'A was recorded in Fulham, London during the Summer of 1980 and was intended to become an Ian Anderson solo album. The tapes were therefore marked ‘A’ for Anderson, which is how the album got its name, but the label asked the band to release it as Jethro Tull. It first hit the street on 29th August 1980 in the UK and on 1st September the same year in the US.

Ian Anderson and his longtime friend/collaborator Leslie Mandoki have recorded the song “We Say Thank You,” as a dedication to everyone on the frontline, from the doctors to grocery store workers, in the unbelievable Coronavirus battle.  The hashtag to use is “#WeSayThankYou”

Written by the Hungarian-born/German producer/songwriter/bandleader of Soulmates (which has featured Ian through the years), “#WeSayThankYou” was written in the context of Leslie’s own isolation in Germany, where his doctor wife, Eva, is a first contact physician.

Following six sold-out Caribbean cruises and a sold-out inaugural Mediterranean sailing – Joe Bonamassa, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, and Sixthman announce the second annual Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea Mediterranean II, sailing August 14-19, 2020 on the beautiful Norwegian Jade from Barcelona, Spain to Genoa, Italy and Cannes, France.

Jethro Tull released Stormwatch in September 1979, completing a folk-rock trilogy the band started with Songs from the Wood in 1977 and continued the following year with Heavy Horses. Certified gold in the U.S., Stormwatch was also the final album to feature the classic late-1970s Jethro Tull lineup, which included Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Glascock, John Evan, David (now Dee) Palmer and Barriemore Barlow.

To celebrate the album’s upcoming anniversary, Rhino will release STORMWATCH: 40th ANNIVERSARY FORCE 10 EDITION. This new 4CD/2DVD set will be available on October 11.

Ian Anderson’s 50 Years of Jethro Tull continues in 2019 with tours confirmed in the United States and Europe. Concerts in the States in March, July, and September with confirmed concerts on both coasts in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, New England, and California.  

The concert will feature a solid collection of the best-known Tull repertoire from 1968 to date. Fans will recognize the key songs from various albums - songs which put Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson on the map in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s - with most of them accompanied by big screen HD video elements to enhance the concert experience.

This week Ian Anderson reached the number one position again in the Billboard Classical Album charts with his new collaboration with the Carducci String Quartet, JETHRO TULL: THE STRING QUARTETS. Previously, his album DIVINITIES topped the Billboard Classical charts in 1995. In 1973 A Passion Play and, before that, 1972’s THICK AS A BRICK both hit number one in the Billboard Album charts. Those are number one hits every 22 years.

Now in stores and all online digital sites is THE STRING QUARTETS, the new album by Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and The Carducci String Quartet.  THE STRING QUARTETS features the classic songs of Jethro Tull, arranged and orchestrated by Ian’s keyboardist John O’Hara. Ian plays flute on most of the tracks and even sings a few lines here and there to provide his trademark sounds in the context of classical music traditions.

Ian Anderson, once and always front man of the legendary Jethro Tull is embarking on two major projects: a new album in which he and a British string quartet created of reworked Tull classics, as well as some major U.S. touring of a program dubbed, “Jethro Tull, performed by Ian Anderson.” Anderson took time recently to speak to Grateful Web via telephone.

GW: To help set the scene, from where are you speaking to me today? 

IA: My office in Southwest England.

“Loco (Locomotive Breath),” from the new 'JETHRO TULL- STRING QUARTETS’ album by Ian Anderson and the Carducci String Quartet, is premiering at billboard.com.  “Loco” is a string quartet arrangement of “Locomotive Breath” Jethro Tull’s 1978 hit off the group’s album, BURSTING OUT.