Tonight marks the season finale of The Sing-Off, the NBC a cappella competition, in which all-vocal singing groups vie for a professional recording contract and $100,000; tune in at 8 PM EST to see who wins. Ben Folds has garnered nothing but the highest praise as a judge on the show. He spoke with the Wall Street Journal about Lonely Avenue, his collaborative album with Nick Hornby, which the Journal describes as "a Tin Pan Alley-style collaboration," resulting in "a quirky and loose affair."
Tonight marks the far too-soon season finale of The Sing-Off, the NBC a cappella competition, in which all-vocal singing groups vie for a professional recording contract and $100,000. Ben Folds has garnered nothing but the highest praise for his sage advice as a judge on the show, with the New York Times having described him as "one of the better reality-competition judges television has seen," MTV suggesting the show "proves Ben Folds needs his own television show," NPR calling him "wonderful," and, the Baltimore Sun suggesting that Folds "should be a judge on every show ever." So tune in to the show's live season finale tonight at 8 PM EST to see what all the buzz is about, enjoy some great live performances, and see who the viewers chose as this year's winning group. For further details, to catch up on past episodes, and to read Folds's blog from the show, visit nbc.com.
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The Sing-Off is just the latest of projects keeping Folds busy this fall. In September, he and Nick Hornby released Lonely Avenue, a new collaborative album on Nonesuch, featuring music and vocals by Folds and lyrics by Hornby. Folds and his band have been touring the United States performing songs from the new album, among others, and return to the road in January for more. In the mean time, Folds spoke with the Wall Street Journal's Steven Kurutz about the album for the Journal's Speakeasy blog.
"On Lonely Avenue, longtime friends and mutual admirers Ben Folds and writer Nick Hornby attempted a Tin Pan Alley-style collaboration," writes Kurutz by way of introduction. "The record is a quirky and loose affair, with an ode to Levi Johnston ('Levi Johnston'), a ballad about a melancholy one-hit wonder performer ('Belinda') and an ode to a classic songwriter ('Doc Pomus')."
You can read the interview at wsj.com.
Head to the Nonesuch Store to up a copy of Lonely Avenue on CD, vinyl, or in a special deluxe edition featuring the album on CD, four short stories by Hornby, 15 images by acclaimed photographer Joel Meyerowitz, all in a hardbound, 152-page book.
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