Mark Knopfler Releases ’Beryl,’ First Single from ‘Tracker’

Mark Knopfler has released ‘Beryl,’ the first single from his upcoming album, ‘Tracker,’ which will be released March 17. He also announced the track listing and unveiled the cover art. You can listen to the song above.

According to Knopfler’s website, ‘Beryl’ is about Beryl Bainbridge, a famous British novelist whose most prolific period was from the early ‘70s to the mid-‘80s. She was frequently nominated for the Booker Prize, the most prestigious award given to a British writer of fiction, but did not receive one until after her death in 2010. The former Dire Straits frontman uses her as an example of someone who was not properly recognized in her lifetime, singing, “Every time they’d overlook her / When they gave her a Booker / She was dead in her grave / After all she gave.”

“The album title ‘Tracker’ arrived out of me trying to find my way over the decades,” Knopfler said. “Out of me tracking time – looking at people, places and things from my past, and out of the process of tracking as in recording tracks in the studio.”

In addition to the standard CD and double-vinyl releases, ’Tracker’ will be available as a Deluxe Edition with four bonus tracks. There will also be a box set combining the CD and vinyl versions, a CD with six extra tracks, a DVD with documentary and interview footage, special liner notes and extra artwork.

Knopfler has also added some more dates to the European tour he announced in September. You can get the full list below.

‘Tracker’ Track Listing:
1. ‘Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes’
2. ‘Basil’
3. ‘River Towns’
4. ‘Skydiver’
5. ‘Mighty Man’
6. ‘Broken Bones’
7. ‘Long Cool Girl’
8. ‘Lights of Taormina’
9. ‘Silver Eagle’
10. ‘Beryl’
11. ‘Wherever I Go’

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:
12. ‘.38 Special’
13. ‘My Heart Has Never Changed’
14. ‘Terminal of Tribute to’
15. ‘Heart of Oak’

Mark Knopfler 2015 European Tour:
5/15 — Dublin, Ireland
5/16 — Manchester, England
5/17 — Sheffield, England
5/19 — Glasgow, Scotland
5/20 — Newcastle, England
5/22 — London, England
5/23 — Birmingham, England
5/28 — Milan, Italy
5/29 — Nice, France
5/31 — Salem, Germany
6/1 — Zurich, Switzerland
6/2 — Paris, France
6/3 — Paris, France
6/5 — Antwerp, Belgium
6/6 — Amsterdam, Netherlands
6/8 — Stavanger, Norway
6/9 – Bergen, Norway
6/10 — Oslo, Norway
6/12 — Trondheim, Norway
6/13 — Uppsala, Sweden
6/14 — Copenhagen, Denmark
6/16 — Hamburg, Germany
6/17 — Dortmund, Germany
6/19 — Mainz, Germany
6/20 — Mannheim, Germany
6/21 — Koln, Germany
7/4 — Bad Kissingen, Germany
7/5 — Stuttgart, Germany
7/7 — Hannover, Germany
7/8 — Berlin, Germany
7/9 — Leipzig, Germany
7/11 — München, Germany
7/12 — Klam, Austria
7/13 — Krakow, Poland
7/14 — St. Margarethen, Austria
7/16 — Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, France
7/17 — Sion, Switzerland
7/18 — Padova, Italy
7/20 — Cuneo, Italy
7/21 — Rome, Italy
7/22 — Lucca, Italy
7/24 — Lanzua, Huesca, Spain
7/25 — Hoyos del Espina, Avila, Spain
7/26 — Sevilla, Spain
7/28 — Lisbon, Portugal
7/29 — Santiago de Compostela, Spain
7/31 — Barcelona, Spain