Icons from the world of rock, blues, reggae, pop and country music have joined together to salute the genius of legendary piano man FATS DOMINO for the upcoming double CD set, Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino. Goin' Home is set for a September 25th release on Vanguard Records. This stellar tribute to one of the cornerstones of rock n roll music will help raise desperately needed funds specifically earmarked for instruments to be donated to New Orleans public school children. Monies raised from the sales of Goin Home will also go toward the rebuilding of Fats Domino's home and to create a community center in the Crescent City's still ravaged Lower 9th Ward. Proceeds of Goin Home will fund additional community related programs. The Tipitina's Foundation, a 501 ©(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving the cultural legacy of New Orleans through music education for the youth and providing programs that support working musicians of New Orleans and the Gulf Region, conceived and executive produced Goin Home. The roster of music royalty contributing their interpretations of classic Fats Domino songs include: Sir Elton John (Blueberry Hill), Sir Paul McCartney (I Want To Walk You Home), Tom Petty (I'm Walkin ), Robert Plant (It Keeps Rainin' ), Willie Nelson (I Hear You Knockin ), B.B. King (Goin' Home) and Neil Young (Walkin' To New Orleans). Goin Home will also feature the late John Lennon's version of Fats most popular song, Ain't That A Shame. In addition, some of modern music's most prolific artists have contributed their time and talent including Lenny Kravitz, Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams, Ben Harper with The Skatalites, Toots and The Maytals, Taj Mahal, Herbie Hancock and Bonnie Raitt.

More from Vanguard Visionaries

2008-04-14 -- 5/5:: Goin Home Tribute CD
Great CD. I bought it for my husband, he's always been a Fats fan and he loves it. All the artists did a wonderful job. Worth every penney.

2008-03-29 -- 5/5:: Best Tribute Album Of 2007
If you are a fan of Fat's or the New Orleans sound you gotta purchase this CD. This is a veritable lovefest of the Fat man and it shows in the music. You can certainly tell these folks really cared about this man, his music and the City of New Orleans. The songs keep sounding better and better. The coolest thing, is the proceeds from the sale of this CD go toward buying new musical instruments for the students from N.O. public schools and also benefit other community programs. This is a win, win propostion.

2008-03-22 -- 5/5:: Wonderful CD
LOVE THIS ALBUM - It is packed full of Fats Domino classics performed by some wonderful new artists and some legends of our own time. This CD brings back many memories of when I used to ride around in my first car with my Fats Domino 8 track. One of the best CDs I now own.

2008-02-19 -- 4/5:: Lovely Tribute
Diversified cast performs a lovely tribute one of the fathers of American music. Must have

2008-02-03 -- 3/5:: Variable overall but with some real gems
The reason for this CD and the status of the man in the history of his city and rock 'n roll and the plight of New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina are not in doubt but judged on the musical content alone, this double CD offering does come across as a mixed bag overall I fear.

While some of the new recordings are great interpretations (Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams and Randy Newman) some are frankly disappointments (Elton John, Paul McCartney, Los Lobos and Lennie Kravitz), but given two discs worth the chances of getting a high level of consistency was always going to be a high goal. What is the real gem however is the existence of a number of alternative interpretations which come across as real finds - my own surprises being the two Robert Plant contributions (each very different and a precursor to his more recent work with Alsion Krause and T Bone Burnett) and Taj Mahal, Toots and the Maytals and Willie Nelson in putting their own personal stamp on their interpretations.

I was left feeling after several plays that judicious choice would have produced a killer single CD rather than a variable double such as we have here.