Elton John is an icon. The 71-year-old England-born legend has inspired so many worldwide, not only in music, but in many other capacities. His incredible 50+ year career is a true testament to Elton’s artistry, talent, timeless music, and has yielded a fanbase that has no boundaries or limitations. This is music that is shared from generation to generation for all kinds of people all around the world.
This year, Elton announced that he would be retiring from touring, and will be embarking on a three-year farewell tour, kicking off in September (2018). To celebrate Elton and his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, a pair of twin tribute albums have been released, Revampand Restoration, featuring artists and bands who have been impacted by this amazing legacy of music and teamwork.
The artists who have contributed to these albums, span several genres, and in fact, the Restoration album features many of country music’s biggest stars, including Chris Stapleton, Vince Gill, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Lee Ann Womack, and more. Read on to find out what some of these artists had to say about Elton and about being a part of Restoration: Reimagining The Songs Of Elton John And Bernie Taupin.
Chris Stapleton: “The influence of Elton in the arc of my career, it’s really, just always, kind of this omnipresent thing. My earliest childhood memories of hearing ‘Crocodile Rock’ or ‘Carrying on Through’ one listen time, where you hear Elton John sing on the radio or in movies, or you remember a video. I mean, there’s all these points, so it would be tough to point to one thing and say where the specific influence would be, but it’s all over. All over my life.”
Vince Gill: “Throughout history there are so few times that those partnerships are as amazing as they are in Bernie and Elton. There are several instances, but not a lot. And the real testament is in the work. The reason longevity happens is because of the brilliancy of the work that’s done, and same with Elton and Bernie. Just fantastic songs and that’s the one thing, I don’t think people really understand. That’s the one thing that takes a great artist into a place of legendary proportion. It’s amazing how those songs are the real defining difference in careers.”
Little Big Town: “One of the main reasons why we chose ‘Rocket Man’ was because we were so intrigued by not just, of course, Elton John, but by using the sounds from the Juno project, so we had all these Jupiter noises. We were like what if we did the a capella version of ‘Rocket Man’ on the Elton record, and [producer] Frank Liddell loved that idea, and we were off to the races … or Jupiter.”
Kacey Musgraves: “I love Elton John and I really respect what he’s done through his career, as far as remaining true to the music, to the songwriting, and his persona, is larger than life. He seems so humble and sweet and genuine, and I think anybody that manages to become an icon and a legend by being themselves is somebody that I really respect. Making it about the music, and not pandering to trends or whatever, throughout the years, it’s just simply about the music, and I think that’s really cool. Also, I’m the dime store cowgirl, he’s a brown dirt cowboy, this couldn’t be a better fit.”
Brothers Osborne: “We’re really stoked about being a part of the Restoration album, the Elton John tribute record. There are amazing artists on there, [and] we’re honored that they would even ask us to be a part of it. If you go back and listen to a lot of Elton’s early material, it sounds like some grooving, almost like rock country tunes. ‘Take Me to the Pilot’ sounds like a song that we could have easily recorded. And, that’s one thing that’s inspiring about Elton, too, is that he kind of always reinvents himself and it doesn’t get redundant. He has such as wide variety and ability, and that’s why he’s Elton John. There’s something about ‘Take Me to the Pilot.’ We were listening to songs of Elton’s that we thought would be great to do, and some of the songs that we were just big fans of, and we realized we probably weren’t the best artist or band to recreate it. Then we listened to ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ and we thought, ‘Man, this is something that we would have just probably wanted to cover or record anyways regardless of it being on the Restoration project. And, so we did. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.”
Additionally, Bernie Taupin opened up about Restoration and the influence that American country music has had on him. Elton and Bernie have been songwriting partners for 51 years, since 1967, and have collaborated on over 30 albums together. Bernie says that in the late 50s and mid 60s, country music was on British radio, and he cites artists like Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, and Johnny Horton as artists who “really spoke to [him].”
This influence and love of country music was part of the inspiration to have a double tribute album, and have one of them consist of covers mainly from country music artists. Taupin says of all of the artists who are featured on Restoration:
“Country artists have done versions of our songs and I believe there was even a complete bluegrass instrumental album of our work done some years back. But the real deal is happening now. We’ve had the individual artists do the individual songs, but this has just been a joy because it’s like I’m a kid in the candy store because I get to work and be around people that are not only friends, but people that I respect tremendously, and then new artists thrown into the mix; the best of the new artists I might add. We’ve got so much talent on this album it’s frightening.”
Bernie adds, “I don’t think I could have honestly put this record together with the help of others, without having Willy [Nelson] and Vince Gill. And Rhonda Vincent; I had to have bluegrass on this. I mean, there has to be a perfect example of pure bluegrass and nobody is more pure bluegrass than Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. It’s like, Emmylou and Roseanne Cash. You gotta have them; those voices. That’s like having angels on your album. But then throw into the mix, the Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton. I mean we’ve been blessed. It sounds ridiculous for me to say after being around so long, you’d think I’d get a little sort of … you know. But no, this has been an absolute joy for me and I’m so thrilled and so gratified to get the artists we’ve got on this album. I think it’s classy. It speaks volumes about Nashville and what comes out of Nashville. It’s a dream come true for me.”
