Columbia Records will release Twelve, the eagerly-anticipated album of "cover" versions of classic popular songs newly interpreted by the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Patti Smith, on Tuesday, April 17.
Twelve is Patti Smith’s first album of new studio recordings since trampin’, her Columbia Records debut, was released in 2004, and is the artist’s first-ever full-length collection of songs originally created by other performers.
On Twelve, Patti Smith and her band — Lenny Kaye (guitar), Jay Dee Daugherty (drums) and Tony Shanahan (bass, keyboards) — work their magic on a surprising selection of classic songs and overlooked treasures from the rock & roll canon including "Pastime Paradise" by Stevie Wonder, "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears for Fears and "Helpless" by Neil Young. Also on Twelve, Smith and company interpret songs by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, the Doors, Nirvana, Jefferson Airplane, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, and Paul Simon.
An assortment of guest artists appear with Patti on Twelve including Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima; playwright Sam Shepard (with whom Patti collaborated on "Cowboy Mouth" in 1971) on banjo; early 60s Greenwich Village folk artists John Cohen (banjo) and Peter Stampfel (fiddle); Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea; Television guitarist Tom Verlaine; the Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson on slide guitar and dulcimer; hip-hop producer Luis Resto (Eminem) on keyboards. Patti’s son, Jackson, and daughter, Jesse, are on-hand to contribute guitar and vocal respectively.
