Heart singer Ann Wilson has announced her third solo album, Fierce Bliss. Unlike the previous releases – 2008's Hope & Glory and 2018's Immortal – Fierce Bliss isn't a collection of cover versions, and the first single from the album, Greed, was co-written by Wilson and Nashville session guitarist Tom Bukovac.
"Greed is that thing in our animal nature that makes us want more,” proclaims Wilson. “Whether it be money, sex, power or ecstasy, it fires our craving! It happens with all of us. When you turn around and catch yourself making decisions because you want the money, or because you’re caught in the headlights of glory, well, those are greedy moments.
“I think people who claim to have made every decision from a root of pure idealism, and never done anything dark or greedy, are lying. I think everybody who ventures into especially the music industry hoping for a career with big success, ends up making these Faustian bargains at some point even if only briefly. It’s an aggressive song and I think I write best when I’m angry."
The album came together after Wilson was introduced to Bukovac and bassist Tony Lucido at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL.
"I had originally intended to go in, record a few songs and see what I had, but it just took on this life,” says Wilson. “At Sound Stage in Nashville, Kenny Wayne Shepherd came in and played on a couple songs. He was a whole other influence coming in. He just played his butt off, and with the gospel singers and everything else coming together, the whole project just started to grow.”
Wilson continues, “I’d known Warren Haynes from Gov’t Mule for a while. We’d written a couple songs together with Gov’t Mule playing, and those rounded out the record. So all of a sudden, where there was no record before, suddenly I had eleven cool songs that I really liked."
The album does include two cover versions – Queen’s Love Of My Life and Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs – while the album cover comes courtesy of renowned fantasy artist Roger Dean.
Fierce Bliss will be released on April 29 on casebound book CD, vinyl and digital formats, while the Evening With Ann Wilson Of Heart & The Amazing Dawgs tour will kick off at the Family Gras in Metairie, LA, on February 19. Tracklist and full dates below.
Ann Wilson - Fierce Bliss tracklist
Greed
Black Wing
Bridge of Sighs
Fighten for Life
Love of My Life (feat. Vince Gill)
Missionary Man
Gladiator
Forget Her
A Moment in Heaven
Angel’s Blues*
As the World Turns
*CD and digital formats only
An Evening With Ann Wilson Of Heart & The Amazing Dawgs tour
Feb 19: Metairie Family Gras , LA
May 04: San Francisco Great American, CA
May 05: Napa The Uptown Theatre, CA
May 07: Pala Pala Casino, CA
May 09: Los Angeles El Rey Theatre, CA
May 10: Los Angeles El Rey Theatre, CA
May 13: Los Cabos Hard Rock, Mexico
Jun 11: Peachtree City Fred Amphitheater, GA
Jun 13: Nashville Basement East, TN
Jun 14: Nashville Basement East, TN
Jun 16: Tampa Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, FL
Jun 17: Ft. Lauderdale The Parker, FL
