Jen's Folk Music Update: end-of-year edition
As the days begin to lengthen,
So the cold begins to strengthen.
— proverb c 1639
As we enter the quiet dark months and gather closer to the light, be it cold and fascinating or warm and meditative, alone or in company, I’m thinking of all the wonderful human beings I’ve had the honor of connecting with this past orbit, and of the music slowly maturing into manifestation for the next one.
Today, I’m herding cats, ideas, and musicians into a new album, due out in March. Some of the tunes you’ve heard, some you haven’t. This week I heard some of them sung for the first time! Thank you dear friends who have chosen to work with me on this new music. To hear harmonies only in my head, and then hear them patiently learned and sung back to me — a truly awesome and humbling moment.
At the same time, the seeds of my next record are already planted, with new folk songs begun or just imagined.
At the risk of being a bit too mysterious about it, I’m also working on another very special project, with the help of some wise and willing friends. Look for a separate note about this, soon.
Whatever else it brings, the new year will come with so much music.
I’ll leave you with this seasonally appropriate poem of hope in the dark, from Robert Frost:
A Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Love, light, and music.
—Jen