A. Savage shares the Loft Sessions EP

While on tour with his live band in support of his recent release Several Songs About Fire, A. Savage was invited to spend a day recording at Wilco’s Loft Studio in Chicago. The result is the Loft Sessions, three covers of country legend Johnny Paycheck, Kevin Ayers and Lavender Country - as well as a reworking of an A. Savage original, "Wild Horses".

“The live band I’ve been playing with are truly some of the best musicians in the game right now. Backing me up on the road are members of Sharpie Smile, Modern Nature, White Fence and Sunwatchers. They are all fabulous musicians and people, who I love being in with, in a van, and on a stage. It became immediately apparent on my tour last fall that this band was phenomenal and should be documented, so when we made it to Chicago and received a generous invitation to spend a day recording at the Wilco Loft, I jumped at the opportunity. This studio is a seriously special place that I’ve had the good fortune to record at previously, and every visit is a joy. Spending a day off there was a no-brainer," Savage says.

"I’ve always enjoyed throwing a few cover songs in the setlist, and at the time we had a few in the repertoire. “(It Won’t Be Long) and I’ll Be Hating You” was a song that Dylan Hadley and I sang together one night after a recording session in Bristol for the album “Several Songs about Fire”. She had invented her own harmony line while singing along with the tape in her car. Her and I started singing together and I remember Jack Cooper very enthusiastically saying “if we go out on the road you guys have to sing this one”.

The song “I Can’t Shake the Stranger Out of You” by Lavender Country is one that I’ve had in my back pocket for a while, and would bring out from time to time playing solo acoustic, but had never done with a band before that day in the Wilco Loft. Everybody learned it pretty fast, and everybody’s part is their own contribution to the arrangement. We played it live for the first time the next night at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, and it’s been in the set ever since."

Tracklist:

1. I Can’t Shake the Stranger Out of You [Lavender Country Cover]
2. Oyster and the Flying Fish [Kevin Ayers Cover]
3. (It Won’t Be Long) and I’ll Be Hating You [Johnny Paycheck Cover]
4. Wild Horses