New CD Gives Life to Mark Twain’s Words!

Carl Jackson produces CD to bring Mark Twain words to Life

On September 21, 2011 the double-CD project titled Mark Twain: Words and Music will be released.  This mesmerizing project that tells the story of Mark Twain in spoken word and song is produced by Carl Jackson, a multi-GRAMMY award winning producer hailing from Louisville, Mississippi.  Once again Carl Jackson makes his home state, The Birthplace of American’s Music, proud. 

MARK TWAIN: WORDS and MUSIC - A legacy CD tribute for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum!

This legacy CD for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum located in Hannibal, Missouri is a collaboration between Carl Jackson and his long-time friend, Cindy Lovell, the Museum’s Executive  Director. The project, which honors Twain’s legacy, will raise funds needed to help maintain Twain’s boyhood home, a National Historic Landmark.  In addition to the boyhood home of Samuel Clemmons from age 4 to 17, the museum preserves seven other historic properties.

Carl Jackson brings together the collaborative efforts of well-known artists and up-and-coming talent to the Mark Twain project including Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Rhonda Vincent, Carl Jackson himself, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Joe Diffie, Marty Raybon, Brad Paisley, Bradley Walker, The Church Sisters, and Val Storey; and in spoken word Jimmy Buffet as Huck Finn, Garrison Keillor as Narrator, Clint Eastwood as Mark Twain, and Angela Lovell as Susy Clemens.

Brad Paisley, Cindy Lovell and Carl Jackson 

Cindy Lovell, Executive Director, said that this project was a labor of love.  Asking Carl Jackson to join the endeavor goes back to both their childhood days. Cindy was 12 when she met Carl at 14.  He was playing banjo for a popular bluegrass band, Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys.  They became friends and pen pals, but lost contact over the years.  When Cindy heard Carl’s double-Grammy-winning CD, Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’- Songs of the Louvin Brothers she got the idea for the Mark Twain project.  And although it had been 30 years since they had been in touch, Carl was excited about the project concept and agreed to produce it.  Cindy stated that she “…picked the best producer in the world to accomplish this unique task, Carl Jackson.” The project that began in 2005, is now a CD of 14 story segments, 13 songs, and a 40 page booklet that tells the story of Mark Twain from birth to death and includes something for everyone in the family. 

The songs on the CD include When Halley Came to Jackson ~ Emmylou Harris, Better Times a’ Comin’ ~ Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver,  Run Mississippi ~ Rhonda Vincent, Safe Water ~ Carl Jackson, A Cowboy in His Soul ~ Bradley Walker, I Wandered by a Brookside ~ The Church Sisters, Beautiful Dreamer ~ Sheryl Crow, Huck Finn Blues ~ Brad Paisley, Indian Crow ~ Marty Raybon, Love is On Our Side ~ Val Storey, I Know You By Heart ~ Vince Gill,  Ink ~ Joe Diffie, and Comet Ride ~ Ricky Skaggs. In spoken word you will hear:  “Hello yourself, and see how you like it…,” “Hannibal, Missouri, where my boyhood was spent…,”  “He agreed to teach me the Mississippi River…,”  “Several years of variegated vagabondizing…,”  “It liberates the vandal to travel…”  “You ain’t ever to love anybody but me…”  “It was a mighty nice family…,”  “Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry…,”  “The crows would gather on the railing and talk about me…,”  “So wounded, so broken-hearted…,”  “Wheresoever she was, there was Eden…,” “My conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever…,” “The report of my death was an exaggeration…,” and “The truth, mainly...”

What better way for the heritage of  Mississippi, The Birthplace of America’s Music, to help the legacy of Mark Twain than through Carl Jackson, a multi- GRAMMY award winning singer/songwriter/ producer.  The CD is available for preorder at The Mark Twain Museum Website  
CD release parties are being scheduled now!  The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum will be hosting a release party at 9:00 p.m., September 20, 2011.  Other celebrations in the works include one at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and a national release party at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville in Nashville.