One of the living legends of dark folk is treating us all today to two previously unreleased songs, both from the sessions that produced her album Birth of Violence; a stark and seemingly bright take on the Joni Mitchell’s single “Woodstock,” and dusky original “Green Altar.”
Check them out below:
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Illuminating the circumstances around the release, Wolfe offers the following:
“While preparing for the Birth of Violence tour, I was watching a lot of Joni Mitchell videos. A 1966 Canadian performance that I found of hers ended up inspiring the video for my song ‘Highway.’ One night after working on the live set, Ben and I were hanging out, and I was just letting the Joni videos roll. ‘Woodstock’ came on, and I started singing along. After that, I simply asked Ben if he’d be into covering it with me for the tour, and we just went back into the studio and started working it out. The cover came together quite naturally, and it was a treat to play on stage every night. Joni is obviously such a big inspiration to this side of my music, so it felt right to pay tribute to her.”
“‘Green Altar’ is a cherished song that unfortunately didn’t make it onto the album. It’s a love song I wrote after finding out that my dear friends (artist) Bill Crisafi and (designer) Hogan McLaughlin were engaged. I envisioned them getting married in a lush, green, outdoor space outside of some majestic castle ruins.”
You would think that would be enough newsworthy information from Mother Wolfe today, but no, there is in fact more. She has also produced and released a documentary from her tour in support of Birth of Violence, a whimsically dark escapade that you can witness below:
“Woodstock” / “Green Altar,” and the Birth of Violence 2019 Tour Documentary are available today via Sargent House.
Photo By Ben Chisholm.
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