Naomi Campbell Delivers Beautiful Folk-Acoustic Debut Single ‘Tuesday News’
If you’re going to kick off a solo musical career, you may as well do it in the birthplace of rock and roll. That’s how things worked out for Naomi Campbell anyway, when she wrapped up 2023 recording her songs at the famous Sun Studio in Memphis. It’s a spot that has played host to a fair few musicians in its time – only the likes of Elvis and Johnny Cash, mind.
This was a watershed trip for Campbell, who found herself soaking up decades of musical history, rubbing shoulders with fellow artists and playing shows all across Nashville, including a headline slot at the South Main Sounds festival. You could hardly ask for a better testing ground for her brand new single Tuesday’s News, which comes out today.
Not that it’s Campbell’s first rodeo. Since moving to Liverpool from Co. Tyrone a decade back, she’s been playing in Americana outfit Motel Sundown, by now a staple fixture of the city’s live scene. The trio fell together almost accidentally, improvising off the cuff before they realised that far from being a cluster of wayward solo musicians, they were a pretty tight unit, with a smoky, soulful blues sound tailor-made for Liverpool’s darkest basements.
Now Tuesday’s News finds Campbell striking out on her own, with further material to follow over the coming months. While she likens Tuesday’s News to some of the more stripped-back Motel Sundown tracks, this project is mostly intended as a way to channel the spirit of her favourite Laurel Canyon artists, such as David Crosby and James Taylor.
As well as Texan musician John Calvin Abney on piano, the song features guitar from Motel Sundown’s Robert Johnson, who was drafted in for some troubleshooting. “I wanted originally to try the style of a Doobie Brothers song called Toulouse Street with layered acoustics, but that didn’t work,” she reflects. “I asked Rob to come up with a lower sounding tuned-down acoustic guitar part and that’s how the track ended up sounding as it did.”
Despite these elements of collaboration, Tuesday’s News is a deeply personal venture, switching up the trademark harmonies of Motel Sundown for a more isolated, exposed-sounding vocal. She wrote it back home in Tyrone one Christmas after having watched news footage about a serious incident in Liverpool. Seeing the tragedy unfold from a distance placed her in a sombre, reflective mode, forcing her to confront the fragility of life. “The song is based on feeling a bit removed from reality,” she reflects, “and how we can sometimes find fault with such small things when there’s lots more to be grateful for.”
As a lyricist, Campbell keeps her cards fairly close to her chest. The song doesn’t seek to spell out the details of the news story, or offer any moral commentary: its focus instead is the deep emotional imprint that it left on her. There’s a lingering mood of disquiet, heightened by the song’s earthy production, as well as the rasping texture of her vocal – as though we’re catching her at a vulnerable moment. “It’s a bit more revealing and I went for a lo-fi home recording sound to really catch the authenticity and natural sound of the guitars,” she adds.
A plea to take stock and embrace the moment, Tuesday’s News is a sobering yet life-affirming slice of acoustic folk. Head to Leaf on 25 April where you can hear it in real time.
Stream Tuesday News here.
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Orla Foster
