The Overstory:

The Overstory won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2019. This novel by Richard Powers explores themes of the interconnectedness of life and the impact of humanity on nature.

I found the book very powerful as I very much enjoyed the rich prose and the way he could make me see the world in a new way. He created different lenses to glimpse and better understand the hearts of widely different characters. This included the key player of nature herself. In the end, the book is both a beautiful meditation on nature and a call to action, urging readers to reconsider their relationship with the environment.

My new song's theme was influenced by this novel not in a direct or intentional way but as something that emerged more slowly and organically. I finished this book during my song's build process. Reverberations, echoes and rhythms of the Overstory seem to lace the song lattice like vines on a tree.

There were no wailing Wiccans in the book but plenty of very passionate earth connected characters. There was also some good cries of grief and pain. I think some of this grief informed my late arriving background vocals in the last chorus. They have a quality of choral witch-like wailing to my ears. I almost discarded them BUT the sound of this background texture grew on me like a fungus over time and really began to anchor my song direction. This was not intentional either until my brain later latched on to it as a means to inspire the final song form and ending.

My next original song, Earth and the Wailing Wiccans, will be officially released to all streaming services on Friday, 16 August 2024!

Thank You for sharing a moment with me.

Dave