On a gorgeous day in Southern California, at 3 p.m., Barbra Streisand is asleep. She declares, “I’m still in my nightie.” “I adore lying in bed.”
Naturally, Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett, her dogs, are by her side. “They take their naps in my bed,” Streisand tells me on today’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast.
It’s not surprising that Streisand is promoting her new album, “Release Me 2,” which is a compilation of ten previously unreleased recordings from the EGOT winner’s vault. On the recording, which will be available on August 6, she sings “I’d Want It to Be You” with Willie Nelson, which was originally produced for her 2014 album “Partners.” The recording of “The Rainbow Connection” featuring Kermit the Frog was made in 1979. “I did it basically for my son [Jason Gould], who was a big fan of ‘The Muppet Movie’ and watched ‘Sesame Street,'” Streisand says of her collaboration with the late Jim Henson. “And he loved it.”
Although she was working on the album during the epidemic, she was also able to spend more time with her family and her 23-year husband, James Brolin, because of the lockdown and restricted travel. “There’s nothing like family and home and pure love and joy and connection,” says Streisand, “and I’m enjoying my grandchildren.” “At this point, that is what matters most to me.”
