Events

[ROCK] Haven’t you ever wanted to take a second crack at something? Maybe a first date or a presentation you had to give for work… even a chance at a different career? Artists also sometimes yearn for do-overs, and it’s one reason why so many musicians say they don’t often listen back to old recordings.

After compiling the 2012 career-spanning box set, Strange Euphoria, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson yearned for a second crack at some aspects of their back catalog. They eventually settled on a half dozen tracks originally released on a trio of albums chronologically lodged between Heart’s two highest (and very different sounding) commercial peaks in the 1970s and 1980s.

The resulting six re-records—fortified with Paul Buckmaster’s string arrangements—comprise more than half of Beautiful Broken, (July 8, Concord), and the ensuing tour (which features fellow R’n’R Hall of Famers Cheap Trick and Joan Jett) pulls into Darien Lake on Wednesday, July 27. Calling from outside Detroit on the eve of launching the tour, Ann Wilson expressed great satisfaction with the project, which also features a new song written by Ne-Yo and an updated b-side.

“Our craw was just full of songs from the past that never got fully realized, and it’s been great to come around and take a shot at them from a more settled place,” she said. “We’re talking about material that was written and recorded at a really busy time in our lives—ironically, so busy that the music began taking a backseat. There were lots of others we considered… all kinds of deep tracks, too many to salvage. But the ones we chose to redo had to have a certain energy.”

Beautiful Broken is Heart’s fourth studio record in 12 years, alongside the above mentioned box set, Wilson’s 2007 solo disc, the memoir Kicking and Dreaming, and a pair of live DVDs. It’s unusual for a band to release so much material this late into a career, and even rarer for it to be well received by critics and fans alike. Despite this, Heart sticks to a roster of classics on tour, performing only one or two new songs a show.

“We love performing new material, but we also understand why people love coming to see us,” she said. “I mean, if I went to see the Eagles, you better believe I’d want to hear “Lyin’ Eyes.” The really frustrating thing would be if we busted out a whole new lineup of songs and people were just bored and went to get a beer. I’d rather have the opportunity to put one new song across to the whole crowd than a bunch of them to folks that have stopped listening. “

Outside of her one solo album, Wilson’s remained married to Heart, both creatively and personally. Until recently, that is. While Heart gets a second chance at some older material, she’s enjoying some second chances of her own. Last year, she married Dean Wetter on the eve of her 65th birthday, a man she dated briefly in the 1980s—her first marriage despite raising two adopted kids. With Wetter’s help, she also launched a side project, The Ann Wilson Thing (aka T.A.W.T.), which just released a second EP, Focus. Both forays have rejuvenated her zeal for life and performing.

“The Ann Wilson Thing was our idea as a couple, we didn’t ride on the coattails of Heart,” she said. “It challenges me as a singer and helps me as a songwriter. This man really does support all my endeavors—he’s an idealist and a rebel rouser. You can imagine, 40 years of touring with Heart and just banging it out, night after night, giving all of myself to the band. I was able to raise my kids, but I never had a husband. It seemed fine, I found ways to make it okay. But to be half of a team—I love this man so much, I don’t want to think about anything other than the current moment. We have a really beautiful life.”