Just released, ‘Good To Know You’ is the first single from ‘Songs From My Kitchen, Volume 1’, the forthcoming new album by the acclaimed American singer, songwriter and saxophonist Curtis Stigers.
Issued a month ahead of his latest sold-out residency at the esteemed London jazz venue Ronnie Scott’s, Stigers reveals the poignant sentiment behind the song: “I was born in October 1965 but I didn’t meet my biological father until the summer of 2012. It’s a long story best told over dinner and a bottle of red wine, but ‘Good To Know You’ is my musical reflection about gaining a father at midlife and learning how to navigate that relationship. Spoiler: It has a happy ending.”
Stigers initially burst onto the music scene in 1991 with an eponymous debut album that sold 1.5 million copies and spawned several self-penned pop/soul hits that included ‘I Wonder Why’, a worldwide smash. He followed it up by recording Nick Lowe’s ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding’ for the soundtrack of ‘The Bodyguard’, which has sold over 45 million copies.
After making two more pop oriented albums, plus guesting on several others (including a pair by the legendary jazz pianist Gene Harris, an early mentor), the new millennium saw Stigers pivot artistically and sign with Concord Jazz. Recording nine genre-busting records that combined his jazz sensibilities with a penchant for emotional rock, blues, soul, country and folk, he also co-wrote and sang ‘This Life’, the Emmy Award-nominated theme song to the popular TV show ‘Sons Of Anarchy’, and made cameo appearances in the Seth MacFarlane movies ‘Ted’ and ‘Ted 2’.
All the while, Stigers was cultivating a successful and enduring touring career, playing concerts around the world, performing songs from his jazz albums as well as newly reconstructed ‘jazz’ versions of the hit songs from his early records.
Then….2020 and the pandemic arrived, bringing a new artistic reality. Sidelined at home in Idaho, Stigers continued to make music and stayed in touch with his fans by creating a popular weekly livestreamed show he called ‘Songs From My Kitchen’.
The freedom of playing solo and unplugged with just his voice and guitar as accompaniment allowed him to rediscover some of his older material, as well as previously unrecorded songs and songs by other artists he admired. It was also an opportunity to hone his guitar skills. “Being stuck at home allowed me the chance to challenge myself and actually grow as an artist,” he muses. “I even taught myself how to edit video so I could make clips for the show. It was one of the most creative periods of my life, that strange, isolated year and a half.”
His brand new album, ‘Songs From My Kitchen, Volume 1’, nods back to that time but also looks ahead to the current and future Curtis Stigers, singer/songwriter and connoisseur of great songs. A stripped-down affair containing intimate performances of songs he has either written, rediscovered or covered, all recorded with a crack team of local musicians, he explains: “Some of the original songs are relatively new and some are many years old and only now getting a chance to be heard and sung. I like to think I curated this album as much as I created it. I called it ‘Volume 1’ partly as an inside joke, and partly because there are still a lot of great songs out there, and in here, too. You never know.”
CURTIS STIGERS
GOOD TO KNOW YOU
new single
out 24.02.25
(Pandemic Poodle Records/Membran)
SONGS FROM MY KITCHEN, VOLUME 1
new album
LP | CD | digital
out 21.03.25
LIVE IN LONDON
RONNIE SCOTT’S
24.02.25 – 02.03.25
12 SHOWS ACROSS 7 DAYS – MOST SOLD OUT
UK TOUR | MAY-JUNE 2025
01.05.25 RAINHAM St. Margaret’s Church
04.05.25 MANCHESTER The Stoller Hall
05.05.25 BURY ST. EDMUNDS The Apex
06.05.25 LEEDS Leeds City Varieties
07.05.25 NEW BRIGHTON Floral Pavilion Theatre
08.05.25 GATESHEAD Glasshouse Int’l – Sage 1
09.05.25 GLASGOW Mackintosh Queen’s Cross
26.05.25 + 27.05.25 WAVENDON The Stables
28.05.25 + 29.05.25 EASTLEIGH The Concorde
30.05.25 FROME Cheese And Grain
31.05.25 WORTHING Pavilion Theatre
01.06.25 ST ALBANS Alban Arena
TICKETS
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