Our newest album starts with these two tracks. The whole album focuses on an event in 2017 that landed my father in the hospital for nine days, without any memory to explain why. This is about first hearing the news.
I remember that I got a call from Mom at work on a Wednesday. In a little office with a little window that looked out at the parking lot. And she didn’t really have any information. Just that she was on the highway driving up to the University of Michigan hospital. She called me to let me know, and to prepare me for when she called back later – either to tell me to stay home or to drive up.
Part of the difficulty of everything is that the event that led to his injury was a random accident while he was doing a random act of kindness. There’s nothing that anyone could do to prevent it. There’s no one to blame. We can do everything we can to avoid carcinogens, keep ourselves healthy, work out, eat well, and it is worth doing. But it also means nothing at the same time, because that’s just how the world works.
I hope you listen, reflect, and maybe share it with someone who’s been in a similar situation.
Be well,
Sam & Hello Emerson
this song is the collective effort of eleven people who decided that songs are important.
sam emerson bodary | songs, guitars, vocals, synths, production
daniel lawrence seibert | percussion, synths, arrangements, production
jack keating doran | keyboards, production
with chamber contributions from Knisely
evan lynch | clarinet
helen cates | violin
shine robison | piano
zach koors | vibraphone
and these thoughtful collaborators
benjamin ahlteen | bass guitar
tony rice | recording, mixing, production
glenn davis | mastering
featuring the voice of david lawrence bodary
recorded by StoryCorps
on july 14th, 2019