Lori McKenna is sharing her gift for songwriting through her new album.
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On July 21, hit songwriter McKenna will release her new album, 1988. The 10-track project sees her co-writing all of the songs alongside some of her trusted songwriting collaborators including Hillary Lindsey, Luke Laird and Barry Dean. The album is named in honor of the year McKenna married her husband, Gene McKenna. The two met when they were in the third grade and share five children.
“As a love letter to her family and lifelong friendships…McKenna reflects on the experiences, lessons and relationships from her past 35 years,” describes a press release. But her husband isn’t the only family connection she channels into the album, as the prolific songwriter co-wrote “Happy Children” with her son, Chris McKenna.
She’s also shared the song, “Killing Me,” featuring Lindsey. Over the years, the two have co-written such hits as “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town, “Cry Pretty” by Carrie Underwood and the Grammy-nominated “Always Remember Us This Way” off the A Star is Born soundtrack.
“I was trying to let my age and experience guide me through making a record I wished I’d made when I was younger,” McKenna explains. “I really wanted it to sound like if I made a rock record in the ’90s, and then I remembered that I made my first album in 1998. There’s something so 30 years ago in my head about this record. In a way, I wish I could start again and know what I know now.”
To celebrate the album, McKenna will headline The Town in Your Heart Tour. The trek kicks off on July 20 at World Café Live in Philadelphia and concludes on August 26 at Space in Evanston, Illinois. Along the way, she’ll makes stops in Nashville, New York, Atlanta and other cities.
Most recently, she collaborated with Laird and Dean on the three-part album, The Songwriter Tapes.
Lori McKenna The Town in Your Heart Tour Dates
July 20—Philadelphia, PA—World Café Live
July 21—New York, NY—City Winery
July 23—Rockport, MA—Shalin Liu Performance Center
July 28—Brownfield, ME—Stone Mountain Arts Center
July 29—Groton, MA—Groton Hill Music Center
July 30—Woodstock, NY—Levon Helm Studio
August 5—Nashville, TN—The CMA Theater
August 6—Atlanta, GA—City Winery
August 23—Homer, NY—Center for the Arts of Homer
August 24—Cleveland, OH—Music Box Supper Club
August 25—Ann Arbor, MI—The Ark
August 26—Evanston, IL—Space
Photo by Jackie Butler/Getty Images
