Pianist and composer Brad Mehldau has released "Southern Belle," featuring singer/guitarist Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear), the latest track from Ride into the Sun, his upcoming songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith. You can watch the video made during its recording, directed by Matthew Edginton, below, and pre-order the album, due August 29, here. Elliott Smith included the song on his 1995 self-titled album, which was released 30 years ago today.

Featured musicians on Ride into the Sun include Rossen; singer/mandolinist Chris Thile; bassists Felix Moseholm (Brad Mehldau Trio, Samara Joy) and John Davis (who also engineered and mixed the album); drummer Matt Chamberlain (Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Randy Newman); and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, who also conducted on Mehldau’s 2010 album Highway Rider.

Ride into the Sun’s ten Elliott Smith songs are complemented by four Mehldau compositions that he says are “inspired by, and reflect, Smith’s oeuvre.” Also included are interpretations of Big Star’s “Thirteen,” which Smith also covered, and “Sunday” by Nick Drake, who Mehldau says, “I look at in some ways as sort of Smith’s visionary grandfather.”

“Elliott Smith masterfully rendered the dark/light admix not in the least through his distinct harmony. Specifically, he had a way of combining major and minor modes that was all his own,” Mehldau says. “The very first time I heard him play, what immediately drew me in was his particular feeling for harmony. It riveted me.”

Mehldau further says of Rossen’s contributions to “Southern Belle,” “When I heard the way he could play the guitar, it’s really like nobody else. It’s just unbelievable guitar playing, which to me is on the level of what Elliott was bringing. There was nobody else I could think of who could fit the part, so I was stoked when Daniel agreed to do it.”

Rossen adds, “Brad was talking about ‘hillbilly energy.’ And I do a lot of things on twelve-string that kind of sound like that anyway, so I tried to play the song how I would play it and just add a little bit of twang.”