Paolo Nutini photo session in Barga Vecchia

Wearing a fashionably jacket and toting an acoustic guitar, the singer Paolo Nutini was in Barga today for a photo session that ran through most of the narrow streets of Barga Vecchia culminating in a final session at the Duomo  just before the light went as the sun went down behind La Pania.  A very busy day for Paolo that started early this morning with a presentation of at Villa Moorings and continued right through the day with meetings, greetings, autograph signings and photographs, photographs, photographs. If all goes well an image of Paulo in Barga will be used on his forthcoming album “Sunny Side Up” due to be released on June 2nd.

Nutini and his band, The Vipers, will herald the album’s arrival with a live performance at the upcoming Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California, set for Saturday, April 18th. In addition, Paolo has slated a number of other April dates, including a free show at San Diego’s Del Mar Plaza on April 19th. Furthermore, Nutini and The Vipers will perform at a number of Earth Day-related events around the Pacific Northwest, with shows in Portland, Boise, Spokane, and Seattle.  A full-scale North American tour will be announced shortly. In the UK all of the Scottish, London and Liverpool concerts are already sold out … London selling out in just under one hour of the tickets going on sale.

Late this evening Paulo returned to his base – the Hotel Villa Moorings where his final meeting was set up with members of the Barga . They were there to present him with a Lake Angels T-shirt and Honoury membership of the Lake Angels.

An honour which he rose to straight way by promising that if his calendar was free during July, then he would return to Barga with his band to play at this years Lake Angels Soul Festival. Considering that Paolo has only ever missed once being in Barga during July for as long as he can remember, then there is a good chance that come July 11, 12, or 13th he will be on stage for the Soul Festival 2009. Watch this space for more details.

A telephone call from Rwanda this morning, has revealed that experts working in the area have located a water source suitable for the Lake Angels project in Rwanda 2008. It is all systems go for a pipeline of over 2 km to supply water to a school of 1500 pupils and water for 500 other people in the area. The project will cost a total of Euro 20,000 – all of which is being raised by the Lake Angels. Euro 8000 has already been raised with the held in Barga last year. The spokesman for the Angels expressed confidence that the remaining Euro 12,000 will be raised with other fund raising efforts here in Barga this year. article

Produced by Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne), “SUNNY SIDE UP” sees Nutini continuing to mine his arresting brand of soulful modern pop. Songs such as “Ten Out Of Ten” and “Coming Up Easy” display the gifted tunesmith’s ever-growing knack for irrepressible melodies melded with insightful and intimate lyricism, all held together by Paolo’s gritty and unpredictable vocal stylings.

“THESE STREETS” proved an international phenomenon upon its initial release, earning the Paisley, Scotland-born troubadour a cornucopia of critical praise and total worldwide sales in excess of two million. The album — which yielded three top 10 Triple A hits, including “New Shoes” and “Last Request” . The New York Daily News noted that “voices like Nutini’s come around just a few times in a generation.”

A uniquely charismatic live performer, Nutini toured nearly non-stop following the release of “THESE STREETS,” headlining countless shows and appeared at some of the world’s biggest festivals, including Live Earth, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Glastonbury, T In The Park, Montreaux Jazz Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, V Festival, and the Isle of Wight Festival 2007