Orleans’ Release New Music Video & Song “Home”

Orleans offers a preview of their new song, “Home,” on their YouTube channel. The song, (written by founder/lead guitarist/singer John Hall, Johanna Hall, and Don Schlitz) will be on the group’s forthcoming EP to be released spring 2021. “Home,” which is about family– childhood, adolescence, marriage, parenthood, and childhood again–originally appeared on John’s 1997 solo CD “Love Doesn’t Ask.” The new Orleans’ version is available on all digital media.

John & Johanna have written dozens of songs together, most notably Orleans’ “Still the One,” “Dance With Me,” and Janis Joplin’s “Half Moon.” Co-writer Don Schlitz is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and former Nashville Songwriters Association and ASCAP “Songwriter of the Year.” He has written 21 number one hits including Kenny Rogers “The Gambler.”

Audio and video recordings were produced in isolation, except a group video of John, Lance Hoppen, and Brady Spencer who gathered safely in Nashville. Still photos were taken years or decades before the pandemic. The video was edited and directed by Rob Arthur (Today Show, CBS This Morning, Rolling Stone, Veranda Magazine, Peter Frampton, the Doobie Brothers).

Multiple Grammy winner Cindy Cashdollar plays lap steel on the song and is featured in the video; she’s also the Americana Music Association “Instrumentalist of the Year” (2016) and a member of the Austin TX Music Hall of Fame. Cindy grew up in Woodstock NY, where Orleans was based in the early years.

Orleans is John Hall, co-founder Lance Hoppen (bass, and vocals), Fly Amero (guitar, vocals), Lane Hoppen (piano), Brady Spencer (drums). This is the latest of many incarnations in its near 50-year history.

The band went from club and college shows in the Northeast to worldwide acclaim with their top ten singles “Still the One,” Dance With Me,” and “Love Takes Time.” Now entering its 28th year of live performances, Orleans has produced a body of work spanning 16 albums and several DVDs. The band’s music is still being heard on national TV; recently John and Johanna’s “Still The One” was on Applebees’ commercials and Netflix’s “Love, Wedding, Marriage.”