Out now!

There has been no band so rapturous nor so crucial as The Beatles. In the mid-1960s, The Beatles released Rubber Soul and Revolver, tight bundles of songs whose impact was immediate. Manifest in each album was a wave of influence, a new set of recording standards—these albums marked the group’s transition from the land of rock into the realm of art, ensuring their ascent into legend.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of two of the most influential albums of all time, independent label Reimagine Music is pleased to present Looking Through You: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, and Tomorrow Never Knows: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Revolver. 

Youth is a cult of sound, a raucous awakening. The '60s saw The Beatles pull pop music into a higher orbit, and Rubber Soul and Revolver mark the brilliant, burning youth of their enormous achievement. These new projects—Looking Through You and Tomorrow Never Knows are a testament to the albums’ enduring relevance. An impressive roster of today's best indie rock artists have gathered to pay homage to the group by translating the famed verses into creations of their own.

Looking Through You: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul boasts the cutting edge of today’s music scene: Bombadil, The David Mayfield Parade, So Many Wizards, The Pride of Erie PA, Admirals, Woodpigeon, Cereus Bright, Tyler Lyle, The Blackwater Fever, Swear and Shake, Blessed Feathers, The Daydream Club, The Love Language, Olin & The Moon, Nemes, Kid In The Attic and The Kirkendall Gang.

Tomorrow Never Knows: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Revolver also features the finest indie rock has to offer: Jake Mann and the Upper Hand, The Owls, Shawn Mullins, Glider, Bjorn Baillie and Simon Baillie, Nellie McKay, Everest, Headlights, Lost In the Trees, Tapes ’n Tapes, Borges & The Broken Singles, Jennifer O’Connor, Brian Wright, and The M’s. As a special treat, famed Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick—who recorded the original Revolver sessions—lovingly records Nellie McKay’s inventive new take on “Yellow Submarine” for this project. 

Track Listings:

Looking Through You: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul

1. Bombadil "Drive My Car" 

2. The David Mayfield Parade "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" 

3. So Many Wizards “You Won’t See Me” 

4. The Pride of Erie PA "Nowhere Man" 

5. Admirals "Think for Yourself" 

6. Woodpigeon "The Word"

7. Cereus Bright "Michelle"

8. Tyler Lyle "What Goes On" 

9. The Blackwater Fever "Girl" 

10. Swear and Shake "I'm Looking Through You" 

11. Blessed Feathers "In My Life" 

12. The Daydream Club "Wait"

13. The Love Language "If I Needed Someone" 

14. Olin & The Moon "Run for Your Life" 

15. Nemes “Day Tripper” (Bonus Track)

16. Kid In The Attic "Girl" (Bonus Track)

17. The Kirkendall Gang "The Word" (Bonus Track)

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!    

Produced by Jim Sampas  

Executive Producer: George Sampas 

Mastered by Stephen Pitkin at Modest Heights

Out now!

There has been no band so rapturous nor so crucial as The Beatles. In the mid-1960s, The Beatles released Rubber Soul and Revolver, tight bundles of songs whose impact was immediate. Manifest in each album was a wave of influence, a new set of recording standards—these albums marked the group’s transition from the land of rock into the realm of art, ensuring their ascent into legend.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of two of the most influential albums of all time, independent label Reimagine Music is pleased to present Looking Through You: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, and Tomorrow Never Knows: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Revolver. 

Youth is a cult of sound, a raucous awakening. The '60s saw The Beatles pull pop music into a higher orbit, and Rubber Soul and Revolver mark the brilliant, burning youth of their enormous achievement. These new projects—Looking Through You and Tomorrow Never Knows are a testament to the albums’ enduring relevance. An impressive roster of today's best indie rock artists have gathered to pay homage to the group by translating the famed verses into creations of their own.

Looking Through You: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul boasts the cutting edge of today’s music scene: Bombadil, The David Mayfield Parade, So Many Wizards, The Pride of Erie PA, Admirals, Woodpigeon, Cereus Bright, Tyler Lyle, The Blackwater Fever, Swear and Shake, Blessed Feathers, The Daydream Club, The Love Language, Olin & The Moon, Nemes, Kid In The Attic and The Kirkendall Gang.

Tomorrow Never Knows: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Revolver also features the finest indie rock has to offer: Jake Mann and the Upper Hand, The Owls, Shawn Mullins, Glider, Bjorn Baillie and Simon Baillie, Nellie McKay, Everest, Headlights, Lost In the Trees, Tapes ’n Tapes, Borges & The Broken Singles, Jennifer O’Connor, Brian Wright, and The M’s. As a special treat, famed Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick—who recorded the original Revolver sessions—lovingly records Nellie McKay’s inventive new take on “Yellow Submarine” for this project. 

Tomorrow Never Knows: A 50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles Revolver

1. Jake Mann and the Upper Hand “Tax Man”

2. The Owls “Eleanor Rigby”

3. Shawn Mullins “I’m Only Sleeping”

4. Glider “Love You To”

5. Bjorn Baillie and Simon Baillie “Here, There and Everywhere”

6. Nellie McKay “Yellow Submarine”

7. Everest “She Said She Said”

8. Headlights “Good Day Sunshine”

9. Lost In the Trees “And Your Bird Can Sing”

10. Tapes ’n’ Tapes “For No One”

11. Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles “Doctor Robert”

12. Jennifer O’Connor “I Want To Tell You”

13. Brian Wright “Got To Get You Into My Life”

14. The M’s “Tomorrow Never Knows”

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas  

Executive Producers: George Sampas and Curt Worden

Mastered by Stephen Pitkin at Modest Heights

David Bowie was a maverick amongst the sound and scope of rock music. His radical approach electrified the early 1970s rock scene with songs that braided psychedelic sensibilities and abstract lyricism, and to this day, his achievements have maintained one of the biggest followings in rock history. As New York Times wrote today on his passing, David Bowie "transcended music, art and fashion...earned admiration and emulation across the musical spectrum — from rockers, balladeers, punks, hip-hop acts, creators of pop spectacles and even classical composers..." 

 Vanderslice approaches Bowie’s Diamond Dogs with the infectious melodies and the trademark ardor that have continuously deemed him one of indie and experimental rock’s elite. 

Rather than merely covering Bowie’s album Pitchfork says “Vanderslice takes the hits and turns them on their heads.” In the liner notes for the iTunes version of this project, best-selling author Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snicket) writes “This is an album of covers of dreams of songs from an album that covers a book that dreams of a future that is now the past.” 

“I’m a Bowie obsessive,” says Vanderslice, “and Diamond Dogs has always fascinated me. I think it’s a drugged-out masterpiece; an abandoned Orwellian concept album that features the most playing that Bowie ever did on a record. The best moments on this record are heartbreaking.” 

“I was not deferent to Bowie. I translated lyrics into German, chopped verses, moved bridges, chords, and otherwise ran roughshod over this beast.” Short and Sweet NYC calls the album “a document of an artist’s dynamic evolution.”

This is first album of Reimagine Music’s “Plays Series” wherein a single innovative and accomplished recording artist interprets iconic works of the past.

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Executive Producers: Jim Sampas and George Sampas

Mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, under the influence of their now legendary friend Gram Parsons, The Rolling Stones brought a rough-hewn, country music feel to their work which can be argued is the blueprint for the alternative country music of today. 

We celebrate that influence with this release covering some of The Rolling Stones’ lesser known works, with a few classics mixed in, by the best alt country artists on the scene including: Great Lake Swimmers, Matthew Ryan, Cowboy Junkies, Hem, Everest, The Bittersweets, Giant Sand, Lee Harvey Osmond and Mary Gauthier, Over the Rhine, The Handsome Family, Blue Mountain, Brian Ritchey, Neal McCarthy & Ivo Matos, Barbara Kessler, and Anders Parker.  

This digital download only project is produced by Jim Sampas whose work includes Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard - One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur (Atlantic Records), Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (Sub Pop) w/ Johnny Cash, Aimee Mann, Ben Harper and others and This Bird Has Flown: A Tribute to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul (Razor & Tie) w/ Sufjan Stevens, Ted Leo, Low and others.

Sampas had been wanting to produce this album for a long time, as he notes: “This collection brings clearly to mind the maverick country energy that Gram Parsons injected into the Stones’ turn of the decade style. This grouping of artists is a dream come true for me. I kept hearing these strains in Jagger and Richards's songs and then similarities in my favorite alt country groups.  I knew their alternative takes on country would these songs well. And how they do, with one foot grounded in traditional country’s past in violins, harmonicas and pedal steel guitars, and another kicking into the 21st century, with modern recording techniques and synths.” 

Paint It Black: An Alt Country Tribute To The Rolling Stones Track Listing

1 "Before They Make Me Run" Great Lake Swimmers
2 "Streets of Love" Matthew Ryan
3 "Moonlight Mile" Cowboy Junkies
4 "You Can't Always Get What You Want" Hem
5 "Sweet Virginia" Everest
6 "Loving Cup" The Bittersweets
7 "Jumpin' Jack Flash" Giant Sand
8 "Dear Doctor" Lee Harvey Osmond and Mary Gauthier
9 "Waiting On a Friend" Over the Rhine
10 "Faraway Eyes" Handsome Family
11 "Torn and Frayed" Blue Mountain
12 "Paint It Black" Brian Ritchey
13 "Wild Horses" Neal McCarthy & Ivo Matos
14 "You Got The Silver" Barbara Kessler
15 "Coming Down Again" Anders Parker

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas  

Executive Producer: George Sampas

Mastered by Tom Waltz and Waltz Mastering

Reimagine Music is proud to help celebrate the twentieth anniversary of arguably the most important release of the 1990s by releasing Come As You Are: A 20th Anniversary Tribute To Nirvana’s Nevermind. This special tribute album features contributions from some of today’s best alternative and indie rock artists who have contributed their unique takes on Nirvana classics including Hawthorne Heights, Story Of The Year, Anthony Raneri (of Bayside), Finger Eleven, The Album Leaf, Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s, mewithoutYou, Maps & Atlases, Murder By Death and Pitty.

The dark songs that make up Nevermind so eloquently personified teenage angst that it took FM radio and, subsequently, MTV by storm effectively ushering ‘alternative rock’ to a mainstream audience. Nirvana’s place in rock history would be secured by creating the most influential album of their generation. Kurt Cobain’s poetic, self deprecating, deeply introspective lyrics, and the stunning musical energy of Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic continues to attract countless listeners the world over, pulled into its orbit, and furthering Nevermind’s status as one of the most celebrated albums of all time.

Come As You Are is produced by the acclaimed Jim Sampas whose other tributes to seminal albums such as Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska w/ Johnny Cash, Aimee Mann, Ben Harper and others and The Beatles’ Rubber Soul w/ Sufjan Stevens, Ted Leo, Low, and others, as well as the Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard album One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur, are regarded as touchstones of the genre. Each reimagining is a unique experience because Sampas comes at the music from a fresh perspective, combining the right artists with the perfect track, all with an eye toward producing insightful performances you will want to listen to over and over again.

Available as a digital download and CD.

Come As You Are: A 20th Anniversary Tribute To Nirvana's "Nevermind" Track Listing
1 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" The Dutch Masters 5:26
2 "In Bloom" mewithoutYou 2:50
3 "Come As You Are" Civil Twilight 4:18
4 "Breed" Story of the Year 3:03
5 "Lithium" Hawthorne Heights 4:10
6 "Polly" Finger Eleven 2:50
7 "Territorial P*****gs" Will Dailey 3:17
8 "Drain You" Maps & Atlases 3:44
9 "Lounge Act" Murder by Death 3:27
10 "Stay Away" Pitty 3:06
11 "On A Plain" The Album Leaf 5:44
12 "Something In The Way" Margot & the Nuclear So and So's 3:39
13 "About A Girl" Anthony Raneri (of Bayside) 3:25

Preview and purchase album on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas  

Executive Producer: George Sampas

Co-Produced by Anna Murawski and Lee McRae 

Mastered by Ivo Matos

No Depression? Sounds like the tagline to an ad for a new wonder drug. But the potently titled 1990 debut album by Uncle Tupelo, had nothing to do with an instant chemical solution, rather a cure… a rip-roaring parade of country punk. This supercharged young trio – with guitarist Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and bassist Jay Farrar (Son Volt) joined by Mike Heidorn on drums – had a burning desire to forge a distinctive style that paid its dues in the earnest hard luck themes, and sound, of traditional country, but infused with the blistering guitars and energies of punk rock.

The primeval power of their premiere record would go on to christen a wave of restless, ragged country-fired rock. Lee Zimmerman in Blurt Magazine writes "There are any number of landmark albums that critics are quick to label as essential, but given the fact No Depression jumpstarted an entire genre, none deserve that label more” while Jason Ankeny at All Music says the work “kick-started a revolution which reverberated throughout the American underground.”

On The Brighter Side: A 25th Anniversary Tribute To Uncle Tupelo’s No Depression a select few of the best artists in Alt Country and Indie Rock bring their talents together to re-imagine the album a quarter century later: The Last Bison, Bodies of Water, Big Sky Blue, The Wooden Sky, Peculiar Pretzelmen, Elliott BROOD, Crow Moses, Leeroy Stagger, Smoking Popes, David Stuart, Mikaela Davis, Cheap Girls, and Beta Radio.

“Like Springsteen’s Nebraska before it in the early ‘80s, an inspiration for both Farrar and Tweedy, the lyrics of No Depression speak to the hard knock life of the American blue-collar worker of the early ‘90s” says producer Jim Sampas. “A few of the recordings on this new collection offer softer, more acoustic qualities, than the original, perhaps an attempt to lend more focus to the lyrics. Still others underscore Uncle Tupelo’s more rebellious aspirations, updating and restructuring the band’s raucous, freewheeling, sound. 

“These fresh perspectives serve to illustrate why the original album had such an impact, and still stands up today. It’s not solely the revolutionary punk meets country esthetic that has drawn legions of musicians to their work over the years. It’s the enduring strength of the songwriting these gifted young men fashioned while struggling in middle America.” 

1. The Last Bison - “Graveyard Shift”

2. Bodies of Water - “That Year”

3. Big Sky Blue - “Before I Break”

4. Wooden Sky - “No Depression”

5. Peculiar Pretzelmen - “Factory Belt”

6. Elliott BROOD - “Whiskey Bottle”

7. Crow Moses - “Outdone”

8. Leeroy Stagger - "Train"

9. Smoking Popes - “Life Worth Livin'”

10. David Stuart - “Flatness”

11. Mikaela Davis - "So Called Friend"

12. Cheap Girls - “Screen Door”

13. Beta Radio - “John Hardy”

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas  

Executive Producer: George Sampas

Co-Produced by Stephen Pitkin and David Greenberg

Mastered by Stephen Pitkin at Modest Heights

"At least two generations of rockers have seen this extraordinary combo, with the most ordinary of names, inspire their visions, tweak their creative dials, and send them into rehearsal spaces, the back rooms of bars, out on the road and into the studio. That streak of determined independence, in style and attitude, persists."

from the liner notes to the release by Simon Warner, lecturer, journalist and author of Text and Drugs and Rock’n’Roll: The Beats and Rock Culture

Punk, new wave, post-punk, alternative. As the 1970s turned into the 1980s, there was a huge surge of rock music activity, as the bands who had lit the flame saw their spark transatlantically catch fire. No band personified the spirit of indie more than The Smiths, that Manchester, UK, four-piece who strode between the jagged shards of punk politics and the ideological posturing of the new wave arts school. Their unique brand of maudlin pop has since left an everlasting mark in musical style and attitude, crossing the generational divide to appeal to today’s youth. In fact, popular music site NME have dubbed The Smiths “the most influential artist ever.” 

Recorded in 2014, the 30th anniversary of The Smiths’ eponymous debut, this new compilation features a select few of the best artists in electronic and indie rock. The Smiths’ independence, in style and attitude, persists in this unique reimagining by Kevin Devine, Blackbird Blackbird, Faded Paper Figures, Field Mouse, Jaymay, Brothertiger, Seapony, Male Bonding, The Night VI, Soft Metals, Young Statues, Heidemann, Our Broken Garden, and Mother Falcon (an eighteen piece orchestral rock band). 

Producer of the album, Jim Sampas, says, “Thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of the most talented artists on the scene today, this project possesses a sonic cohesion, more like an album by one band rather than a compilation. Approaching the source material was no easy task. Morrissey challenged his listeners with uninhibited lyrics of shadowy sexuality, excitements, and remorse. As collaborators, Johnny Marr and Morrissey of The Smiths were not interested in being trendy. These guys simply set out to make great, timeless art, avoiding the blaring guitars and biting ‘tear the house down’ lyrics of the day and instead augmenting deeply personal lyrics with distinctive, elliptical, guitar phrases that seem to emanate from the ether.”

“But get ready," Sampas warns, "the artists involved in this do more than merely pay homage. While some alight on the flames of the original song craft to great effect, others take the material in a nuanced direction, fanning the fires of a masterpiece. Through it all, there is a sense of the original light, a radiance able to support fresh interpretations.”

Tease Torment Tantalize: A 30th Anniversary Tribute To The Smith's Debut Track Listing

1. “Reel Around The Fountain” Kevin Devine  (6:02)

2. “You’ve Got Everything Now”  Mother Falcon (5:36)

3. “Miserable Lie” Field Mouse (2:47)

4. "Pretty Girls Make Graves” Jaymay (2:51)

5. “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” Blackbird Blackbird (1:43)

6. “This Charming Man” Brothertiger  (3:27)

7. “Still Ill” Male Bonding (3:13)

8.  "Hand In Glove” Faded Paper Figures (3:16)

9. "What Difference Does It Make?" Seapony (3:43)

10. "I Don't Owe You Anything”  The Night VI (3:44)

11.  “Suffer Little Children” Soft Metals (5:24)

 Bonus Tracks 

12. “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” Young Statues (2:14)

13. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” Heidemann (3:06)

14. "I Don't Owe You Anything” Our Broken Garden (5:22)

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas

Executive Producer: George Sampas

Co-Produced by David Greenberg

Mastered by Ron Skinner at Heading North

"The greatest blues singer in the world will never stop singing." - Bessie Smith

“She showed me the air and taught me how to fill it,” Janis Joplin said of Bessie Smith.  Reimagine Music is proud to present The Empress of the Blues: A Tribute To Bessie Smith (November 25th), the fifth installment in its series of original recordings celebrating iconic figures.  The all-female lineup includes Haley Bonar, Jenny Owen Youngs, Doria Roberts, Dawn Landes, Catherine Feeny & Daniel Dixon, Whitney Monge, Simone White, Holly Golightly, Tift Merritt, Barbara Kessler, Alessi’s Ark & Scott Verbeek, and Abigail Washburn.

“These beautifully conceived new renderings by the best female singer songwriters working today capture life’s hardships with such sincerity and depth,” says producer Jim Sampas.  “Bessie Smith turned the world upside-down with her caustic, boldly truthful, lyrics often mirroring her own life. Through hard work and perseverance she made herself a leading artistic voice of her time, one the best-selling and highest-paid performers in the country, despite the invariable adversity she faced as a black woman in an era with overt racism and misogyny. Her music and her influence are sadly under-appreciated today.”

The song ‘”Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair,” performed here by Haley Bonar, proves Smith’s art is still alive and vital - Bessie’s lyrics “Please Mister Judge, send me to the ‘lectric chair” were written 60 years before Springsteen’s “Well your honor, I do believe I'd be better off dead.” “A blast of power and volume,” writes Wondering Sound. “The guitars are blunted by distortion, feedback wails and vanishes and Bonar’s voice is frantic and piercing.”  Bonar and her fellow artists on Empress of the Blues all connect to the heart of Bessie’s work through their own sound.

Throughout the 1920s Bessie Smith became one of the most popular singers in America. She sang it like it was, representing the African-American experience and the suffering of her people through raw, unadulterated country blues. Born into poverty on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bessie Smith at an early age dreamed of “getting out and getting on.” As a teenager she joined The Moss Stokes Company, a travelling minstrel troupe, and was mentored there. She learned well, evolving into an all-round entertainer who danced, acted and even performed comedy routines. But it was her deep, soulful voice that was striking, and her raw delivery presaged that of Billie Holiday.

The Empress of the Blues: A Tribute To Bessie Smith Track Listing

1. “After You’ve Gone” Jenny Owen Youngs (2:24)

2. “Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine” Tim & Adam (3:01)

3. “Poor Man’s Blues” Doria Roberts (3:44)

4. “Thinking Blues” Whitney Mongé (3:31)

5. “St. Louis Blues” Catherine Feeny & Daniel Dixon (3:40)

6.  “Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair” Haley Bonar (3:40)

7. “Backwater Blues” Simone White (4:27)

8. “Sugar in My Bowl” Tift Merritt (2:20)

9. “Please Help Me Get Him off My Mind” Dawn Landes (3:06)

10. “Preachin’ the Blues” Barbara Kessler (3:50)

11. “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out” Hanne Hukkelberg (3:28)

12. “It Won’t Be You” Holly Golightly (2:23)

13. “Hot Spring Blues” Alessi’s Ark & Scott Verbeek (2:43)

14. “Baby Doll” Jesca Hoop (3:01)

15. “Backwater Blues” Abigail Washburn (3:47)

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas

Executive Producer: George Sampas

Co-Produced by David Greenberg and Tom Waltz 

Mastered by Tom Waltz at Waltz Mastering

Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute To Bob Dylan’s ‘Bringing It All Back Home

On its original release, “Bringing It All Back Home,” was a delicious and challenging step into the unknown, a platter that carried Dylan from the cultish fringes to the popular mainstream. Released in March 1965, it hit #1 on the UK charts and was his first Top 10 album in the US. Dylan’s song writing clearly stepped up a gear with this album simultaneously presenting a caustic cocktail of spiky emotions and an outpouring of angst that in many ways, signaled the end of that Greenwich Village coffee house career.

This new tribute album was produced by Jim Sampas whose work includes recent Billboard Heatseeker #1 album Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard - One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur (Atlantic Records), Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (Sub Pop) w/ Johnny Cash, Aimee Mann, Ben Harper and others and This Bird Has Flown: A Tribute to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul (Razor & Tie) w/ Sufjan Stevens, Ted Leo, Fiery Furnaces, Low and others.

On choosing artists for the album Jim said, “To say this album was groundbreaking is to put it mildly. It inspired The Beatles and so many other artists, to change their whole perspective on the art of songwriting. This was also Dylan’s moment of “going electric” with a full band on side one, a bold approach that caused much controversy within the folk community at the time. In selecting artists, I sought out people whose music also pushes boundaries and song writing has a personal, true to life feel. I far exceeded any of my expectations, my favorite indie artists have created incredibly inventive new renderings, while still managing to bottle that distinctive Dylan grit we all know and love.”

In keeping with the original album which had “electric” recordings with full band on side one and “acoustic” on side two, Sampas had the artists on the first half of this album record ‘electrically’ and those on second half all ‘acoustically.” 

Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan's 'Bringing It All Back Home' Track Listing

1 "Subterranean Homesick Blues" Peter Moren 3:31

2 "She Belongs To Me" Ane Brun 4:46

3 "Maggie's Farm" Castanets 3:40

4 "Love Minus Zero" Mirah 3:46

5 "Outlaw Blues" The Morning Benders 4:00

6 "On The Road Again" Julie Doiron 3:35

7 "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" Asobi Seksu 4:14

8 "Mr. Tambourine Man" The Helio Sequence 5:42  

9 "Gates Of Eden" DM Stith 6:10

10 "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" Franz Nicolay 6:18

11 "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" Sholi 3:28

12 "If You've Gotta Go, Go Now" (Bonus Track) J. Tillman 3:46

13 "Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence" (Bonus Track) Sea Wolf 4:23

14 "I'll Keep It With Mine" (Bonus Track) Denison Witmer 4:13

15 "Mama, You've Been On My Mind" (Bonus Track) Laura Veirs 2:36

16 "Farewell Angelina" (Bonus Track) William Fitzsimmons 5:13

17 "California" (Bonus Track) Will Dailey 3:15

18 "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Bonus Track) [Electric Version] Sholi 4:36

Preview and purchase album on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Produced by Jim Sampas

Executive Producer: George Sampas 

Mastered by Ivo Matos

A leading light of the maverick pack of ‘50s writers who forged the Beat Generation, whose works sparked the cultural revolution of the ‘60s, Jack Kerouac is best known for his exhilarating lust for life, distilling his adventures and his hopes in a series of high-octane novels. While the image of Kerouac as a freewheeling spirit of the open road has endured, his novel, Tristessa reveals his obsession with the darker recesses of human experience. 

The New York Times has described Kerouac’s Tristessa as "truthful, entertaining and honest...with Kerouac voyaging in Mexico City, running into a Mexican girl. Her story is heroin...descriptions of hallucination, riding around town in cabs, street surveying, people who have given up on life as we know it." In the grand scheme of the Kerouac canon, Tristessa stands between the adventures recounted in On The Road and his emotional breakdown chronicled in Big Sur. 

For Reimagine Music’s Esperanza: Songs From Jack Kerouac’s Tristessa, 19 acclaimed singer-songwriters and bands create songs inspired by Jack Kerouac's bittersweet novella: William Fitzsimmons, Tim & Adam, Gregory Alan Isakov, Peter Bradley Adams, Alela Diane, Wintersleep, Marissa Nadler, Joshua James, Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth), Hey Rosetta!, Will Dailey, Willy Mason, Matt Costa, The Low Anthem, Neal McCarthy with Barbara Kessler, and Tony Dekker with Hanne Hukkelberg. 

Set in the seething cauldron of Mexico City in the 1950’s, a termite hill of the devotional and the damned, the novel follows Kerouac’s love affair with Tristessa, a morphine-addicted prostitute. 60 years after Kerouac’s doomed tryst, an eclectic group of artists respond to this underappreciated novella, adapting its themes to music, adopting Kerouac’s very words into lyrics. Kerouac scholars have since found Esperanza was the given name of Jack’s prostitute, Tristessa, pointing the way to the titling of this release.

"I had a sense that the darkness of Kerouac’s Tristessa could become the perfect palette for the right artists, that they might channel the bleak emotions of the novel into something vivid and intense, which I had known them to do so brilliantly in their own life and work” says album producer Jim Sampas. “But I also wanted a few songs influenced by the light Kerouac wrote of, underscoring his, Kerouac’s, urge to live within and beyond the despair he found in Mexico. Some created their pieces using the text as lyrics; others found inspiration within the subtext of the novel itself. What I hoped to achieve was a discovery, pointing folks toward this lesser known Kerouac novel while placing their finger on the pulse of the absolute best in indie rock.”

Sampas’ other Kerouac works includes Big Sur, a critically acclaimed 2013 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection starring Jean-Marc Barr, Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas, Anthony Edwards, Radha Mitchell with a score composed by Aaron and Bryse Dessner of The National, One Fast Move documentary featuring Tom Waits, Sam Shepard, and Patti Smith, the soundtrack for that film with Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard, and Kerouac--kicks joy darkness with Allen Ginsberg, Eddie Vedder, William Burroughs, Johnny Depp, Jeff Buckley, and others.

Esperanza: Songs from Jack Kerouac's Tristessa Track Listing

1. William Fitzsimmons & Tim & Adam - "First Page of Kerouac's Tristessa"
2. Tim & Adam - "Billie Holiday Eyes"
3. Gregory Alan Isakov - "O' City Lights"
4. Peter Bradley Adams - "She Has to Come Down"
5. Alela Diane - "We Are Nothing"
6. Wintersleep - "Father Time"
7. Marissa Nadler - "Tristessa's Song"
8. Joshua James - "Esperanza (Spanish Version)"
9. Lee Ranaldo - "Middle Page of Kerouac's Tristessa"
10. Will Dailey - "Broke My Calm"
11. Hey Rosetta! - "Sad Animals"
12. Willy Mason - "I Have Known Love"
13. Matt Costa - "Shadows of Autumn"
14. The Low Anthem - "Numbers in Nirvana"
15. Neal McCarthy & Barbara Kessler - "Esperanza (English Version)"
16. Tony Dekker & Hanne Hukkelberg - "Last Page of Kerouac's Tristessa" 

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For Reimagine AudioBooks, William Fitzsimmons read an abridged version of Tristessa by Jack Kerouac. More info here.

Produced by Jim Sampas

Executive Producer: George Sampas

Co-Produced by David Greenberg and Tom Waltz 

Mastered by Tom Waltz at Waltz Mastering

A leading light of the maverick pack of ‘50s writers who forged the Beat Generation, whose works sparked the cultural revolution of the ‘60s, Jack Kerouac is best known for his exhilarating lust for life, distilling his adventures and his hopes in a series of high-octane novels. While the image of Kerouac as a freewheeling spirit of the open road has endured, his novel, Tristessa reveals his obsession with the darker recesses of human experience. Known as one of today's most celebrated highly indie rock songwriters, William Fitzsimmons shows a gift for spoken word reading. 

Executive Producer: Jim Sampas

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!

Out November 20, 2020!

There has been no band so rapturous nor so crucial as The Beatles. In the mid-1960s, The Beatles released Rubber Soul and Revolver, tight bundles of songs whose impact was immediate. Manifest in each album was a wave of influence, a new set of recording standards—these albums marked the group’s transition from the land of rock into the realm of art, ensuring their ascent into legend.

Goodbye My Love introduces emerging musical innovator Frankie Siragusa, as he creates a Beatles record from an archive of songs written by members of The Beatles for other artists of the era. "Most of these pieces were never recorded by The Beatles themselves—but what if they had been?” This question drives Siragusa as he performs, records, and mixes each track of the collection. Inspired by the group’s creative and innovative studio work, Siragusa's choice of instruments mirrors The Beatles' own. He even goes so far as to steer away from modern 48-plus track recording technology, limiting himself instead to only 4-track recording, as The Beatles themselves had done. He performs the songs alongside Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (Jellyfish, Beck), Keith Slettedahl (The 88, Ray Davies Band), and David Myhr.

Reimagine founder Jim Sampas says of these three projects: “Great art is malleable, and these new interpretations are reaffirming and multi-faceted. They allow us to experience the genius of The Beatles’ seminal work from a fresh perspective, and this youthful approach will serve to introduce these iconic songs to yet another, younger generation. Then from across the universe comes the icing on the cake—The Lost Songs project. These are Beatles songs that most people have never, ever, heard. The approach that Frankie Siragusa has taken, keeping true to The Beatles’ esthetic and assembling the perfect vocalists for this project, will make this a major discovery the world over.”

Frankie Siragusa Plays: Goodbye My Love - Lost Songs of The Beatles Covered and Rediscovered with special guests: Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (Jellyfish, Beck), Keith Slettedahl (The 88, Ray Davies Band), and David Myhr.

1. Thingumybob

2. I'm In Love

3. I'll Be On My Way

4. Bad To Me

5. It's For You

6. A World Without Love

7. Woman

8. I'll Keep You Satisfied

9. Like Dreamers Do

10. Sour Milk Sea

11. Step Inside Love

12. I Don't Want To See You Again

13. Goodbye

14. Penina  

Preview and purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere digital music is sold!    

Produced by Frankie Siragusa

Executive Producers: Jim Sampas and George Sampas