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To be released September 2011

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‘Home On The Range’ is a benefit compilation CD presented by the 501(c)(3) non profit organization CFEI. All proceeds from the sale of this CD are donated to a collective of farm animal sanctuaries including Woodstock Sanctuary, Happy Trails, Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Animal Acres and Kindred Spirits. These organizations rescue, feed, provide safe shelter and care for abused and neglected farm animals.

The benefit CD features eco-friendly packaging and includes “Compassion 101”, an exclusive accompanying educational booklet and resource guide. Simply by purchasing this music you are helping protect the lives of thousands of cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, turkeys, horses and rabbits. Home On The Range will be available in selected retail stores as well as a download via iTunes and Amazon.

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Forrest Hartman, Reno Gazette-Journal

3 stars out of 4

Singer-songwriter and Broadway actress Nellie McKay has often been compared to Doris Day so it seems natural to do a tribute album. Of course, McKay is more accurately described as Doris-Day-meets-Eminem because she leavens her pop songs by rapping and dropping the F-bomb. So how to get this edge and remain true to the spirit of one of Hollywood’s most beloved sweethearts?

McKay pulls it off with stellar arrangements that hop from style to style and also by avoiding obvious choices like “Que Sera Sera” in favor of songs that rarely appear on Day collections like “Do Do Do” and “Dig It.”

McKay’s playful spirit breathes freshness into the jazz standard “Crazy Rhythm.” And, blasphemy, I prefer McKay’s “Mean to Me” to Billie Holiday’s.

I dare anyone, without checking the writing credits, to tell which song is a Nellie original that she wrote as a teenager.

Some are calling this McKay’s best album. I prefer her three previous CDs, but this is her most mainstream and it’s a slice of sunshine.

 

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By Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg.com

This weekend is your last chance to attend one of the weirdest, most remarkable performance pieces I’ve ever seen.

The unlikely venue is the tony Park Avenue cabaret Feinstein’s at the Regency. Singer-songwriter Nellie McKay’s roots are in jazz and her voice is one of clarion beauty. She approaches the small stage and sings an upbeat fragment from Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.”

She’s introduced as Barbara Graham, the dubious heroine of “I Want to Live!” the 1958 film that won Susan Hayward an Oscar as one of the few women to die in California’s gas chamber. McKay shifts effortlessly from the mock upbeat lull of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and Irving Berlin’s “Isn’t It a Lovely Day” to a spine-tingling version of “April Showers.”

McKay is accompanied by an outstanding jazz quartet and occasionally pulls out her ukulele as well. She never drops character, turning us into voyeurs at a decidedly noirish encounter.

Through April 2 at 540 Park Ave. Information: +1-212-339- 4095; http://www.feinsteinsattheregency.com. Rating: ****

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