Album Notes

While many musicians are products of musical families in one way or another, few can claim as deep a musical heritage as L.A.-based singer/songwriter Josh Haden. Son of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden and brother to Haden triplets Petra (that dog., Foo Fighters), Rachel (that dog., the Rentals), and Tanya (Let’s Go Sailing, Silversun Pickups, married to actor Jack Black), Josh Haden has created a name for himself with a unique musical vision, a skill for collaboration, and an ability to deliver a riveting live performance. The full scope of Josh’s talents come to fruition on his debut full-length album ‘Devoted’, released February 13, 2007 on Diamond Soul Recordings.

Josh is probably best known as the bassist/vocalist for the ‘90s indie band Spain. Lauded for their subdued alternative rock-blues sound, starting in 1993 Spain garnered an immediate positive reaction from the Los Angeles music community where they started, pairing up with other newbies such as Beck Hansen and his sisters’ group that dog. at local shows. A record deal with Restless Records followed, and Spain’s debut album ‘Blue Moods of Spain’ was released shortly thereafter, gaining the group critical acclaim and a solid foothold in the underground music scene. Spain would go on to tour all over America, Europe, and Australia, release two more records, and develop a cult following that still holds strong today.

In 1996, while on the video set for DJ Shadow’s ‘Midnight In A Perfect World’ (in which Josh played a funk music hippie cult guru), Josh was introduced to hip-hop pioneer/Spain fan Dan ‘The Automator’ Nakamura. Thus began a rich musical association which has resulted in Josh’s vocal duet with Sean Lennon on ‘Sunshine’ from 1999’s debut Handsome Boy Modeling School cd (which has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide), Josh’s vocals on the Blue Man Group’s sophomore 2003 cd, a U.K./U.S. tour with HBMS in 2005, and now Josh’s own debut solo cd, ‘Devoted’, produced by Dan the Automator and recorded both at Dan’s Glue Factory studio and Josh’s studio, Dexter’s Laboratory.

The album that Josh and Dan have put together is a combination of the best of their musical stylings. As beat master and hip-hop producer, Dan is able to supply Josh’s elegant vocals with an underpinning that is both classic and modern, weaving together old-school sounds with contemporary beats reflecting an eclectic merging of musical styles, from r&b ballads, to bass-heavy reggae, to smooth moog-laced pop, to ‘60s-style strip club burlesque madness. The turntable and keyboard tapestries of Kid Koala and John Medeski (Medeski, Martin, & Wood), respectively, add tasty musical flavors to the mix, sometimes heavenly, sometimes sinister, always beautiful. The soulful playing of former Spain guitarist/current Jack Johnson bassist Merlo Podlewski provides a solid foundation for Josh’s lyrical sensibilities, which revolve around, as the title of the album suggests, different aspects of devotion, from the personal to the universal, from divine love to carnal desire.

Josh Haden ‘Devoted’ lp official release date: February 13, 2007 on Diamond Soul Recordings.

For more information please visit www.joshhaden.com, or send an email to jhaden@mac.com.