Foy Vance will follow the release of two very special new albums this year – From Muscle Shoals & To Memphis – with an extensive headline North American and UK/Ireland tour throughout October and November.

The award-winning Northern Irish singer-songwriter will be accompanied by his band for the tour, his first live dates in over two years. Foy Vance: The Tour begins in Woodstock, NY on October 12 and culminates with a hometown show at Belfast Waterfront Hall on November 23.

From Muscle Shoals will be released on June 28 on Ed Sheeran’s label Gingerbread Man Records, with To Memphis following in September. The albums are intended to be companion pieces and pay homage to the deeply rooted Soul and Americana traditions that have influenced Vance’s approach to songwriting.

Co-produced by Vance with Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes, John Paul White, Nicole Atkins) From Muscle Shoals was recorded at the legendary FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The album features two of the original ‘Swampers’ house band that played on so many iconic hits of the 60s & 70s, Spooner Oldham (keys) and David Hood (bass), alongside a crack team of session musicians and singers.

FOY VANCE: THE TOUR

October 2019
Sat 12 Woodstock, NY, Levon Helm Studios
Sun 13 Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live
Tue 15 New York, NY, NYU Skirball
Wed 16 Somerville, MA, Somerville Theatre
Fri 18 Atlanta, GA, Variety Playhouse
Sat 19 Nashville, TN, James K Polk Theater
Mon 21 Toronto, ON, Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Tue 22 Washington, DC, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Wed 23 Chicago, IL, Thalia Hall
Sat 26 Los Angeles, CA, Palace Theatre
Sun 27 Seattle, WA, Neptune

November 2019
Wed 13 Dublin IE, Olympia
Thu 14 Limerick IE, Concert Hall
Sat 16 Birmingham UK, Town Hall
Sun 17 Glasgow UK, City Halls
Mon 18 Gateshead UK, Sage 2
Wed 20 Manchester UK, Albert Hall
Thu 21 London UK, Palladium
Sat 23 Belfast UK, Waterfront Hall

Seeking inspiration for his fourth album, the follow-up to The Wild Swan, Vance was digging out old demos when he came across a handful of songs he had labelled ‘Soul’ and ‘Americana’. This discovery became the catalyst for the two new albums, with the ‘Soul’ songs providing the genesis of From Muscle Shoals, and the ‘Americana’ songs forming the basis of To Memphis, recorded at Sam Phillips Recordings Studios in Memphis.

“When I had demoed the ‘soul’ songs years ago I had tried to emulate the old school southern soul sound of Muscle Shoals,” he explains Vance. “So when I came across this collection of songs again, I knew immediately where I needed to go to document them. I suppose that is really what this project is. Documenting songs that would otherwise go unheard.”

Vance reveals that one of the songs on the album was originally written for Tom Jones. “Tom liked it but said it was too personal and would prefer it in‘ the third person. I can respect that. I wonder can you guess which one it is? I’ll leave it to your imagination.”

There will be new studio album from Vance in 2020, a more traditional follow-up to The Wild Swan, which contained the Radio 2 playlisted singles ‘Coco’, ‘Upbeat Feelgood’, and ‘Noam Chomsky Is A Soft Revolution’. Vance’s previous album, Joy Of Nothing, won the inaugural Northern Ireland Music Prize for best album’ in 2013.

Keith Urban recently covered Vance’s track ‘Burden’ (from his acclaimed 2016 album ‘The Wild Swan’) at the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards in Las Vegas, where he won Entertainer Of The Year. Vance and Urban recently hooked up in a Nashville studio to record a stunning duet of the track, watch here.

From Muscle Shoals tracklist:

You Get To Me
You Love Are My Only
Moving On
Sunshine or Rain
Pain Never Hurt Me Like Love
Be With Me
Good Time Southern Soul
Hard Work