Laurel, Alicia Bay
Music From Living On The Earth
In 1970, Alicia Bay Laurel's NYT bestselling book, 'Living On The Earth,' inspired a generation to move to the woods and live in harmony with nature. Here are the songs she wrote at the time she created her legendary book, at age 19, recorded solo at Sea-West Studios in Pahoa, Hawaii in 2000, with Rick Ascher Keefer, the engineer who produced Heart's 'Dog And Butterfly' album. Alicia learned open tunings directly from John Fahey, who was married to her cousin Jan Lebow when Alicia was in her teens. West coast jazz also filled her ears growing up in Los Angeles, and some songs evidence this influence as well. The lyrics reflect a love of all things spiritual and natural, of honesty, freedom, simplicity and gratitude. The final piece is a choral rendition of the first piece, arranged by Alicia's longtime friend and musical mentor, Ramón Sender Barayón of the San Francisco Tape Machine Center (home to Terry Riley, Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros et al); co-author of sequel book, 'Being Of The Sun.' The CD booklet is handlettered and illustrated with Alicia's drawings, in the style of the book for which it is named, and is, of course, printed with soy inks on 100% post-consumer-waste recycled paper. The song list includes the tunings for each song.