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