Hello everybody,
Long time no see. Let me give you a little update.
This last summer, my wife, Lara, was diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been a rough ride. Lots of tears, and dismay and disorientation. Anyway, I have been quite busy taking care of my family for the last six months. No shows, no recording, no song-writing, just a lot of snuggling at home with everyone and taking care of what needs to get done. The good news is that she is stable and doing well!
Given all that, I had been getting ready to release some stuff and some of it is ready, so I have a Christmas song to give you today.
Before the illness, my bud Pat Brennan (who has been my close musical collaborator and producer for the past six five years) and I had started on a follow-up to Like Losing a Fight (my record that came out last year). We are really excited about this handful of songs and had lots of the arranging and tracking completed already before Lara got diagnosed. The follow-up album will be broader thematically, a little more rhythmic and and a little more experimental. But it'll likely be slow-going getting it out there, so I'm glad to offer up a little something now.
I wrote this one a few years ago and Pat got it ready for release over the past months. Big thanks to Jeff Johnson (my bass teacher when I was a teen!) for the amazing slap bass performance and Ian Hayes for the intricate and tasteful guitar-work. Pat arranged the thing and played just about everything else except for the drums and percussion. What a champ.
Have a close listen- there is lots going on: Jamie Paulsen manages to pull off a horn-section with just his trombone, and my daughter Edith with two other kids formed a little children's chorus for the pre-chorus. Plus, drummer, Peter Hendrickson shifting into old-school-deep-groove mode on the 2nd verse.
The song is about cutting through the cynicism, skepticism, and numbness of modern life by finding some rest and freedom in love and community. Though I wrote it during the pandemic, I have held on to it as a lifeline through the bleakness of each winter.
Please pray for my family and I!
Take care,
Landon A. R. Coleman