It’s been quite some time since we’ve had new music from Laurie Lewis. That has been remedied over the weekend, but we have learned that the talented and long established west coast artist has been facing some intense struggles in her life of late, that have affected her musical output.
A new single, Long Gone, was released on Easter Sunday, with a new album, Trees, set for a May 21 drop date.
In the course of creating this latest project, Laurie has been dealing with a good deal of personal tragedy. At one point, she lost her singing voice for a period of six months, and even more devastating, her partner of many years, Tom Rozum, has developed Parkinson’s Disease, and is unable to be involved in the music making.
Tom is still as involved as his condition allows. He sings harmony on the album, and created the original artwork for the Trees cover, but his days as a stage and studio collaborator for Lewis would seem to be at an end.
But an artist never leaves their art, as long as they still have life in them. Trees offers a poignant look at where Lewis is today, with seven new original songs and a number of covers, all in her trademark style that skirts the boundaries of bluegrass and old time music with her special stamp.
Of Long Gone, she says…
“I have loved Long Gone since I first heard Bill Morrissey sing it a couple of decades ago. Recording it was a blast, and I think that as a ‘returning’ song, it is particularly resonant in these post-pandemic times. We’ve all been long gone, from each other and the world at large. Every time I hear Brandon Godman’s fiddle kick-off, I get excited all over again, to be returning from the virtual to the corporeal world.”
Along with Godman on fiddle, we hear George Guthrie on guitar, Patrick Sauber on banjo, Andrew Marlin on mandolin, and Hasee Ciaccio on bass.
Have a listen in the music video her label, Spruce and Maple Music, produced for Long Gone.
Long Gone is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers who would like a copy of the track are invited to contact Erin Scholze at Dreamspider Publicity.
