Three years after the death of the Auvergne-born singer, a live recording of his final tour in 2022 will be released on May 22, featuring the unreleased track “Hello You”.
“From the very first show, Jean-Louis wanted to record every concert with the idea of releasing a live album, while turning away from his usual habits – I don’t think I need to tell anyone that it was precisely in his habits to change his habits! His idea was simple: keep only the best versions of the songs performed during the tour, a notion all the more understandable since the songs were never interpreted in the same way – sometimes we even wandered very far and, of course, we loved that….”, recalls musician Denis Clavaizolle, Murat’s longtime ally, who accompanied him on the tour of the album The Real Life of Buck John (2021) with Fred Jimenez on bass and his son Yann Clavaizolle on drums. A week before his sudden death, on May 25, 2023, Jean-Louis Murat gave his very last concert in Tulle (Corrèze).
For this new live recording of his discography, following notably Live in Dolorès (1998) and Muragostang (2000), Murat had decided to entrust the keys to Denis Clavaizolle and had already chosen the title, a nod to his passion for cycling. “Today, among the powerful images that stay with me, beyond the camaraderie that radiated on stage – with or without me –, I fondly remember his enormous smile when Jean-Louis told me: ‘We could call this record Tour de France 2022, in homage to cycling’ – and I know this idea mattered to him, as he loved cycling and every summer, he would take Gaspard, Justine and Laure to watch a stage, even though there were kilometers to go.”
Reflecting the superb chemistry that reigned between the singer and his three musicians on this final Murat tour, Tour de France 2022 comprises thirteen tracks drawn from several albums since the monumental Taormina (2006) (including Jean Bizarre, Ciné Vox, Chacun sa façon, Frankie, Battlefield, Le Chemin des poneys) and the unreleased Hello You, a song at once catchy and so moving to (re)listen to today.
Tour de France 2022 (Five 7/Wagram). Release on May 22.
