Norah Jones Enlists Indie Stars For New Album

Norah Jones has announced that she will release her fourth studio album in November.

That news alone might not be too exciting for some, but the fact that the singer-songwriter enlisted the help of Will Shef (Okkervil River) and Ryan Adams to co-write much of the music and also rounded up an all-star cast of musicians from Tom Waits’ 1999 Mule Variations album can only add an extra bit of excitement/interest to what looks to be a more indie, less jazzy Norah Jones this time around.

Indie rock producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse, Tom Waits) also worked on the unnamed album.

“I got in touch with Jacquire initially because he engineered one of my favorite records of all time, Tom Waits’ Mule Variation,” Jones said in a statement. “He was really eager to do it and we got along really well, which was important.”

The new album will be the follow-up to 2007’s Not Too Late.

“I think the record sounds different due to the variety of musicians we used,” Jones said. “I knew I wanted to play with grooves more than I have on previous albums. Some of these new songs lent themselves to having driving rhythms underneath.”

Among the talented group of musicians playing on her new recordings are drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green) and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer).

“I knew I wanted to try some different things on this album,” said Jones.

“I’d been playing with the same musicians for a long time. We’re all still friendly and I hope we play together again, but it felt like a good time to work with new people and experiment with different sounds.”

Also sharing his songwriting talents on the new album is frequent collaborator Jesse Harris, who wrote Jones’ big, 2002 hit “Don’t Know Why.”

Without having heard one note from the upcoming album, let’s at least give Jones credit for expanding her musical horizons; there’s nothing wrong with the super successful brand of jazzy-pop she’s clearly mastered, but mixing it up with such a talented circle of new sidemen and songwriters is a nice change of pace for Jones and no doubt should result in some exciting music.

More info regarding Jones’ upcoming album – from Blue Note – is expected soon.

What do you think about Norah Jones’ new musical direction?