Dear Friends,
I am so excited to announce the pre-order for our new album that we made together with our friend Dan Zanes. It is called “Turn Turn Turn” and will be released by Dan’s label Festival Five Records on August 27.
Having been a fan of Dan’s music for so long, I still have to pinch myself when I look at the record we put together this spring and realize that we actually did it! We have been having so much fun playing shows with Dan this spring, and have more planned for the future.
Here are several places that you can find the album:
The album is named after the song “Turn Turn Turn” originally by Pete Seeger. Dan Zanes and I recorded a version of the song featuring lyrics written specifically for children by Pete’s wife, Toshi Seeger, in 1954. Toshi passed away last week at the age of 91. She lived an extraordinary life, creating so much and inspiring so many without ever needing or seeking the spotlight. She is an enormous inspiration to me. We had the profound honor of meeting Toshi this spring, at her and Pete’s home in Beacon, NY. We sang the song with them, drank tea sweetened by maple syrup from their trees, and talked about music, history and family. It rained hard that day, but even through the rainy bamboo forest the Hudson River looked so beautiful from their mountain top home. It is a day our family will never forget.
We will celebrate the release of “Turn Turn Turn” with two concerts next month, one featuring Pete Seeger himself!
First we will perform at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan on Saturday August 24. We have never played at this fantastic venue before so please come and join us. We are really looking forward to sharing the new songs from the album with you, along with many old favorites! And you never know what special guests might show up.
Next we will be part of the Summer Hoot at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge NY on Sunday August 25 at 11am. Founded by our dear friends Mike and Ruthy, the Summer Hoot promises to be magical, just like the winter hoot was! Pete Seeger will be performing after our set, and with lots of luck perhaps we will even get to sing a song with him. We will also be performing with Natalie Merchant at the hoot the night before.
We hope your summer so far has been full of blueberries and watermelon, sunshine and shade, music and dance, fireworks and fireflies….
xoxo
elizabeth mitchell and you are my flower