Joe Henry Releases Remastered Edition of "Invisible Hour"

Over the course of this year, Joe Henry set out to re-release three of his most acclaimed albums that defined his coming-of-age as a record maker. With today’s release of Invisible Hour, the momentous reissue trilogy now comes to an end.

Released for the first time in 2014, Invisible Hour followed a very busy period for Joe Henry who produced songs for Bonnie Raitt's Grammy-winning 2012 album Slipstream, and albums for the likes of Billy Bragg, Rodney Crowell and Mary Karr, Natalie Duncan, Hugh Laurie and Over the Rhine. In his own body of work, "Invisible Hour" was preceded by Henry’s acclaimed records Blood From Stars (2009) and Reverie (2011).

"After courting the particular chaos that was both Blood From Stars and Reverie, I heard an ask that accompanied the new songs arriving that would ultimately become the album Invisible Hour; and the ask was simply that I allow beauty, wherever it occurred, to remain just that: beautiful. No need to send my voice chasing through a haunted house; no requirement to smear anyone’s lipstick out of hand." Henry reflects.

Working together with recording engineer Ryan Freeland and several other of his closest collaborators, Henry brought the songs to life in his studio at The Garfield House in South Pasadena, California.

"I wanted instead to let the songs stand in the full light of their afternoon; didn’t want to create the impression that any production concept stood between a song and its receiver.”, Henry says about the musical direction of the record. “It was the single direction I offered engineer Ryan Freeland: that he was free and encouraged to let as much of that available light into the picture as possible, obscuring nothing."

As of Friday , the reissue edition of Invisible Hour is available in stores as 180g black double-vinyl in a high-quality gatefold jacket, CD Digipak and for digital download and streaming. It features all album tracks in remastered sound as well as a special selection of bonus material, including alternate versions and demos.

Access Invisible Hour here.  

In addition to Invisible Hour, Henry’s reissue trilogy also includes his 2007 record Civilians and the 2009 album Blood From Stars. All three reissue-albums are available now and pressed on 180g double-vinyl for the very first time. Additionally, they are available as CD Digipak, for streaming and digital download via earMUSIC.

Joe Henry Presents Reissues Trilogy Of Three Acclaimed Albums

Joe Henry is one of the artists who have shaped the sound of modern American folk and blues music like hardly anyone else. Not only is Henry a GRAMMY Award-winning producer, but also a well-respected and prolific artist in his own right.

In 2024, Joe Henry is set to release three of his most acclaimed studio records for the first time on vinyl via earMUSIC, featuring a special selection of unheard bonus tracks as well as intimate demos and live recordings from his personal archives.

"With this new reissue series, I find there's something unexpectedly compelling to me about revisiting this particular trio of albums as, together, these volumes represent my sort of 'coming-of-age' as a record maker, in that I stopped observing any border between a song's composition and its studio articulation. It all became a single impulse for me...conjured into fruition right there in my basement," Henry reflects on the reissue series.

Civilians, the first of the three, invites the listener on a journey into Henry's poetic lyricism. While writing the album, Henry found himself going back to an old-fashioned approach of songwriting, starting most songs on acoustic guitar and adding significant production only later on during the process. Recorded in Henry's studio in Pasadena, long time collaborators like Loudon Wainwright III, Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, and Van Dyke Parks have influenced the sound of the album alongside Henry.

Pre-order Civilians here.

Blood From Stars, Henry's 2009 record, sees him exploring the realms of orchestral blues and jazz. During the time, Henry was listening to a lot of country-blues and revisiting poems by writers like e.e. cummings — two forms of art that he says strongly influenced the sound of the record. With his evocative lyrics and soulful vocal delivery, Henry crafts a poignant narrative on what he calls one of his personal favorites amongst his own records.

Pre-order Blood From Stars here.

Rounding out the trilogy is Invisible Hour, one of Henry's more recent works. Recorded in 2013, it features several of his closest musical companions, including Lisa Hannigan and best-selling novelist Colum McCann. Henry describes the songs on the album as "songs pertaining in some ways to the subject of marriage — marriage as a verb, not a noun." The album tells a captivating story about resilience and the redemptive power of love.

Pre-order Invisible Hour here.

All three albums will be pressed on 180g double-vinyl and additionally be made available as CD Digipak, for streaming and digital download via earMUSIC, with the official pre-order starting today.