Driving through the Apulian countryside
Nature has never seemed so beautiful.
I don’t know if it happened to you during the quarantine to observe the nature around you. My quarantine coincided with spring, the flowering of trees and fields. for work, I occasionally left the house and found myself driving through the Apulian countryside. nature has never seemed so beautiful to me, I had the feeling on more than one occasion that it was regaining its space at the expense of man’s useless constructions, the barriers and fences and the roads that divide the fields. I also thought about my daughter, whose quarantine was real, long and perhaps heavy. the spectacle of nature was lost this year.
Almost every day during these months I have worked on the realization of this compilation, receiving pieces from friends, without even the need to send invitations, or inviting all the artists and musicians who have worried about me to send me a song.
In short, there was no social distancing, indeed, I felt the closeness of a lot of people.
Today I give you some other anticipation on ”Portraits From The Quarantine”
The Cannanes: one of the last songs I have received and one that brought me to tears when I first listened to it. The containment measures here are weaker every day and if it were not for some mask around you would swear that nothing had really happened. I know that things are not going well in Australia, it’s the second time I’ve been working with The Cannanes and when this nightmare will be over I hope to meet Fran, Stephen and the other members of the group, in Italy or anywhere else.
Mr. Ray Fork: Mr. Ray Fork was one of the first to answer my call. I received his song on March 16th and played it for the very first time at 8:00 in the morning. Clouds were gathering over our heads and I was worried and scared. Previous bass player with Phil Yates and The Affiliates, Mr. Ray Fork has written this song a few years ago, when he was driving back and forth to band practice. He knew it was coming out of a old country song vein and he kept making himself sing it slower and slower until he found the right tempo. According to his tale, it took a couple of weeks back and forth in the van. He didn’t play it on an instrument until he had all the lyrics and melody figured out. Social distancing in a van.
Wovoka Jr.: an old friend and a new member of the Almost Halloween Time family. I wrote about it a few days ago, drawing up the list of 10 records that have influenced me the most. In the Waffles and Windmills compilation there is a song by Wovoka Jr. that drives me crazy and that I have to listen to repeatedly every time I put on the tape. ”Our schools and after school team athletics are shut down now for the next 3 weeks here in Wisconsin. I noticed that the kids are now no longer doing online things but old fashioned things like playing/climbing in or around trees and playing basketball and other games outside.” Something positive, right? The song is a bit of a lament how childhood passes so quickly.
You can preorder your copy here.
