Hymn of Wild Things — Natalie Spears Colorado Folk Musician

Hymn of Wild Things album

out June 28th

Hymn of Wild Things single out May 17th

He Still Knows single out June 7th

It’s the quiet awe of wild places that most animates Natalie Spears’ music. Outside her home in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley, she listens to the language of birds, notices patterns of migration and sees the cosmos in the countryside—like how the cedar waxwings harvest crab apples every February. For Spears, the natural world offers a constant invitation to open the aperture of life to something wider, something wilder. Her forthcoming album, Hymn of Wild Things, (out June 28) chronicles her experience of wonder, loss and metamorphosis. This is a collection of songs about the intimate corners of humanity, hers and ours alike.

The title track is an autumnal evensong honoring the Sandhill Cranes as they migrate through the rocky mountains. The track is grounded by a hypnotic pulse created by sampling and manipulating field recordings of early morning cranes that Spears collected at a reservoir near her home. “Orchard of Dreams,” is a journey-song about transforming eternal self-doubt into fruits of hope. “Risk It All” is a flirtatious 1930's jazz-inspired number about a Louisiana dance floor romance featuring piano, bass, drums and a trumpet section, all recorded in New Orleans.

The album is anchored by a song cycle about the loss of her father, which she sings with clarity and tenderness. “He Still Knows” is a reckoning with the onset of her dad’s Alzheimers. Spears writes about his world becoming a gossamer collage and the disorientation that comes with memory loss. With swirling reverse guitar hooks, the production captures the feeling of time bending and life feeling upended. Similarly, “How Far” was written during a later wave of grief, a post-loss ode to all the irrational things you would do to make someone you love come back to life. “To Know The Dark,” sets a Wendell Berry poem to music, a song she has long sung in community. It’s a piece about holding hands with both darkness and light, a candlelight at the end of a triptych of grief songs.

The album was produced and recorded by Juno-winning musician Jayme Stone who also plays guitar, synths, samples and programmed drums on the album. There are cameos by Christine Bougie (Bahamas), Pat Keen (Humbird), Andriu Yanovsky (Boogie Trio), Kevin Matthews (Gasoline Lollipops) and Eric Wiggs (Jake Leg).

Spears is best-known for her work with fiddling singer Lizzy Plotkin. The duo’s album, “Just Over the Ridge,” was one of Folk Alliance’s top ten charting albums of the year and made number seven on Billboard’s bluegrass album chart. Spears has played the John Hartford Memorial Festival, Blackpot Festival, Palisade Roots Festival, Chautauqua Community House, Crested Butte Performing Arts Center and the Wheeler Opera House. Hymn of Wild Things threads opposites together: love with loss; tradition with innovation; and the human experience with a more-than-human world.

Hymn of Wild Things 3:18
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Americana / Folk
A autumnal hymn honoring the migration of Sandhill Cranes and wildness.
He Still Knows 4:18
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Americana / Folk
A daughter’s reckoning with Alzheimers.
Risk It All 4:22
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Americana / Jazz
A flirty 1930's jazz inspired song about Louisiana dance floor romance featuring a new orleans jazz band and referencing Duke Ellington’s “Creole Love Call.”
Homeward 3:32
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Soul /Americana
A soulful manifesto about coming home to oneself.
One-Eyed John 2:28
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Bluegrass / Folk
A haunting banjo-driven coal mining tale.
Orchard of Dreams 4:13
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Bluegrass / Folk
An ethereal odyssey through a landscape of electronic and acoustic textures.
Last Chance 3:45
Credits: (Hobart Smith, BMI)
Genre: Bluegrass / Folk
A meditative old-time banjo tune.
How Far 3:50
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Americana / Folk
An ode to grief and grasping after the loss of a loved one
To Know The Dark 3:01
Credits: (N. Spears, BMI)
Genre: Americana / Folk
A circling musical interpretation of a Wendell Berry poem.

RIYL: Aoife O’Donovan, Allison Russell, Lindsay Lou, Humbird, May Erlewine, Maya de Vitry

All songs by Natalie Spears except “Last Chance” (by Hobart Smith), “To Know The Dark” (words by Wendell Berry, music by Katie Hickman), “Risk it All,” “Homeward,” “He Still Knows,” and “How Far” (co-written with Jayme Stone). Hobart Smith sample on “Last Chance” from the Alan Lomax Collection at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Used courtesy of the Association for Cultural Equity.

Produced and Recorded by Jayme Stone
Mastered by David Travers-Smith

Carbondale, CO

www.nataliespears.com natmspears@gmail.com