Rodney Crowell Drew From Older Songs for ‘Tarpaper Sky’

Rodney Crowell's latest album, 'Tarpaper Sky,' is the first collection of solo songs he has recorded in six years, but it is definitely worth the wait.

The singer, whose recent records include 'Kin: Songs by Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell' in 2012 and 'Old Yellow Moon' with Emmylou Harris last year, dug into the archives of songs he had written several years ago for the album.

“When I came back to finish it up, I had written some songs,” he tells Country Weekly. “I had a new batch of songs I had accrued over that time period.”

Lucky for Crowell fans, the tunesmith says that, in the process of recording 'Tarpaper Sky,' he realized he already had songs for his next album as well.

“What happened was, the first time I came back to finish 'Tarpaper Sky' I got pretty close to the right things to finish it up and then I had a couple new songs," he adds. "So I went and recorded them and they really are good songs and I can’t wait for them to be out, but they didn’t fit. Which is a good problem to have, but man, I got a couple songs I wish you could hear.”

The 63-year-old describes the songs on 'Tarpaper Sky' as "mostly pastorals -- pictures from an imaginary countryside that tell unadorned stories with straightforward language and energetic musicianship."

Crowell will spend much of the next few months touring in support of 'Tarpaper Sky,' including shows in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia later this month. See a list of all of his upcoming shows here.

Download 'Tarpaper Sky' here.