Until recently, if you wanted to hear Paul Shaffer and his crew of industry-respected musicians, all you had to do was turn on your television at around bedtime. The carefully cultivated group of session players performed nightly and backed up decades of musical guests, first on NBC’s Late Night With David Letterman and later on CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman, shifting their handle from The World’s Most Dangerous Band to The CBS Orchestra along the way. Now that their former boss has retired to spend more time with his facial hair, though. there was the danger that these players would be blown off with the wind. Fortunately, that’s not the case. The longtime collaborators are still playing together. In fact, they’re currently on the verge of a new album release and North American tour.
The eponymous Paul Shaffer & The World’s Most Dangerous Band, out March 17, will feature 12 mostly classic songs and a variety of intriguing guest vocalists, including Shaggy, Jenny Lewis, Dion, and Bill Murray.
“Getting to record with a band which has played together for several decades was magical. We’re so comfortable playing together, we finish each other’s licks!” Shaffer said in a statement. “The wonderful friends, old and new, who guested on vocals were a dream come true for us. They poured their hearts and souls into our music, and we thank them profusely.”
Paul Shaffer & The World’s Most Dangerous Band
- Cast Your Fate To The Wind (featuring Shaggy)
- Why Can’t We Live Together (featuring Darius Rucker)
- Sorrow (featuring Jenny Lewis)
- Yeh Yeh
- Win Your Love For Me (featuring Dion)
- Happy Street (featuring Bill Murray)
- Some Kind Of Wonderful (featuring Felicia Collins)
- Rhythm (featuring Leo Napier)
- I Don’t Need No Doctor (featuring Valerie Simpson & Felicia Collins)
- Enjoy The Ride (featuring Will Lee)
- Just Because
- Wigwam
Paul Shaffer & The World’s Most Dangerous Band tour dates
4/1—The Clemens Center—Elmira, NY
4/2—The Palace Theater—Greensburg, PA
4/8—The Borgata—Atlantic City, NJ
4/20—Fallsview Casino Resort—Niagara Falls, ONT
4/21—The Wellmont Theater—Montclair, NJ
4/22—Theater At Westbury—Westbury, NY
5/3—Centrepoint Theatre—Ottawa, ONT
5/4—Wilbur Theater—Boston, MA
5/6—Ridgefield Playhouse—Ridgefield, CT
6/9—Ryman Theater—Nashville, TN
6/10—Seminole Casino—Immokalle, FL
6/11—Cobb Energy PAC—Atlanta, GA
6/29—Kresge Auditorium—Interlochen, MI
6/30—Arcada Theater—St. Charles, IL
7/1—Ames Center—Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN