I wanted the record to feel like you walked into a thrift store and pulled out a wild-looking album from 1972, intrigued by the cover you pop it on the table and are blown away by what you hear. I think we accomplished that and then some with Pilgrimage. Highlands Leaving is the top of the mountain for the record, I think.
Highlands Leaving
Inspired by Scottish writer, Alistair McIntosh’s brilliant “Soil and Soil” I wanted to write on the Highland Clearances of the 1700’s that pushed my ancestors from Scotland to Northern Ireland and ultimately to Nova Scotia, Canada. The repercussions of colonialism shake the branches of my family tree and sadly still ring out throughout my home country of Canada today.
To know oneself, it is helpful to know where one’s been. For better or worse, we were pushed from our ancestral homes into someone else’s. Violence begetting violence. It’s imperative to me to break these cycles and to honour the beautiful traditions our communities once held so tightly. It was always so strange to me that I felt more at home in Scotland than in my own country; it makes perfect sense to me now. There is a deep ancestral grief for where we once called home and a reckoning for where we call home now.
Joel Plaskett contributes the beautiful second verse lyrically and vocally as well as the drums, great electric guitar and mandolin.
Tyler Lieb is playing Tenor guitar, Rick May is on the bass, Ryland Moranz is Banjo.
Kendel Carson plays the beautiful fiddle part on this, and Jeanne Tolmie, Theresa Bromley and Jessica Bennini are the angels singing the bridge.
Pilgrimage OUT MAY 29th is now available for Pre-Order on Vinyl (first 50 are Kelly Green!) and Cd
right HERE
Stream it Here, if you'd like.
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