DISNEY•PIXAR'S "CARS 3" FUELS TWO SOUNDTRACKS

As Lightning McQueen heads to the big screen alongside his new tech-savvy trainer Cruz Ramirez, Disney•Pixar's " Cars 3" fuels two soundtrack releases, both available from Walt Disney Records on June 16 via Baker & Taylor as the film opens in theaters nationwide. The Cars 3 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, features eight tracks, including original songs by Dan Auerbach and ZZ Ward, four covers by various artists, and two instrumental tracks from Brad Paisley. The Cars 3 Original Score Composed and Conducted by Randy Newman reunites the "Cars" franchise with the Oscar-winning composer.

Both soundtracks are available for pre-order now.

"Lightning McQueen is on the journey of a lifetime—traveling cross-country, revisiting the past and looking into his own heart and soul to answer some big questions," said "Cars 3" director Brian Fee. "Just like the music in the first two 'Cars' movies, the songs and score in this film really help support the story we are telling."

     

CARS 3 ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
The Cars 3 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features "Run That Race," an original song written and performed by nine-time Grammy® winner Dan Auerbach that can be heard as the movie opens. "The song is about never giving up and always trying your best," said Auerbach, who met with filmmakers prior to penning the song. "They showed me the storyboards and ran through the plot. I was able to read some of the dialogue and from there I had enough to piece together a story in my mind for the song."

Auerbach, of the band The Black Keys,  will release Waiting on a Song, his second solo album, on June 2 via his new label, Easy Eye Sound.
 
The soundtrack also features "Ride," an original end-credit song performed by Hollywood Records artist ZZ Ward, featuring musician Gary Clark Jr. Written by Ward, Evan Bogart and Dave Bassett, the song was released by Walt Disney Records as a digital single on April 14. It was performed live by Ward April 17 on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." Ward's sophomore album, The Storm, will be released June 30.

The soundtrack also features four cover songs, including two bonus tracks.*

• "Kings Highway," originally released in 1991 by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, makes a comeback courtesy of 23-year-old British singer-songwriter James Bay.
• Bruce Springsteen's 1984 hit "Glory Days" gets a modern-day makeover by Grammy-nominated performer Andra Day, who voices Sweet Tea in the film, a performer in the Cotter Pin with a hairstyle reminiscent of Day's signature look.  
• *The Beatles' classic 1965 song "Drive My Car" is back on the road, compliments of Hollywood Records artist Jorge Blanco.
• *"Freeway of Love," made famous in 1985 by Aretha Franklin, is performed for the soundtrack by actress Lea DeLaria, who also provides the voice of Miss Fritter, a school bus-turned-demolition-derby-queen in "Cars 3."

Three-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist and entertainer Brad Paisley, who has 24 No. 1 singles under his belt, was called on to create two instrumental tracks that are featured on the Cars 3 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. "Truckaroo" and "Thunder Hollow Breakdown" accompany the film's action-packed Crazy 8 demolition derby sequence that puts Lightning and Cruz in the midst of total chaos. "Brad Paisley was part of both 'Cars' and 'Cars 2,'" said Tom MacDougall, executive vice president of music at Disney. "We knew he could have some fun with a demolition derby, and he just killed it. His down-home country tracks really add to the scene's action and humor."

From Walt Disney Records, the Cars 3 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is available June 16 and can be pre-ordered via Baker & Taylor's Title Source 360 ordering platform.

CARS 3 ORIGINAL SCORE SOUNDTRACKNewman, who was behind the Oscar-winning music in Disney·Pixar's "Toy Story 3" and "Monsters, Inc.," composed the score for the first "Cars" movie and penned the Oscar-nominated song "Our Town." For "Cars 3," Newman created a score that reflects the heart and high-octane action of the film—21 tracks are included on the soundtrack. "Randy has a real connection to the 'Cars' world," says MacDougall. "His ability to capture the feeling of this film, its characters, locations and the Americana theme throughout is extraordinary—the music is so naturally fluid and inspired. It really feels like Randy is coming home with this score."

Newman used a 110-piece orchestra to record the score. The Cars 3 Original Score Composed and Conducted by Randy Newman is available June 16 from Walt Disney Records and can be pre-ordered now.

THE PRETENDERS RETURN WITH NEW ALBUM, ALONE, ON OCTOBER 21

The Pretenders has announced the release of its long-awaited new album. ALONE (out via BMG)
arrives everywhere on October 21 and is available for pre-order now with B&T,The complete album tracklisting is below. And, the album's electrifying first single LISTEN TO "HOLY COMMOTION" below.

ALONE was recorded with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Studio in Nashville and mixed by Tchad Blake (The Black Keys, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson). The  album was initially conceived as follow-up to legendary bandleader Chrissie Hynde's acclaimed 2014 solo debut, STOCKHOLM, but as its songs and sonics took shape, the collection soon revealed itself as the first all new Pretenders LP since 2008's BREAK UP THE CONCRETE.

ALONE sees the one and only Hynde backed by a team of what she proudly calls "real people playing real instruments," helmed by the multi-talented Auerbach and featuring Nashville session luminaries including bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Sturgill Simpson), pedal steel pioneer Russ Pahl (Blake Shelton, Don Williams, Luke Bryan), and guitarist Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne), as well as keyboardist Leon Michels and drummer Richard Swift - both charter members of Auerbach's adventurous garage rock combo The Arcs.Hynde and Auerbach made for ideal foils, two idiosyncratic songwriter/musicians each possessing a deep knowledge and even deeper love of rock 'n' roll, both of course hailing from the City of Invention itself, Akron, Ohio. Though neither remain, Akron continues to inform both artists' work, the Rubber City's long history of progressivism and ingenuity, hard work and musical experimentation, are all very much present in their first full-length collaboration. ALONE indeed bears all the trademarks of the Pretenders' legendary canon - raw and rollicking riffs, poignant balladry, taut hooks and indelible melodies, all in service of Hynde's heartworn, ever-unsentimental songcraft. Nearly four decades on from The Pretenders' epochal 1980 debut album, Hynde's instantly identifiable voice is perhaps more emotional, more aggressive than at any other time in her career as all the vocals were recorded in 48 hours. That extra bit of edge only serves to add fire to new Pretenders classics like the brutally candid "I Hate Myself" and the defiant title track, a spiky rocker that sees Hynde extolling the joys and virtues of solitude."We were in the studio hanging out," Hynde says, "and the guys were talking about their families and their wives and I said, 'Well, I do everything alone. I go to  the cinema alone. I go to restaurants alone. I live alone. I pretty much do everything on my own. I don't mind.' Dan says, 'Write a song about it.' "The more I thought about it," she continues, "I thought, I've heard 1,000 songs  in my life, they're all about, I am so tired of being alone. I can't live without you. Since you've left my world has fallen apart. When am I going to see you again? Marry me and be with me for the rest of my life. I have never heard anyone celebrate being alone in a song. I couldn't think of one."

The Arcs Release "Outta My Mind" Video - WATCH

The Arcs, whose debut album, Yours, Dreamily, was released last week on Nonesuch Records, have unveiled the video for the album's first single, "Outta My Mind." The video, directed by Nick Walker, premiered on The Huffington Post, which says of the album: "A dreamy gift of garage blues wrapped in fuzzy, soulful guitar, the album is a refreshing shift from Auerbach that you'll want to keep on repeat all weekend long." You can watch the video below from B&T:



Yours, Dreamily, is New York NPR member station WFUV's New Dig of the week."Since the paths of these musicians have crossed many times over the years, they have a natural rapport," WFUV's Darren DeVivo writes of the band: Dan Auerbach, Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, and Nick Movshon. "Synthetic, electronic grooves, augmented by a smattering of loops and samples, weave in and out of the album. Auerbach’s elastic vocals are at the core while his wiry guitar buzzes and twirls around funky retro-‘70s melodies ... [I]t’s pretty clear that the guitarist, singer and songwriter relishes the chance to show an entirely different side of his rock ‘n’ roll temperament."