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Release Date: May 19, 2023 |
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“Matthew Scott has the winning double-barreled combo of looks and voice that compel you.”
–Peter Marks, Washington Post
“Touching, personal, and vulnerable. Scott [weaves] the stories of his life in the years after losing his father all the way through college, meeting his wife, his Broadway career, all the way up to becoming a father himself, using songs from musicals and 80's pop to carry [us] along and safely deposit us at the end, feeling enlivened and refreshed by a real story told in just one hour.”
–Broadway World
“In The Jesus Year, you’ll curl up with each song as with a good book. And in a world that seems always to be spinning out of control, each observation is like an indispensable survival guide, a step-by-step instruction manual on how to be a son, a father, a husband, a fully-formed human being. His story, his show, and his songs, like all the best art, are not merely the grace notes of life, but the very stuff and truth of love that, thanks to this recording, we can all learn by heart.”
–Rick Elice (from the liner notes)
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Matthew Scott
The Jesus Year - A Letter From My Dad
The period of crisis and rebirth that can arrive at age 33 is often called the Jesus Year. For Matthew Scott’s father, it manifested in a sinking feeling that he might not live to see his four young sons grow up. So he began writing them a letter – life lessons ranging from sex to communication to spirituality – that was found after his death, when Scott was only 13. For Scott, the letter became a cherished guide to growing up while he navigated intimate relationships, his professional career, challenges with anxiety and the early years of fatherhood to two sons of his own. In December 2021, Scott – who had by then taken Broadway by storm in a string of hits that included Sondheim on Sondheim, Jersey Boys and An American in Paris – wove his father‘s letter, anecdotes from his own life and a collection of classic pop and Broadway songs (from Paul McCartney and Billy Joel to William Finn and Stephen Sondheim) into a moving and rousing one-man show. With Joe Calarco directing and music director Vadim Feichtner at the piano, The Jesus Year premiered at Merkin Hall to ecstatic applause and acclaim, prompting further engagements at the O’Neill Center and 54 Below. Now, The Jesus Year: a letter from my dad – newly expanded orchestrally, with arrangements written specifically for this recording by John Baxindine – has been preserved on disc by PS Classics. This deeply personal exploration of the bonds between fathers and sons soars on Scott’s “winning double-barreled combo of looks and voice” (The Washington Post). Brimming with levity and pathos, the album Scott calls “a gift to my boys” is about living, the meaning to be found in it, and the joy to be mined by surrounding yourself with love and laughter – lessons Scott learned from the letter left to him by his dad.
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- Prologue: Oh, Very Young
- The World According to Snoopy
- I Went Fishing With My Dad
- “A yellow legal pad...”
- Oh, Very Young
- “My mom and dad met when they were just kids…”
- Our Day Will Come
- “My older brothers were popular...”
- Captain Jack
- “I never got the whole birds and the bees speech…”
- You’re My Home
- “The 33rd year of life...”
- There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You
- "I've got a crisis at work..."
- Dreams Go By
- Souvenir
- “The twenty minute drive to the hospital...”
- When the Earth Stopped Turning
- “I feel balls...”
- Calico Skies
- Children Will Listen
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