of recording song and finding songs. It kind of came out of necessity of wanting to get to it. I couldn’t wait on myself anymore.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CaAzYSSiT8
The album includes a Jackson Browne cover “For a Dancer”, and also a collaboration with Browne on Steve Earle’s “Goodbye”. “It’s great. I love that song. It’s a Steve Earle song. My producer put the Spanish guitar on there, as well as the violin. They were players that played with Jackson sometimes. It was thrilling for me because I grew up listening to him. I sort of know him casually, so when I asked him if he would sing, he said yes. I think that’s a beautiful track.”
Cover albums usually don’t garner a lot of respect in the industry. However, Katey Sagal is not exactly a newbie to the scene, and has fully demonstrated her talent on the screen and in the studio, so “Covered” could very well be the exception to this rule!
Image via youtube