Spring is here! And with her, a foot and a half of snow! All I can say is, I’m glad winter has finally arrived, in time for spring. Winter was feeling incomplete, having had as little of the white stuff as we had this year. Now my New England heart is content. This March snow will melt quickly and then we can get on with mud season!
The biggest news this month has to do with my getting Moondancer back into print in CD form – after a slight delay caused by a printing error, it arrived just in time for my midwest tour. The CD represents a musical healing journey, and includes my song Blessed (the one with the Halleluiah chorus). Darleen Wilson produced the CD – she was a joy to work with. We recorded the album in 1990. It was three years before it was released, the first album on my own record label, in 1993. For me, writing the songs and recording the album were a labor of love, and a journey in and of itself. Putting it out to the world was just an extension of that journey – as is getting it back into print these several years later.
I believe that while our histories may tell how we got where we are, they do not need to define who we are. Sometimes it’s helpful to tell our stories in order to recognize where we’ve been, and to free ourselves to move into new ways of being. Our willingness to go into the fearful places empowers us to call light into the darkness. And in sharing our stories, we can help one another on our journeys as well. That’s what this collection of songs is about for me. It’s a celebration of the healing, the moving beyond, the willingness to live each moment in the present.
Darleen’s production is lush and lovely. Johnny Cunningham plays fiddle on several songs, Eugene Friesen plays cello – his three-cello arrangement of Blessed is awesome, Linda Worster adds vocal harmonies. Other guest musicians are Richard Gates on bass, Marty Quinn on percussion, Tim Griffin on drums, Jacqueline Schwab on piano, and Lorraine Lee Hammond on Celtic harp.
The CD version has been out of print for several years, so I’m excited to have it available again. You’ll find it once again – hooray! – on the website order form, so you can order it through Paypal right on my site, or by calling 888-665-5946.
In other good news, my poetry chapbook, Moon of Ripe Berries, has sold out of its original printing. The second printing will be available – I hope – within the next few weeks. I am delighted to announce that my daughter Magdalen will be doing the hand-sewing of the books for this printing! Right now I’m trying to find someone to make me a simple scoring board for folding the covers – I welcome any suggestions you might have of where I can find one, or get one made.
That’s the news for now. You can check my schedule for coming performances, and drop by my guestbook and leave a note [sorry…no longer available], I always love to hear from you.
I urge you to think global, and act as local as you can! Celebrate life, do what you love, love your family and friends, and be gentle with yourself.
Quite warmly, Lui