April 1, 2024
I am happy to be releasing my album, “60/40”, my third project with Tracy Walton at On Deck Sound Studio. After releasing two albums during the covid pandemic, which included nineteen originals and one cover (Bob Dylan’s Bucket of Rain), I opted to dive into some other songs that had left their mark on my heart over the years. Six of them are on this new record: The Beatles “I Will”, Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice”, Smokey Robinson “Tracks of My Tears”, Richard Thompson “Dimming of the Day”, The Association “Never My Love” and Neil Young “Old Man”. I rounded out the record with four originals. I called it 60/40 because it is 60% covers and 40% original material. Can you dig it?
It took a little longer for me to get everything in order to release the record because right after I finished recording it in late spring 2022 I made a huge leap, all the way to Italy. I now call Cilento (a region in southern Italy) my home. My dog Ladybug, who is with me on my album cover for The Other Side and featured in two videos I made (Find Me and Driftin’), joined me and my husband, photographer John Kane, on this sea change. We have been here since October 2022. Tracy and I finished the mixing and mastering with several trans Atlantic sessions. Thank goodness for modern technology!
Deciding to become an expat was not a decision I had ever considered, yet, when John proposed the idea, I didn’t hesitate. It felt right, inspired, thrilling and a wee bit crazy. My first trip to Italy, a country I had never visited before, we found and bought our house. And that was that. I am slowly learning the language and settling into the rhythm of life here. I have even found a beautiful stone chapel in our village where I plan to start recording this summer.
For those of you familiar with my first album, Brave New View, you may appreciate this story. When I first walked into the house that we now live in, I saw a frieze on the wall of Ceres the Roman goddess of agriculture (or if you prefer Greek mythology : Demeter). She is sitting lengthwise on a divan, one elbow perched behind her, gaze fixed and forward, one knee bent and the other leg stretched out ahead … It was almost identical to my BRAVE NEW VIEW album cover photo, which John helped design and photograph, carved in geso on the wall! Same haphazard hair, same drapey dress, same determined profile, same bare feet, AND her foot was resting on a globe, pointing toward Europe. As soon as I walked in the house I knew it was our new home. We were in the right place at the right time to begin “living” with a brave new view, literally and figuratively. So here we are. And here I am.
Wherever YOU are I hope you enjoy this latest venture. If you do, please share it with friends.
With gratitude. Thanks for listening.
Kristi