The Dream Syndicate‘s Steve Wynn will release a memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, and new solo album, Make it Right, on August 30. “I wrote and recorded these songs in tandem with working on I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True,” Steve says of his first solo release in 14 years. “With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa. The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating. It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.”
As for the memoir, here’s the back of the book blurb: “Beginning with Wynn’s childhood in California in the 60s and 70s, the book builds to a crescendo with the formation of the first incarnation of The Dream Syndicate in 1981 as an antidote to the prepackaged pop music of the era. It charts the highs and lows of the band’s early years at the forefront of the Paisley Underground scene alongside Green On Red, Rain Parade, and The Bangles; the seismic impact of their debut album, The Days Of Wine And Roses; the spiraling chaos of the sessions for the follow-up, Medicine Show; the dissolution of the band’s first line-up and the launch of a second phase of The Dream Syndicate with Out Of The Grey and Ghost Stories; and more, culminating with the release of the landmark live album Live At Raji’s.”
You can listen to Make it Right‘s title track below.
Steve will tour for the memoir and album this fall with evenings of “Songs and Stories,” beginning in NYC at City Winery on October 8. Before that, he’s got Southwest/Midwest summer dates with The Baseball Project (Wynn, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Scott McCaughey, and Linda Pittmon). All dates are listed below.
Make It Right:
1. Santa Monica
2. Make It Right
3. What Were You Expecting
4. You’re Halfway There
5. Making Good On My Promises
6. Cherry Avenue
7. Then Again
8. Madly
9. Simpler Than The Rain
10. Roosevelt Avenue
Baseball Project Tour Dates:
July 4 @ Space, Evanston, IL
July 5 @ Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI
July 6 @ Turf Club, St. Paul, MN
July 7 @ Wooly’s, Des Moines, IA
July 8 @ The Waiting Room, Omaha, NE
July 10 @ The Record Bar, Kansas City, MO
July 11 @ Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
July 12 @ Tannahill’s, Ft. Worth, TX
July 13 @ Antone’s, Austin, TX
July 14 @ White Oak Music Hall, Houston, TX
Steve Wynn Tour Dates – A Night of Songs and Stories:
Sept. 16 @ Jericho, Oxford, UK
Sept. 17 @ Hen & Chicken, Bristol UK
Sept. 18 @ The Greystones, Sheffield, UK
Sept. 19 @ The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, Scotland UK
Sept. 20 @ Gulliver’s, Manchester, UK
Sept. 21 @ Bluebird, York, UK
Sept. 22 @ Walthamstow Rock n Roll Book Club London, UK
Sept. 24 @ Mid Sussex Music Hall, Hassocks, UK
Sept. 25 @ Life Is A Minestrone House Show, Paris, France
Oct. 8 @ City Winery, New York, NY
Oct. 9 @ Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 11 @ Pie Shop, Washington, DC
Oct. 12 @ Pinhook, Durham, NC
Oct. 15 @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte, NC
Oct. 16 @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA
Oct. 17 @ Basement, Nashville, TN
Oct. 20 @ Hideout, Chicago, IL
Oct. 22 @ Happy Dog, Cleveland, OH