Cassandra Wilson

Complementing her entire career, the title of Cassandra Wilson’s 14th album defies assumptions. At first glance one might think Glamoured is a reference to the trappings of the tired diva stereotype. Instead, it has a more mystical derivation from the Gaelic word meaning “to be swept away.” The word holds deep meaning for Wilson on her latest project. “I read it in a book called Writings on Irish Legends and Folklore by William Butler Yeats,” she says. “The book has these wonderful stories. And the Irish have this incredible love affair with mysticism. I think there’s a direct parallel with life in Mississippi. So I just followed that word and all its connotations.” The result is a disc that continues Wilson’s tradition of uniting varied inspirations.

The record came together, as her work typically does, by intuition. “For the most part, the process is letting the songs find me,” she says. This resulted in an equal balance of covers (Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” and Muddy Waters’ “Honey Bee”) and some of Wilson’s strongest originals to date. “Once you decide which way you want to go, you just pay attention to whatever pops up. Your experiences become very specific. You say to yourself, ‘OK, you led me here for a reason.’ Sometimes you don’t realize why until years later.”

The new record is her first collaboration with a producer in some time. Wanting to add a new dimension to Glamoured, Wilson chose producer/guitarist Fabrizio Sotti, whom she got to know in New York after the sessions had already begun in Mississippi. “I met him at a club called Sweet Rhythm that’s down in the Village. We had this immediate chemistry and we sat and talked and talked about the record. We got together and hung out and started writing music and the rest is history.”

Wilson and Sotti’s joint effort gives the record a keen focus and a broader textural palette, as heard in the hypnotic rhythm of “I Want More” and in a fresh interpretation of the soul classic “If Loving You Is Wrong.” “My mother played that 45 over and over and over again when I was a kid,” Wilson recalls. “It conjures up a lot of emotions from my childhood. I guess because of experiences I’m having as a grown woman, it made sense to do it now.” Trusting her intuition continues to serve Cassandra Wilson in good stead.