Less Hospitable Terrain

It has been a long time – far too long –since I last posted anything at all. Part of that was that there was nothing truly happening, and also as we moved through Covid, everything (even creative endeavors) shut down. 

But I’m happy, even thrilled, to post now about the new CD that Michael G. Ronstadt are finalizing. Several years ago we put together a five-song EP called “Quiet Revels,” a collection of “art songs” in various styles. 

Our latest effort is a full-length CD of ten songs, “Less Hospitable Terrain.” Six songs are new collaborations by me and Michael, two are from Michael’s personal repertoire, one is a song I wrote years ago and have been singing since, and finally a bonus track featuring an “olde Englishe ballade” pastiche I wrote with contemporary “traditional” folk artist Zoe Mulford of Manchester England. 

Unlike “Quiet Revels” where I sang all five songs, this time we engaged several guest vocalists. It’s hard to look at the diverse collection of songs, which range from folk ballad to rockabilly to cabaret to Indian raga, and come up with any common theme (or style). But the graphic designer, Scott Wolfson of Original Brain Media, thought the collection had a “haunted intimacy” 

I guess that is true, and there are only two fully uptempo songs – there are a lot of thoughtful songs (in differing levels of tempo and drive). But the theme of “less hospitable terrain” (which comes from the lyric to “Balalaikas”) is about journeys both physical and emotional, and the challenging experiences they bring us to. 

Four of the songs are about literal journeys, people traveling to places unknown. There is one song about the emotional journey from the end of one relationship to the beginning of another (“A Thing or Two”), a song that is a journey through a dream of a memory (“Even Now”) and a song that is a journey through the experience of a lie (“Rumplestiltzkin: Dead at 95”). 

Two songs are about entering unhappy emotional terrains – “Seems So Sweet” and “Naked Reprimand.” Only one song – the oft-requested “Me and My Purple Monkey” is a celebration of living in the joy of right now. 

Life takes us on many journeys long and short, large and small – and we are always challenged with the unknown of new territory, moving from the safety of what we know into “less hospitable terrain” and learning from experiencing the unexpected.