My new music album Up-Side-Down Town has just be released and is available through Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby, Apple Music, KKBox, and Spotify. You can hear samples of the songs at: https://erichflaw.hearnow.com/
The album has its beginning the night of the 2016 election. In my struggle that night, I began writing songs, the first of which is called Weeping May Spend the Night inspired by Ps. 30. (In the album, the final version of the song is simply titled: Weeping.) Four days later, I posted the first version of the song on Facebook, and the video got over 4000 views that weekend. I realized that there is a need for more songs to assist people to make sense of our divide world. So I continued writing more songs resulting in this album of 12 songs. Here is the list of songs:
- Up-Side-Down Town
- Open Space
- Dialogue
- Home
- Longing
- Things We Lose Each Day
- Working Class Blues
- Waiting
- Weeping
- Serenity
- Let Go of Your Fears
- I Need Your Light
This is the album notes: I began writing this collection of songs at the end of 2016 as my way of dealing with the struggles, frustrations and hopelessness of living in a divided, polarized, up-side-down country. Each song is an open space for truth-telling, lament, discovery and ultimately hope that leads to actions. As I shared these songs with others, they also found healing, affirmation and spiritual strength to stay engaged in difficult dialogue that we have to have if we, as a nation, are to find our soul again. I stand on the shoulders of the great folk singers like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary, who were fearless in asking the hard questions and telling the truth through poetry and melodies that stay with the listeners. I invite you to join me in this journey through”Up-Side-Down Town.” Instead of succumbing to the fears that divide us, we can expose the fears through brave “dialogue," tell our truth, shed light on “the things we lose each day.” and sing the “working class blues." At times, we will be “weeping," “waiting” and “longing” for a day of seeing without tears. But we will “let go of our fears” and find “serenity” and “home” where we know we belong.
Some lyrics of the songs were included in Fear Not: Living Grace and Truth in a Frightened World. Many churches are using both the album and book for their Lenten study. Some are using them to create concerts, workshop, dialogue and study groups during this election year.
Comments