In sitting down to write this post, we were trying to remember if there was a “before-time” to our relationship with Stephen Spitzer’s music, and we came up blank. Stephen is a long-time friend, a Brattleboro-area composer, and member of the folk scene whose music has been part of our consciousness for decades. Perhaps his best-known composition is Hallowell, which was one of the first pieces that Windborne sang back in the olden days when we were a trio of teenagers not yet out of high school. St. Gaudens also made its way into our repertoire, and some of you hardcore Windborne fans will recognize it from our 2011 CD with wand’ring feet.
We always loved St. Gaudens for its poetry and harmonies, and it quickly became our “centering song” as a trio. For us, a centering song is one that helps us tune into each other and be present, transitioning out of the constant mental to-do list and into the music. It’s a song that feels like sliding into a comfortable glove, one that is vocally gentle and free for our voices so we can all relax into the singing. It’s often the first song we’ll sing in a rehearsal or before a gig as a check-in moment, particularly if it’s been a while since we’ve sung together. St. Gaudens was that piece for a long time, but when Jeremy joined Windborne in 2013 it fell out of our repertoire since it was composed with just three parts.
A few weeks ago, Stephen reached out to us with an exciting proposal: he wanted to start making a collection of his compositions since there are many that have never been recorded, and he asked us if we’d like to be the voices of his music–of course we said yes! Coincidentally, we were just about to convene for a big media shoot to prepare a virtual set for a performing arts conference in October. (This is also really exciting news! We are showcase artists for the Arts Midwest/Western Arts Alliance 2020 conference, which is happening online this year. This event is similar to some of the Folk Alliance conferences we have attended, but presents to larger venues like arts centers and universities, and includes not just folk music, but all genres of music, theater, and dance!)
To help level the playing field among showcase performances, the conference sent high-quality video and audio equipment to all artists and offered tech support to get set up (we were on a 2.5 hour Zoom call running around the theater, adjusting lights, focusing cameras, and tweaking sound!). We partnered with the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, VT, one of our favorite local venues and filmed not just our showcase set, but several other songs as well, including St. Gaudens. We wrote a Stephen-approved bass part for Jeremy that we love, and we are thrilled to share this track and video from The Latchis Sessions with you!
If you want a real blast-from-the-past, here’s a video of Windborne as a trio singing St. Gaudens at a house concert 10 years ago (or more? We’re not actually sure when this was…). So much has changed since then–our sound, our hair, our video skills… 🙂
Have you heard Stephen’s music before? What are your favorite memories of his work? Share in the comments!
Lyrics below, and here’s a quick shot of the beautiful Latchis Theatre during setup
St. Gaudens
Composed by Stephen Spitzer, Words by Robert Louis Stevenson and Stephen Spitzer
Under the wide and starry sky,
You’ll dig a grave and let me lie.
This be the verse you’ll grave for me:
Here he lies, here he lies, here he lies,
Where he longed to be
Glad did I live and gladly die
Although I lay down with a will
I watched my breath turn into sky
as I lay, as I lay, as I lay,
On my pillow hill
Home is the sailor, home from sea
Home is the hunter from the hill
Home shall the warm wind carry me
Far away, far away, far away,
where the light shines still
