Free Download: Suzanne Vega "Frank & Ava"

Back in the mid-1980s, Suzanne Vega emerged as one of the most prominent singer/songwriters of the decade. After she was discovered in a Greenwich Village coffeehouse, Vega was offered a major label recording contract that eventually led to international hits like "Luka" and "Tom's Diner."

Now, more than 20 years later, Vega continues to deliver on that early promise with more timeless melodies and poignant, literate storytelling on her seventh studio album "Beauty & Crime." The disc is available now on Blue Note Records.

A lot has happened since she released her last album "Songs In Red & Grey" in September of 2001. Her beloved hometown of New York came under attack and her brother Timothy passed away in 2002.  Those events influenced Vega's songwriting on "Beauty & Crime" that in essence revolves around the theme of New York, the city where Vega was raised and still lives.

"My last album came out two weeks after September 11th. That particular album was really personal and it felt really weird to be talking about all these personal songs at a time that wasn't like any other in New York," she says in a press release. "I spent a lot of time thinking about things in the last six years, being in New York with my daughter, walking around. It seemed natural to write a bunch of songs that were about New York or little stories that had New York as a character."

She teamed with engineering Britt Myers British musician-producer Jimmy Hogarth (Sia, Corinne Bailey Rae, KT Tunstall) and recorded "Beauty & Crime" in studios in both New York and London. Enjoy a totally guilt-free MP3 download of "Frank & Ava," an upbeat track centered around the acoustic guitar that was inspired by the impossible/irresistible relationship between Frank Sinatra & Ava Gardner.  (Thanks to Blue Note for allowing me to share. Blue Note is also an advertiser on Arjanwrites.com.)

Download Suzanne Vegas "Beauty & Crime" [MP3]