New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Canyonlands, a new album by Kate Magdalena, has been released today on her birthday. This collection of 7 original songs and 7 covers was recorded in Nashville under the direction of Billy
Smiley of Northern Shore Productions in the fall of 2021, just months before Kate's untimely passing in January of this year.
Laurel Canyon was the inspiration for Canyonlands, the title track of the album. The song grew out of the very special confluence of influences that made Laurel Canyon a cultural birthplace of the 1960s. The chorus of the song calls out:
"Canyonlands are calling us, can you hear the sounds,
traveling the sands of time from eucalyptus ground"
Kate was aware of the poignant passage of the time from then until now, and how the lessons of those earlier times call for our listening today. Lessons of peace, lessons of love, lessons of nature.
"Canyonlands" by Kate Magdalena is a masterpiece of
songwriting and performance- Indie Spoonful review
Among the covers on the album are "This is My
Rebel Song" by
Sinead O'Connor and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time." Kate had a life-long love affair with the musicals about Jesus- Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar- and covers two of their songs- "
Day By Day" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him."
Kate said about her original song "Parallel Lifetimes," "it's my first rock song. It has to do with the six possibilities inherent in any moment according to the laws of physics and how it's possible to travel down any one of them into a parallel lifetime at least conceptually. It's also about the idea of God being part of all those lifetimes transcending all the different lifetimes."
"Green Upon Green" is kind of an imaginary work, set in Ireland. Kate described it as "a love story involving an imaginary idyllic setting in a very beautiful land, Ireland. It is a love story for the soul. Something spoke to my soul as a girl and it is this seed that I wish to capture in the song."
Canyonlands is available on all major music platforms and streaming services. The CD will be available by June 1.
