“A Celebration Of The Music Of Jimmy Webb: The Cake And The Rain” has announced that Oscar and Tony-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones will perform at the star-studded May 3rd event at Carnegie Hall celebrating “America’s Songwriter” Jimmy Webb. Presented by City Winery, the event will celebrate Webb’s singular legacy and his timeless hit songs, including “Wichita Lineman,” “MacArthur Park,” “Galveston,” “Didn’t We,” and “All I Know.” Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association and the I’ll Be Me Foundation in honor of Jimmy’s dear friend Glen Campbell.
The full lineup also includes previously announced artists: Liz Callaway, Ashley Campbell (daughter of Glen Campbell), Judy Collins, Art Garfunkel, Amy Grant, Toby Keith, Hanson, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. (original members of the 5th Dimension), Graham Nash, Johnny Rivers, Shelèa, and Dwight Yoakam. Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas will speak and Jimmy Webb will perform as well.
This one-time concert event coincides with two milestones: Jimmy’s new memoir, The Cake and The Rain, out now through St. Martin’s Press, and the upcoming 50th Anniversary of “Wichita Lineman”. The Cake and the Rain is written as powerfully as Webb’s lyrics and provides a snapshot of his unlikely rise in the 60s, whipsawed from the proverbial humble beginnings into a moneyed and manic international world of beautiful women, drugs, cars and planes.
Jimmy Webb’s songs have topped the charts in multiple genres with a stunning array of artists, including Frank Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, The Supremes, Donna Summer, Richard Harris, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, and many more. His numerous accolades include the prestigious Ivor Novello International Award (2012) and the Academy of Country Music’s Poet Award (2016). He received his first gold record at the age of 18 and was the youngest inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His diverse songwriting style was especially apparent in 2016 when he premiered his classical piece “Nocturne for Lefty” and had his music featured prominently on Kanye West’s Grammy-nominated “Famous”. From the first crossover country pop hit with Glenn Campbell, to a number one disco hit with Donna Summer, to a Grammy-nominated rap song, Webb remains the only writer to receive Grammys across writing, music, and orchestration.
A Celebration of the Music of Jimmy Webb: The Cake and the Rain, will be presented by City Winery, whose founder by Michael Dorf, is known for his annual “Music Of” tribute series at Carnegie Hall, which has successfully raised over $1.3 million for music education programs in New York City. In the past, the “Music Of” series has honored David Byrne, Paul Simon, Prince, Neil Young, and many others with legendary lineups that have included Ed Sheeran, D’Angelo, The Roots, and Elvis Costello. Dorf is uniquely suited to create the impressive and eclectic rosters he assembles each year as a founder of two seminal NYC music venues: the Knitting Factory, which he started in 1987 and sold in 2002, and City Winery, the venue he founded in 2008 in NYC, that now has locations in Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta and Boston. For nearly thirty years, Dorf has programmed for stages across the globe.
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