It's my 48th birthday, and today, I'm sharing one of the proudest things I've ever done... I produced a beautiful album of my favorite musician, from start to finish!

Surrender: Live by Adey Bell.

Exactly 10 years ago on this day, May 12th, 2015, Adey Bell played a house concert for me on my birthday, with a group of 50 friends, on our family's Steinway baby grand.

This is one of the earliest recordings of her playing live. Of course, in the decade since, she has evolved enormously as an artist. And still, as her archivist, I can say, there's something special about this show.

Something about the set and setting and mix of people in the room... the portal opened up, Adey was ON (she's always on, but she was REALLY on...) and we in the audience were stunned, bowled over. We knew we were witnessing something majestic.

I produced the show, and Chris James engineered the sound beautifully and recorded it. I kept wanting to release it as a live album... but over the years I never got around to it.

This turned out to be perfect, because now I get to release it on exactly the 10-year anniversary of this magical and (for an Adey fan) historic show.

If I had to pick one track (not an album but a single track) as my "desert island" Adey track, out of her vast repertoire of music, it would be her version of "Surrender" from this show. By the crescendo, the gut-level surrender in her voice goes deeper than anything else I have ever heard musically. (Don't listen casually!)

Also, in this show Adey sprung on us not one but three premieres of new songs that are now among her standards, "Venom," "Peace of Man," and "Remind.Her."

(I wrote up the backstory of the origin of “Remind.Her,” which Adey composed only months before this concert, here.)

Plato talked about the True, the Good, and the Beautiful as the three transcendent realities. (The phrase "Platonic love" stems from his reflections about Beauty in its perfect, ultimate form.)

Of these three values, I have always been partial to the Beautiful... because, of the three, it is the one that offers itself up as its own reward. The True and the Good... Pursuing them is necessary, but as we know too well, often unpleasant and not always rewarding in the moment.

But... the Beautiful... If we are lucky enough to witness a flash of true Beauty, approaching its pure, Platonic form.... the moment offers itself as its own transcendent reward, without reference to anything else, whole and complete that precious moment.

I am grateful to have experienced such a flash in my own living room on May 12, 2015... and am proud to have played my part in bringing something truly Beautiful to this world... Surrender: Live by Adey Bell.

Today on my birthday, or on one of these days soon, it would make me so happy if you would give yourself a treat and listen to this fine album. Listen over your best speakers/headphones (ideally as one sonic journey, from start to finish), in a quiet hour, with attention...

And if you like it, please share it with anyone you know who loves witchy singer /songwriter / pianist music.

Available on Bandcamp (if you love the album, please support the artist and buy it there... 100% of proceeds of Bandcamp sales go to Adey) and on Spotify.

(Our 1978 family Steinway baby grand she played this show on, which my parents bought new when I was one year old, is now Adey's Steinway in Asheville, NC... We were so grateful for the seven house concerts she gave here over nine years--five of them on that Steinway--we wanted it to be hers, after my dad passed.)

• All songs written and performed by Adey Bell

• Engineered, recorded, and mixed by Chris James - thank you so much Chris for creating this live sound, and for recording and mixing it so finely.

• Mastered and sequenced by Steve Turnidge at UltraViolet Studios, Seattle - thank you Steve for all your work on this. It was so fun collaborating with you!

Produced by moi

ENJOY!

Love,
Michael