Credit: David RiceLast year, Heart‘s Nancy Wilson teamed up with acclaimed Austin, Texas-based guitarist Eric Tessmer to record a series of cover tunes, and now the first track of the collaboration, a rendition of Depeche Mode‘s 1990 hit “Policy of Truth,” has been released as a digital download via various streaming platforms.
Wilson and Tessmer share lead vocals and trade licks on the guitar-heavy tune.
Nancy first met Eric at a private Austin benefit show, at which he performed in 2017.
“It was a mind blowing, jaw-dropping thing to watch Eric for the first time,” recalls Wilson. “Eric was tapping into a pure rock-and-roll thing I can really appreciate.”
The two musicians immediately expressed interest in working together and they finally got the chance in March of 2019, when Nancy traveled to Austin to record some sessions with Eric and his backing band at a studio called The Clubhouse.
In a video feature focusing on the collaboration, Wilson notes about Tessmer’s playing, “There’s a purist thing I can appreciate, stylistically…what he’s tapping from. So we were fast friends, of course, ’cause we have a lot of that in common. You know, [Jimi] Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Beatles [and] David Gilmour.”
In addition to streaming services, you can check out the duo’s “Policy of Truth” cover at Tessmer’s official YouTube channel. The other tracks Nancy and Eric recorded together are expected to be released soon.
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