TAIVI
RISING TIDE
Taivi talks ‘RISING TIDE’ – track-by-track
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“Red Moon Rise” – This melody came in one summer night, sitting with friends by Georgian Bay…. the images were descriptors of that evening, although I didn’t know that shadows crawled before I wrote this song...!
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“I’m Here” – Bryan McDowell, with his haunting fiddle, added the dimension craved by this piece.
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“Keep on Moving” – There are lots of different ways I’ve travelled through the geography of life – but always good to have red shoes for the journey.
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“Rock My Heart” – That’s Matt Wingate counting us in – poised for that driving guitar. Garth Douglas added the “rock” to “rock my heart” and Claire Lynch sent the invitation to get moving with the tide.
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"Parry Sound” – I love this part of the world – it holds a special place for me – and Parry Sound's Katherine Wheatley was the gentle midwife as this song wended its way into the world.
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“One More Dance” – It seems like we can always use one more dance… Moments from the Woods Music Camp fueled this waltz.
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“Turn My Light On” – I was handed a piece of paper with the word “illumination” on it…. Mark Schatz’s bass brings out beauty in this sparse song (especially with that arco bowing!)
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“Get on Home” – I heard Emmylou Harris say that no matter what she was going through, if there was just one more song for her to sing, that’s all she would need to take her further. And then I put pen to paper…
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“The Clearwater” – The cleanup of the Hudson River had been championed by Pete Seeger for decades, with; a focal point for action being the Clearwater sloop - sailing up and down that river, with people singing and carrying on. Still sailing!
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“When I’m With You” – Sharing this duet with Ryan Roberts of Nova Scotia, I wrote the bridge (“keeping our soul’s flame alive”) after returning from singing with 30,000 people in Estonia – a nation known for having kept its identity and culture alive through song. But don’t songs do that for so many of us? (and that’s Jarrod Walker’s mando chop propelling this one forward)
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Roses & Thunder” – Sometimes metaphor holds more truth than fact ever can. Recording this song was pure odyssey – Toronto – Nashville – Frankfurt – Nashville – where we found its groove…
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“Strawberry Lane” – This song found its genesis under a moon in Asheville, North Carolina, when I was walking along a path lined with wild strawberries. No doubt I was subconsciously affected by the ‘double A-sided Beatles single’ of John Lennon’s ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and Paul McCartney’s ‘Penny Lane.’
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“Rising Tide” – The phrase ‘a rising tide raises all ships’ had been sitting with me for years. Then one day, in a B&B in Guelph, Ontario, it morphed into a song. Years later, Stephen Fearing suggested I hold the line of the tide ‘raising us all’ until the end. Good call.
Red Moon Rise (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Jarrod Walker - mandolin
Bryan McDowell - guitar
Mark Schatz - bass
Bucky Berger - drums
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch & Matt Wingate - background vocals
I’m Here (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - fiddle, guitar
Jarrod Walker - guitar
Mark Schatz - bass
Bucky Berger & Todd Phillips - percussion
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch - background vocals
Keep On Moving (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Jarrod Walker - mandolin
Bryan McDowell - acoustic & electric guitar
Mark Schatz - bass
Bucky Berger - drums
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch & Bryan McDowell – background vocals
Rock My Heart (Taivi Lobu & Garth Douglas SOCAN)
Matt Wingate - electric & acoustic guitars
Bryan McDowell - fiddle
Mark Schatz - bass
Matt Wingate – snare
Taivi - vocals
Garth Douglas & Matt Wingate - background vocals
Parry Sound (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - fiddle, mandolin
Jarrod Walker - guitar
Mark Schatz - bass
Taivi - vocals
Katherine Wheatley & Claire Lynch - background vocals
One More Dance (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - fiddle
Matt Wingate - guitar
Mark Schatz – bass
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch - background vocals
Turn My Light On (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Taivi - piano
Mark Schatz – bass
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch & Bryan McDowell - background vocals
Get On Home (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - mandolin
Matt Wingate - guitar
Mark Schatz – bass
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch - background vocals
The Clearwater - for Pete Seeger (Taivi - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - octave mandolin, electric guitar
Jarrod Walker - guitar
Mark Schatz - bass
Scott Merritt – banjo
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch & Matt Wingate - background vocals
When I’m With You (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - guitar
Jarrod Walker - mandolin
Mark Schatz - bass
Bucky Berger - drums
Taivi, Ryan Roberts – lead vocals
Claire Lynch – background vocals
Roses & Thunder (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - fiddle
Matt Wingate - guitar
Todd Phillips - bass
Bucky Berger - drums
Taivi - vocals
Claire Lynch & Bryan McDowell - background vocals
Strawberry Lane (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - ukulele
Jarrod Walker - guitar
Ken Whiteley - dobro
Adam Bowman - snare
Mark Schatz – bass
Taivi - vocals
Mary Bennett & Jayne Mitchell - background vocals
Rising Tide (Taivi Lobu - SOCAN)
Bryan McDowell - fiddle & mandocello
Matt Wingate - guitar
Mark Schatz - bass
Adam Bowman – shaker
Taivi – vocals
Claire Lynch & Bryan McDowell - background vocals
The back-story - creating Rising Tide
“We are living in challenging times but this can draw people to what really matters, and lead to a new momentum and energy. The notion of a rising tide captures this for me – movement that can be imperceptible on the surface, but keeps raising us up.”
Taivi’s debut album, Rising Tide, launched to critical and popular acclaim – posting in the top 25 of the International Folk DJ Chart, receiving 4 of 5 stars from the Netherlands and taking the top spot of the Roots Music chart in Kamloops beside her longtime hero Buffy Sainte Marie.
Thirteen songs deep Rising Tide was recorded in Toronto, Guelph and Nova Scotia in Canada to Nashville, Tennessee and Frankfurt, Germany. Taivi, who composes on guitar, piano and mandolin.
Much of what made it onto this album was inspired by an unlikely friendship with internationally renowned bluegrass star Claire Lynch.
Taivi first became aware of Lynch when a fellow musician gifted her a compilation of female bluegrass artists – O’ Sister! (The Women’s Bluegrass Collection.) “Claire’s rendition of Gretchen Peters’ – ‘If Wishes Were Horses,’ – had me listening on repeat. I loved the energy of that recording and even brought it into my repertoire,” Taivi explains.
“Years later, Claire started to date a fellow I knew, up here in Toronto so we had a chance to meet. I introduced myself and asked if she would consider a mentoring session,” says Taivi. Lynch, the Grammy-nominated and three-time International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, said the choice to work with Taivi was easy.
“She’s sort of a kindred spirit in a lot of ways,” says Lynch. “She writes straight from the heart and she has a bare-bones sincerity in what she wants to say. She speaks out from her own life experiences and it was fun to help her interpret those experiences and work with her in the capacity of mentorship. I enjoyed the challenge.”
Taivi and Lynch struck up an advisory relationship on Skype, but when it came time to record the actual tracks for Rising Tide, Lynch went a step further – and connected Taivi with her own band members for the core instrumentation for the project. Hence, Taivi’s new album has the incredible Claire Lynch Band musicians included on the sessions, including bass player Mark Schatz (Bella Fleck, Nickel Creek, Tony Rice, Tim O’Brien); guitarist, fiddler and mandolin player Bryan McDowell (Sierra Hull, Alison Brown, Mountain Heart); guitarist and mandolin player Jarrod Walker (Billy Strings, Missy Raines) and guitarist Matt Wingate (Greencards).
The standard of excellence on the album sessions continued with engineering by Nicolas Tjelios (Basia Bulat, Jenny Whiteley, Ken Whiteley). “And Nik's engineering and mixing made this multi-country/multi-studio recording feel seamless.” Ken Whiteley’s Casa Wroxton, housed the Toronto branch of the recording, with Lynch advising sessions in Nashville and even Frankfurt – where she and Taivi met up during a European tour. It was mastered back in Toronto by Grammy winner Peter J. Moore (Cowboy Junkies, Bob Dylan & The Band – The Complete Basement Tapes).
Other celebrated musicians include veteran drummer Bucky Berger (Murray McLauchlan, Colin Linden); esteemed album artist and producer Scott Merritt (Fred Eaglesmith, Garnet Rogers) who during a mixing session at his Guelph studio – The CottaGe – added a needed banjo touch to a tribute to Pete Seeger’s Hudson River clean-up project, “The Clearwater;” Ken Whiteley, whose Dobro swings in “Strawberry Lane”- a jaunty whimsy about turning the corner in romance; Katherine Wheatley, who contributed backing vocals to an uplifting track about her hometown, Parry Sound; as well as Toronto-based musicians, Garth Douglas, Jayne Mitchell and Mary Bennet.
Producer - Claire Lynch
Engineer - Nik Tjelios
Additional engineering - Tom Kornis in Frankfurt; Todd Phillips in Nashville; Jason Kyle in Nashville; Ryan Roberts in Kentville, Nova Scotia
Mastering – Peter J. Moore
Recorded at Casa Wroxton and Taivi’s living room in Toronto, Klangetage in Frankfurt, Germany, The CottaGe and Monastereo in Guelph, The Nashville House in Nashville, Tennessee.
Album Design - A Man Named Wrycraft
All songs: Taivi except Rock My Heart (Taivi & Garth Douglas)