Announcing Three New Installments of Words + Music Series for 2023

Audible today announced three new volumes of our brand-defining, revelatory ‘Words + Music’ franchise.

R&B powerhouse Jazmine Sullivan, prolific singer-songwriter and musician D’Angelo, and frontman of the Grammy-winning indie band Wilco, Jeff Tweedy are the latest artists to create and perform ‘Words + Music’ originals, joining an impressive catalog of critically acclaimed, iconic musicians who have taken to the stage, studio or the soundbooth to deliver an intimate collection of deeply personal performances and soliloquies for Audible listeners. The three new installments will debut monthly beginning in February, along with the previously announced 2023 ‘Words + Music’ originals from Grammy-winning, indie singer-songwriter Aimee Mann and one of the best-selling artists of all-time, the legendary Mariah Carey.

“2023 marks a period of growth for Words + Music. A broadening in style and aesthetic, and in the depth of the intimacy of the stories being told,” said Preston Copley, Executive Producer for Words + Music. “We’re ecstatic and grateful to welcome to our program the work of these iconic artists and more this year, as we continue our quest to offer fans of great storytelling and great music the most compelling catalog originals devoted to both on offer anywhere.”

Below is an overview of the ‘Words + Music’ installments set to debut in 2023:

Straw into Gold - Created and performed by Aimee Mann - Premiered Friday, January 6, 2023 on Audible

Trauma damages, trauma isolates, trauma transforms. Sometimes, though – with work and luck, trauma can transform into something useful.

Indie-rock icon Aimee Mann is well acquainted with trauma and the transformative act of using it as a basis for artistic expression. But that doesn’t mean that she knows how or why it works. Through her Words + Music, Mann goes on a journey of discovery to better understand the link between damage and why what we do with it matters.

In Straw into Gold, Mann partners with actor, comedian, and creator of popular podcast “Dead Eyes”, Connor Ratliff, to lead a small group of artists through a series of intimate, often funny, and always enlightening conversations about the relationship between the bad things that happen to us and the art that can result from them. These guests include: playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman, comedian Maria Bamford, filmmaker Charlene deGuzman, and musician and bandmate Ted Leo.

Listeners of Straw into Gold will delight in new renditions of songs from beloved albums including “Whatever” and “Charmer,” as well as many newer songs from Mann’s 2021 studio album “Queens of the Summer Hotel” which will appear in Mann’s Broadway musical adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s seminal novel Girl, Interrupted – which is currently in development and served as a primary inspiration behind the explorations in Straw into Gold.

The Art of Confessing - Created and performed by Jazmine Sullivan - Debuting Friday, February 3, 2023 on Audible

The Art of Confessing is an intimate diary entry from Jazmine Sullivan, a Grammy-winning vocal powerhouse blessed with the unique gift of emotional storytelling. R&B is a space for Black women to create their own language around love, sexuality, and heartache. Within that space, Jazmine Sullivan has built a strong, powerful sisterhood through her music.

Philadelphia-born and raised, Jazmine grew up singing in church. Since childhood, she’s leaned on a tight-knit circle of female figures — from her mother to her church tribe to her faithful friend group. Love is what happens when you find your people, and this community has shaped Jazmine Sullivan’s journey as an artist and woman. This Words + Music brings listeners into her journey, exploring the art of making confessional R&B and affirming Black women as the ultimate truthtellers in music.

Written and conceived by Jazmine Sullivan with Clover Hope, this is a story about the power of accountability, sisterhood, and finding new perspectives on love. Performing live from Philadelphia’s renowned World Café, Jazmine lets us into her world with a selection of songs that speak to her growth as a woman, including “Lions, Tigers & Bears,” “Let It Burn,” “Girl Like Me,” “Masterpiece (Mona Lisa),” and “Pick up Your Feelings.” Ultimately, self-love has allowed Jazmine Sullivan to evolve and step into her power. The Art of Confessing is produced by Raedio, an audio everywhere company founded by award-winning actor, director, producer and New York Times best-selling author Issa Rae.

Jeff Tweedy Words + Music (working title) - Created and performed by Jeff Tweedy – Debuting Friday, March 3, 2023 on Audible

A leading light on the Alternative and Indie music scene for nearly forty years, Jeff Tweedy is a master of the art in the artifice of songwriting. In this Words + Music, Tweedy introduces listeners to the people, occasions, frames of mind that have inspired, but don’t necessarily populate the iconic songbooks of bands Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, and Tweedy.

As a perfect accompaniment to his acclaimed books – Let’s Go (so We Can Get Back) and How to Write One Song – this singular special edition to Jeff Tweedy’s body of work fills in the little or unknown moments and motivations which sustained a life at the intersection of creativity and authenticity.

Fans of Jeff Tweedy will be delighted with nine new, full renditions of catalog favorites: “Jesus Etc,” “She’s a Jar,” “Please Tell My Brother,” and many more – which punctuate personally revelatory storytelling of one of the most impactful singer songwriters in American music. Jeff Tweedy Words + Music is produced by Gunpowder & Sky.

D’Angelo Words + Music (working title) - Created and performed by D’Angelo – Debuting Friday, April 7, 2023 on Audible

For many years, D’Angelo’s work and its impact have been framed with the words “neo-soul.” D’Angelo never made a secret of how he dislikes that term. But now D’Angelo offers his own frame — not only for his music, but for the contributions of his comrades like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, India. Arie, Bilal, and more, a collective of like-minded artists who shared an affinity for organic sounds and songs composed in ways both traditional and technological. D believes the music of the 1990s and 2000s was and is part of an eternal golden braid of soul, one that existed before, one that exists now, something that defies branding or rebranding — always a product of the past, always rooted in the present, always projecting into the future.

In each of this audio production’s five acts, recorded at the legendary Electric Lady Studios, D’Angelo sits with his hands on a different instrument. Each instrument — organ, piano, Fender Rhodes, electric guitar, and drum machine — helps him tell a different story, make a distinct point, and conjure new spirits. Sometimes those stories will be personal, sometimes metaphysical, sometimes musical. Sometimes it’s about D’s music, and sometimes it’s about the art form itself, building to a musical crescendo and an unprecedented understanding of both the music and the man.

Among the iconic musicians who have contributed to the extensive slate of ‘Words + Music’ originals for Audible are John Legend, Beck, Pete Townshend, Eddie Vedder, Yo-Yo Ma (“feels like an intimate recital from a chatty and approachable virtuoso” – The New York Times), James Taylor (“unique storytelling and musical experience” – USA Today), Patti Smith (“the hybrid form feels completely natural to her talents” – The New York Times), Common, Sharon Van Etten (“more personal than anything she’s put out yet” – Vogue), Laura Jane Grace (“intimate and beautiful” – People), Rhiannon Giddens (“combines her depth of music lore with a gift for storytelling” – Variety), Tariq Trotter (“in-depth look” – The Grio), Smokey Robinson (“allows you to be surprised again by his genius” – Los Angeles Times), Rufus Wainwright (“just like in his music, he opens himself up wide to the world” – Forbes), Alanis Morissette (“raw commentary” – Bustle), St. Vincent (“…thoughtful, perspicacious, and deeply funny...” – The Advocate), Jonathan Biss (“raw and insightful” – NPR), Alice Cooper, Elvis Costello, Tom Morello, Billie Joe Armstrong, T Bone Burnett, Gary Clark Jr., Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Liz Phair, Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, Sting, and Chuck D.

For more information on Audible’s Words + Music collection, please visit www.audible.com/ep/words+music.