THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “As always in my songs, the themes are all there — transcendence, positivity and global unity through music,” says Jesse Malin. “This is what I love to do, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep doing it.”
Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin is both a tribute and benefit album, with all proceeds to Malin’s Sweet Relief artist fund. “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 ’n’ roll songbook,” writes longtime supporter David Fricke.
Long a contributor to other people’s causes, Malin is grateful to all the musicians who have rallied around him, including Bruce Springsteen, Billie Joe Armstrong, Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello, The Hold Steady, Tommy Stinson, Alison Mossheart with the late, great Wayne Kramer, Tom Morello, Counting Crows, Dinosaur Jr., The Wallflowers, Spoon, Susanna Hoffs, Frank Turner and Rancid, among others.
The first single was Bleachers’ version of Prisoners of Paradise. Jack Antonoff takes the song “through tunnel-of-love reverb like Suicide’s Dream Baby Dream cut after hours at Sun Records in Memphis,” writes Fricke in the liner notes.
Adds Malin: “There’s a feeling of liberation that comes with this, but I don’t want to keep repeating myself either. My whole process — since I was 13 — is to progress, evolve and challenge myself on each record. I really hope people in all parts of the world can relate to these songs, just the spectrum of emotions, overcoming by celebrating life through music and art.”
In May 2023, Malin suffered a rare spinal stroke that left him paralyzed from the waist down. “I have a lot of anxiety and insomnia,” he says. “Your mind goes into some dark places. But I just have to keep a positive outlook and believe.” He is now undergoing a strict daily regimen with physical therapy and stem-cell treatments.
“I am getting some strength back in my legs, but it moves a lot slower than I would like. I don’t want to portray it like I’m ready to do the James Brown splits onstage. I definitely have a long way to go, but I’m blessed and so grateful for the amazing fans and friends that I have,” he says.
Fricke adds, “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.”
