Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong en Norah Jones slaan de handen ineen op Foreverly, een collectie songs geïnspireerd door Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, een album met Americana traditionals van The Everly Brothers uit 1958. Het in negen dagen opgenomen album is een herinterpretatie van het album uit 1958. Foreverly pakt de eenvoud van de Everly’s prachtige harmoniën en creëert een krachtige ode aan deze rootsy ballads. Het album is vanaf 22 november beschikbaar op CD en vanaf 17 januari 2014 op vinyl.

Jones en Armstrong herinterpreteren verscheidene traditionals waaronder Roving Gambler, Down In The Willow Garden, Long Time Gone, Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet? en Barbara Allen, maar ook de country songs als That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine (geschreven door Gene Autry en Jimmy Long) en Kentucky van Karl Davis.

“I’ve been a big fan of The Everly Brothers since I was a little boy,” zegt Armstrong. “A couple of years ago, I discovered Songs Our Daddy Taught Us  for the first time, and I fell in love with it. I was playing it every day and thought it would be a cool idea to re-do the record, but with a female singer. I thought of Norah because she can sing anything, from rock to jazz to blues, and I knew her harmonies would be amazing. I thought the songs would take on a different meaning working with her, and she has a really good ear for arrangements. I was mainly intrigued by these old traditionals, country songs, and hymns. When we were done with the album, Norah looked at me and said, ‘I bet you didn’t think you were going to make a country record, huh?’”

Jones, sinds jaar en dag zelf groot Everly Brothers fan en coverde zelf eerder al de track Bird Dog , omschrijft zichzelf als “a sucker for harmonies and country music.” Daarnaast, vertelt ze “Billie Joe’s enthusiasm about the songs and his low-key, open approach to the music was very inviting. He wasn’t set in his ideas, which made it fun for us both to sort of discover what felt right for us, musically.”

Armstrong en zijn studio-engineer Chris Dugan zijn naar New York gegaan voor de opnames met Jones in The Magic Shop in Manhatten met twee van Norah’s favoriete muzikanten; bassist Tim Luntzel en drummer Dan Rieser. Billie Joe en Norah namen de gitaar en piano partijen voor hun rekening. Charlie Burnham op viool en Johnny Lam op pedal steel gitaar maakten de band compleet. “It was super fun and experimental,” zegt Norah Jones. “I loved that the original was completely stripped down and a little more obscure. There was a lot of room to interpret the songs in our own way.”

Tracklisting Foreverly:

1. Roving Gambler
2. Long Time Gone
3. Lightning Express
4. That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine
5. Down In The Willow Garden
6. Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
7. Oh So Many Years
8. Barbara Allen
9. Rockin’ Alone (In An Old Rockin’ Chair
10. I’m Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail
11. Kentucky
12. Put My Little Shoes Away”