I hope you are all well! I have a story to tell. You have heard many of my tales. This story started 15 months ago. It is story of a Gift, I received. I took a fall on the concrete floor of my studio.. A neighbor discovered me.and called 911. They hauled me off to the Emanual Trama Center in Portland. They discoverd a lot of arthritis(stenosis) in my neck, it combined with the fall, vertebrae’s were squeezing my spine. No I did not have a clue. I was stabilized in intensive care. We really did not know what would be the end results? In the end it was a 6 hours of surgery, fusing vertebrae C4,5 6. With head /face wounds.
I had been turned inside out and upside down for six hours, maybe more. As I a woke, my head was filled with images, faces, places, voices,conversations and lots of questions!. They were all swirling around in my head..
I believe I was given a Gift. A gift of time! The gift of more time to be here with you my family / friends. Yes, I’m still weaving stories & songs. Music is coming along and I’m still being me. My daughter said welcome back! and handed me a journal ! “Dad just write it all down !
I want to Thank everyone who has been listening to my new Album “The Whisper”. If you have not had a chance it is on those internet radio like Spotify, Apple Music & many others. remember as the kids say “To Like it /follow it”You can find it on my website to listen. They are on the home page of my website for listening. To purchase follow this link_ carlsolomonsolomoncrow.bandcamp.com/album/the-whisper
Here are the stories about the songs of The Whisper. It is in a chronological order for the first five songs, The second five songs are more of a look in the society of the world around me. We each see from our perspectives, they can not always be explained? These songs come from my perspective, my voices and I hope a shared reality Thanks for listening! Carl
The Stories of “The Whisper© 2023 Solomon
1. Look West – This the story of two worlds coming together.As long as I remember my Grandparents were there. My Grandfather was my male role model My mother had misfortune with husbands. My bio dad passed before my 2nd birthday and we moved into my Grandparents Brooklyn apartment. My mom tried again. My adopted dad died six months after they got married and Mom was pregnant with my brother. We had moved back to Baltimore.This time my grandparents moved into our house. So he was basically always there. He told me the stories of his life. I was with him in his hospital room when he pasted. He encouraged me to go west I looked West, I will be in Portland 50 years in2024. Our stories connected.
2. Lincoln Continental ( Suicide Doors) This part of my Carnival Barker series. Promised Land album/ Play to Win song. Story of forbidden love, young love. I was a Carnival Barker a traveling show. She was a member of a Romani/ Gypsy family that stopped at the same State Fairs. She drove an 1964 Lincoln with Suicide doors. It became where we would meet.. It was a gigantic car, there was no second season.
3 Morocco – The carnival barker job paid me well – in cash. I took off early( long story) I grabbed my backpack and guitar to travel Europe and Morocco , maybe Greece, Israel My rail pass ended in Madrid, where I met group of folks traveling in VW buses. They were headed south through Spain and to end up in Morocco. Where it was warmer. I connected with a woman traveler from the group., until we went our different ways. Another love song that ended, with what could of been.
4 Only the Moon Knows – It was a song that began as a co write in the west Texas desert at a “Crooked Crow Retreat” I continued to work on it until it it said it was done. It fits the theme of searching for answers to life’s questions. I put it fourth in this album because the first three songs was I searching for answers to questions I did not yet know but I was trying to answer………
5 The Whisper -Is the story of the meeting of true connections of the heart.. The story of meeting my wife and of the years we spending and building a life. Even though it is never simple but listening to the whisper of her heart of our hearts. We celebrate 47 years together.
6. Singin with the Ghost A story how lives can be connect in many places. When I am traveling, on the road .the As many performers I like to eat after a show. One place I have frequent has been Waffle Houses. I love sitting and listening, stealing from the moments people share. Thats where the story was born. It could be the Dave Carter & Tracy Grammar story and many others. A different love song.
7.Window Shopping for Jesus – True story started with a song prompt at Southwest Regional Folk alliance conference in Austin. The song came fast to begin. I went back to the carnival life and experience. One of the guys that worked on our crew he fancies himself as an evangelical looking to save people. He had a hard time saving himself. He was always looking for answers and a lot of time he thought he knew the answer. Another twisted soul looking for truth. With the reference to Jesus and Graham Parsons, the chorus was born.
8. Soldier’s Psalm This song came from the work ,I do teaching guitar and songwriting with a veterans group called SoldierSongs&Voices. My brother in law who loves writing, was Marine in Vietnam. He wrote a poem about Marine colors and Vietnam service medal- Yellow, Red& Green. In the poem he shows attitudes are different today versus the late 60s early 70s. His training platoon did not lose one person in Vietnam. . I also dedicate to my brother in law Chris Joyce and a Marine/Songwriter Grover Duffield. from SSV who recently pasted away. .
9. Crime of Silence – This is not preaching, it is a question? This a question song? The song comes from some radicalism of my youth. The concept is are we responsible to act , if we watch an act of violence? Do we feel that we would do something to stop it. That is the question. It is co written with Randy Brown.
Written to hopefully make you think of what you would do or would not do?
10. You, Me Us A futuristic tale of the apocalypse . Could it be a rebirth story of the planet? It leaves only the coyote only the salmon and only the crow left on this Earth. It started with images that kept popping up in my writing. So I thought what if humans were gone and there were only animals left on the Earth. The ordering of the these ten songs tell a story of parts of my life. The first five songs talk of my journey to find a place.
Thank You Carl
Yes I am back on the road again. Traveling from Portland down to Texas. I have had to change directions a few times. I was hoping to go from Portland to Denver, then to Arlington,Texas then down to Kerrville Folk. Every time over the last 3/4 years I have planned to go I-80. It has been snowing in this week of May. This morning watching the weather channel it was snowing again. Portland keeps raining ! Denver keeps snowing!
The drive has delivered amazing landscapes. Driving along the beautiful Columbia River through their canyons. Just watching barges and fisherman with a couple of windsurfers. Then down through the farms in Idaho and into those amazing canyons of Utah and the deserts New Mexico. Everything has been so mesmerizing. Each evening I’ve been sitting and visualizing what I’ve seen and free writing about the these creations, of all this beauty. I think of the absolute need to preserve it. No pictures to share they are all in my head. Images lock for my brain to wander and wonder about it all.
See you on the Road Thanks Carl
Hello it has been a while
I just dusted off my boots. The dust from Liberty Hill, Texas and @CribworksDigitalAudio. I was just about 40 miles North of Austin. I was there to begin work on my fourth album. I had searched for a producer that would push me and my music to a new level. I found that person in @MerleBregante, an amazing talented producer, engineer and musician. His life in music brings so many perspectives and possibilities. We both believed that it is the creative work of listening to these songs, letting them will lead us to what is needed. It is always to create a voice/melody that serves the song.
No surprise that they are a collection story songs. These songs were mostly created during the isolation of the pandemic. I pulled out old journals from travels, daily free writes and those ideas that have been calling to me for years. I had time to remember and create. As you would suspect they are all stories, filled with of love lost and found, characters I have met along the way and those ideas that just kept hanging around. We will see where it all goes. I’m targeting fall of 2022 for completion, we will have to see what the songs think?
I flew in to Austin to spend five days to begin the project. Only saw the airport and a grocery store. We encountered a few obstacles-struggling air conditioners, possible tornadoes and flight cancellations. They did not slow us down! We spent the week working together, talking music, creating and recording 10 tracks for the new album. I am so honored and want to thank Merle for joining this journey. He is a wizard and task master for the song. He gives you 110 % plus. We got a lot done, a great beginning.
Thanks for Listening Carl
