Nonesuch Records releases pianist and composer Brad Mehldau’s Ride into the Sun, a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith.

Ride into the Sun’s 10 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 godfather.”