Bruce Springsteen, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and Frank Turner are among the artists set to cover songs by New York singer/songwriter Jesse Malin for a new tribute album to raise funds for Malin's on-going healthcare after he was paralysed from a spinal stroke last year.
Malin, formerly the frontman of cult NYC bands Heart Attack and D Generation, suffered a spinal-cord infarction while dining with friends at a New York restaurant last spring.
With Malin not having the finances to pay for longterm care, a fundraising campaign was launched to help pay his medical bills via Sweet Relief, a charity that assists musicians facing physical or mental health issues.
"Jesse is going through so much physically and emotionally," the campaign organisers said at the time. "His insurance is good but it will not cover many of his expenses beyond acute care. Your donation can help relieve him of the added pressures associated with the enormous expense of his immediate and long term care."
Now friends, peers and associates are recording tracks by Malin for a forthcoming tribute/benefit album, Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin.
In addition to hosting contributions from Springsteen, Armstrong and Turner, the album will feature covers recorded by Rancid, Elvis Costello, Tom Morello, The Hold Steady, Dinosaur Jr., Counting Crows, Susanna Hoffs and more. A first single from the record, Prisoners of Paradise, covered by Bleachers, is now streaming.
The album is available to pre-order now.
“This record is also a dynamite and long-overdue awareness project, non-stop star time in vigorously personal twists on behalf of a great rock & roll songbook,” legendary Rolling Stone writer David Fricke, a longtime fan, says of the forthcoming album. “Jesse Malin knows about scars – from his youth, observation and more. They all carry tales, and he’s not done telling them. Silver Patron Saints is the gang back at the bar, coming to the stage to toast the composer and his story so far.”
