I am overwhelmed and moved by the support that folks have shown for my new CD project, The Other Way Around, which was fully funded by a Kickstarter campaign in which 468 people, from all over the world, chipped in to raise over $41,000 in exchange for various rewards, to make it happen.
The new album, my first in ten years, features songs that arose out of that decade of my life, which included living overseas in Australia and India, and a great deal of international travel to work with musicians, peacemakers, and world-changers, from Antigua to Zambia. In order to capture that decade, it seemed clear that we needed to involve musicians from all over the world, and we did. Musicians and instruments from every inhabited continent collaborated to record these songs.
I stretched myself to create these songs, and to record them, playing around the boundaries of genres that might not usually come to mind when thinking of my music — Latin, African, Appalachian, Gospel, and Indian instruments all show up in the mix, as well as one Southern Rock song, complete with a guitar solo from Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Other guests on the record include Nashville Americana legend Tim O’Brien, Ugandan kalimba player Kinobe, fretless bass virtuoso Michael Manring, Nicky Sanders and Graham Sharp of the Steep Canyon Rangers, Diali Cissokho of Kaira Ba, and many, many others.
The songs themselves touch on many of the themes that have populated my life in the last decade, including a love song for my wife and a couple where my son shows up in the story. I also touch on themes that are informed by my time in Australia and India, studying peacemaking and conflict resolution. One song was born out of the four words Rosa Parks spoke when she was threatened with arrest, and two others paint pictures of people living in war time. On the whole, the songs are looking for the light in various landscapes, and often finding it.
We will be celebrating the release of the record at Diana Wortham Theatre, at the heart of downtown Asheville, on Sept. 2, 2016, with a full band and some special guests. Tickets will go on sale soon. If you want to make sure you don’t miss the news and the chance to buy tickets, you can subscribe to my free newsletter here.
And if you would like to pre-order the CD so that you receive it as soon as it comes out, you can get your copy here.
Thanks again for your extraordinary support. It takes a village to pull something like this off, and I sure do inhabit a lovely virtual village. Thanks for being a part of it.
David
Judith E. Orbach says
Hi David,,
We’re looking forward to receiving your CD. We’re glad the funding went so well!
Judi & Mike Orbach
David LaMotte says
Thanks so much for helping to make it happen, Judi and Mike!