Jerry Cantrell Brighten 180g LP (Electric Blue Vinyl)

Shortly after his December 2019 LA shows, Jerry Cantrell entered the studio to begin work on Brighten. The album was produced by Cantrell, Tyler Bates, and co-produced by engineer Paul Figueroa.

"It was like an old school seventies record where a multitude of musicians played so it's not a set band. I got to make music with a bunch of people I never had before, along with friends like Duff, Tyler & Gil who I've worked with previously. I've always been a fan of bands that were heavy on harmony; I've been lucky enough to have that relationship with Layne Staley and now William DuVall. Greg and I worked together in a similar fashion and blended nicely. We were creating and changing this thing all the way up until the end. It took way longer than I wanted it to, but it became an even better record. This album offers cleaner glimpses of what I grew up on, listened to, and am still inspired by today. I was raised by two country fans, so I think you can hear that energy in there as well. This album has prominent roles for keys, strings, and pedal steel, which I haven't incorporated in such a heavy fashion before." - Jerry Cantrell

Peppered with regret yet tempered by hope, Brighten doesn't waste a note or a lyric. Cantrell and company honed these pieces over a long, challenging year (2020), and you can hear the attention to detail throughout the LP's agreeable, just-over-40-minute runtime. Confident, inward-looking, forgiving, yet bruising in all the right places, it's not just a great album by Cantrell's standards; it's a great record, period.