Prayer For The Blind video from Cristina Vane

Cristina Vane is a young artist with an international, multi-ethnic background who found her musical voice once she settled in the US at 18 years of age. Her debut artist as a singer and songwriter, Nowhere Sounds Lovely, is due in April, focusing on her  rootsy blues sound, but a single released in February explores her affection for old time music as well.

It’s one titled Prayer For The Blind that Cristina wrote after meeting some interesting people while touring across the country with her solo show. Vane plays banjo, accompanied by Nate Leath on fiddle, and spins a tale that is both personal and reflective, based on a strange but true anecdote shared in a random meeting. 

“This song is partly woven of a specific story I was told by a Nebraskan couple that I met out camping in Iowa. The woman told me about her mother, who was elderly and suffered from dementia. Apparently, her mother insisted that her husband was cheating on her with a woman with two peg legs, going out dancing and such, and was resolved to wring their necks. She related this story to me while laughing, and the contrast of the comedic aspect of such a heavy thing for a daughter to watch her mother go through hit me pretty hard. The lyrics touch on that story and on the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, even as they relate to my own. I was also eager to write a modal banjo song, as I thought it set a good canvas for these difficult themes.”

The video is arresting as well.

Look for Nowhere Sounds Lovely on April 2.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2004 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.