Widely acclaimed US singer-songwriter Diana Jones has announced the re-issue of her critically lauded 2009 album Better Times Will Come – Reimagined & Remastered on April 7th 2023, to mark the 15th anniversary of its recording. Diana and studio engineer Steve Addabbo (Bob Dylan) reimagined the album mixes and the running order while adding a previously unreleased song ‘Call Me Daddy' from the sessions. The new version of the title track, “Better Times Will Come”, featuring harmony vocals by Diana’s friend, the late Nanci Griffith and a newly found additional chorus, is out now. Its abiding message remains so timely, given the hardships of recent years and those still being felt today. You can check out the track below. To coincide with the release on April 7th on CD, Digital and, for the first time, vinyl via Proper Records. Diana will embark on a UK/IE tour to coincide, commencing April 14th, where she will play the entire album plus selected songs from throughout her career. More about Diana Jones, the album and the tour follows:

Diana’s personal commentary on Better Times Will Come – Reimagined & Remastered:

After the release of my first record, My Remembrance of You, in 2006 I found myself on the road over 200 days a year. Luckily I was writing in between solo tours, opening a Richard Thompson tour, and working with artists like Nick Lowe and Seasick Steve. I recorded my first BBC4 television special and did BBC radio with luminaries Bob Harris and Ricky Ross. When I was ready to record Better Times Will Come Joan Baez was already slated to record “Henry Russell’s Last Words” on her record, Day After Tomorrow.

During the summer of 2008 I took three days off from touring and joined a stellar band of musicians and friends at Signature Sounds Studio in Promfret, CT to record Better Times Will Come with Mark Thayer who also co-produced and engineered My Remembrance of You. Of course I arrived with what my British friends would call “a stinking cold” tanked up on cold meds but by then even the newer songs were reflex after performing them night after night and recording felt like pressing play supported by a stellar line up of musicians including the instinctive and versatile Duke Levine on all manner of strings. We tracked most of the record in three days and then Nanci Griffith and Mary Gauthier’s harmony vocals and Ketch Secor’s snake handling solo on the song “Something Crossed Over” were recorded in Nashville.

During the pandemic more than one friend/fan suggested re-releasing Better Times Will Come and folks had been asking for vinyl for a long time. This winter I revisited the tracks with Grammy Award winning producer and studio engineer Steve Addabbo and together we reimagined the record choosing different mixes of some of the songs and remastered everything. A track I’d forgotten about, “Call Me Daddy,” was recorded in the original session but left off the record so Steve and I included it and arranged the songs in a slightly different order.

On the fifteenth anniversary of recording Better Times Will Come the songs have gained new meaning for me personally and in terms of the state of a post-Covid world. Bush II was president when I wrote the title track, and all these years later the sentiment of better times is sadly still even more relevant. The war in Iraq is now the war in Ukraine, the US is still recovering from a more disastrous presidency, Nanci Griffith has sadly left us too soon. The song “‘Evangelina” which The Guardian called me a ‘hillbilly feminist’ for writing has a companion ‘Me Too’ song in “Call Me Daddy.” “The Day I Die” now makes me think of the endless Covid losses we endured together while staying apart from each other during the long year or so.

The other part of the story is vinyl. I grew up on it. At fifteen I left home and lived with grown up hippies who had been to Woodstock and had an amazing vinyl collection. And they let me us their stereo. It’s where I was introduced to Odetta and Joan Baez, Janis Ian and Tom Paxton. Many of the artists I would meet and work with later on. So finally having a record out on vinyl means a lot to me. I hope you all enjoy it.

Tour Dates:

14-Apr Topsham The Bridge Inn

15-Apr Taunton Churchinford Village Hall

16-Apr Twickenham TwickFolk

18-Apr Birmingham Kitchen Garden Café

20-Apr Glasgow Glad Café

21-Apr Newcastle-upon-Tyne Cluny2 Theatre

22-Apr Redmile St Peter's Church

25-Apr Barrow upon Soar Holy Trinity

26-Apr Bristol Hen & Chicken

27-Apr Hassocks Mid Sussex Music Hall

28-Apr Thame Listening Room @ Cross Keys

29-Apr Basingstoke The Forge

02-May London The Slaughtered Lamb

03-May Belfast Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

04-May Dublin The Workmans Club Cellar

Tickets on sale: www.dianajonesmusic.com

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