MUSIC
"An uplifting set that provides a great break from everything we are bombarded with these days. Records like this could even make geezers start buying music again. That’s how strong it is."
-Chris Spector, Midwest Record
LYRICS
Rising
Tide
LISTEN
Taivi talks ‘RISING TIDE’ – track-by-track
-
“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, until my friend Garth Douglas told me they did.
-
“I’m Here” – This poignant song is inspired by my friend Anneli…but it took two years and this recording for the real melody to come through. And Bryan McDowell, with his haunting fiddle, added the dimension craved by this piece.
-
“Keep on Moving” – There are lots of different ways I’ve looked at the geography of my life – but red shoes have always been important to me as a metaphor for traveling and moving forward in life."
-
“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.
-
"Parry Sound” – I love this part of the world – it’s held a special place in my life – and Parry Sound native, Katherine Wheatley was the gentle midwife as this song was wending its way into the world.
-
“One More Dance” – It seems like we can always use one more dance… Many moments from the Woods Music and Dance Camp fueled this waltz.
-
“Turn My Light On” – I was handed a piece of paper with the word “illumination” on it…. The third verse reminds me of a dear friend – Susan Lawrence – and she loved playing the piano. Mark Schatz’s bass brings out beauty in this sparse song (especially with that arco bowing!)
-
“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…
-
“The Clearwater (for Pete Seeger)” – The cleanup of the Hudson River had been championed by Pete Seeger for decades. Its momentum centered around having a sloop, Clearwater, sail up and down that river, with people singing and making music. What a legacy.
-
“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 I returned 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)
-
“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…
-
“Strawberry Lane” – This song found its genesis under a moon in Asheville, North Carolina, where I walked a path lined with 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.’ By the time I put the finishing touches on the song, I was back together with the fellow who inspired it.
-
“Rising Tide” – The phrase ‘a rising tide raises all ships’ had been 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.