Anthony Toner releases first in a series of acoustic albums

Anthony Toner’s eleventh CD, which was released earlier this year, is an intimate and personal affair – a collection of ten songs originally recorded by other artists, which for various reasons have been special favourites of his over the years.

By Julie-Ann Spence

Published 22nd Jul 2020, 14:21 BST

As the title would suggest, Anthony hopes that Ghost Notes, Vol 1. is the first in a series of these largely acoustic albums, taking songs made famous by everyone from Van Morrison to Jim Reeves and giving them a new coat of paint.

Early reaction to pre-release tracks ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ and ‘She Gives Me Religion’ – originally recorded by Van Morrison and Candi Staton respectively - has been strong, and the remainder of the album features songs by Chrissie Hynde, Rickie Lee Jones and Steve Earle, among others.

“I grew up listening to my mum and dad’s rock & roll and country & western records,” explained Anthony, “and I absorbed a lot of that music before I made my own teenage discoveries of singer songwriters, hard rock, jazz, New Wave, all of those things. So my musical DNA contains as much Charley Pride and Elvis Presley as The Pretenders and Van Morrison.”

The album is out now.