Today, English Singer/Songwriter/Harpist HATTIE WEBB, currently on tour internationally with David Gilmour, Webb will appear with Gilmour as he performs with The Roots on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, November 7th. Webb performs with David Gilmore at Madison Square Garden on November 9th and 10th.
Webb’s newly released solo album WILD MEDICINE, featuring her crystalline vocals and otherworldly, rhythmic harp, is borne from collaborations with artists like Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers, Austin guitar phenoms Eric Johnson and David Grissom, songwriter Paul Kelly and others.
Hattie is managing an incredible balancing act of touring around the globe with Gilmour while raising her toddler and newborn baby, “I am thrilled to join David Gilmour on his international tour. It has been a delight rehearsing the past three weeks in the UK. I have loved having new musical adventures with my sister Charley and this amazing band and crew.”T
A kaleidoscope of colors, Wild Medicine moves seamlessly through genres from Celtic Folk (“Shakespeare’s Shores”) to Americana (“Hearts Connect”), to Pop (“Ruined in the Rain”) to a somber Waltz (“Waltz for Leonard,” which is dedicated to her dear Leonard Cohen). She even lands on a Bob Seger cover (“You’ll Accompany Me”) while touching on everything in between. “Playing the harp growing up, people expect you to be more gentle or to perhaps not be so direct with how you feel,” Hattie explains, pointing out her attachment to the atypical instrument.
“In my years of studying and attending harp festivals, I struggled with the more creatively narrow narrative that the harp is sometimes given. There’s so much intensity and meat in the instrument, like a grand piano, and I wanted to explore how that could translate into the songs I was writing.”
Some genuinely spectacular players are joining Webb on Wild Medicine: Mike Campbell (who also co-wrote two songs on the album), Benmont Tench, Vinnie Colaiuta, Eric Johnson, and Pat Leonard. These seasoned vets contribute a solid foundation to support Hattie’s ethereal voice and sublime harp playing while providing a framework for her exploration of genres. With an impressive lineup of other collaborators, including Roscoe Beck, David Grissom, Ron Blair, Stephen Barber, Patrick Leonard, and Paul Kelly, it’s inspiring to see how she maintains a thriving music career. Hailing from Kent, England, she formed her first duo group, The Webb Sisters, with her sister Charley.
She performed with Leonard Cohen for six years to over 4 million people and then with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on their 40th Anniversary international final tour. Cohen called Hattie’s solo work “flawless, uplifting, and utterly original.” Over the years, critics have lauded the sisters as “simply astonishing,” “brilliant,” “huge talent and undoubted beauty,” “delicious voices,” and “unique musical gifts,” even calling them “female Simon and Garfunkel for the modern age.” Q Magazine compared them to Florence & The Machine.
Wild Medicine is out now via Hearts Connect Records and available HERE.