For the second time in four years, pianist Holly Bowling has shared her interpretations of the Grateful Dead with the world. Released on Friday, Seeking All That’s Still Unsung finds the Ghost Light keyboardist translating nine classic Dead tracks to solo grand piano and serves as a follow up to 2016’s Better Left Unsung.
This latest release comes as Bowling wraps up the second leg of her Wilderness Sessions tour. Alongside her husband/director Jeffery, Bowling has traversed picturesque landscapes across the country and spread music everywhere she goes.
Related: Holly Bowling Jams Out “Terrapin Station” For An Hour On ‘Wilderness Sessions’ [Watch]
On the nine-track offering, Bowling takes on some of the Dead’s most celebrated live staples including “St. Stephen”, “China Cat Sunflower”, “I Know You Rider”, and “Stella Blue”. She also takes a few detours into less obvious choices like “Saint of Circumstance”, “Lost Sailor”, or the complete “Weather Report Suite”. Lastly, she also challenges herself with the band’s more technical compositions like “The Eleven” or “Sage and Spirit”.
Originally announced back in July, the project came at a time when Bowling—much like every other touring musician—was forced off of the road. Thus, with no supply of steady income, completing the album and mastering the recordings became much more challenging in terms of finances. It was then that Bowling opened up to her fans and launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough money to finish the album.
Bowling said of the campaign in a recent interview with Live For Live Music,
One of the coolest things is I did a Kickstarter for that album, and I was really nervous about it because I’m trying to put this record out there into the world at a time when I can’t tour to make money. I can’t go out on the road and tour behind this album and try to make it successful that way. And we’re in a time of economic crisis and a global pandemic and a massive civil rights movement and all these much bigger concerns that made me feel like why the hell am I launching a Kickstarter to try to put out a record right now? Who cares? But people’s response to it was really positive. And I think it’s just kind of testament to music still being important through all of this. … The fact that I am putting out this record with the backing of a bunch of, for the most part, total strangers that wanted to help bring some more music into the world just feels really good.
After raising over $30,000 from 441 backers, Holly Bowling’s Seeking All That’s Still Unsung is finished and now available on all streaming platforms.
Holly Bowling – Seeking All That’s Still Unsung
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