Last summer, I finally gathered up some of the songs I’ve written over the past few years between working on my falcon-themed ‘Flight Lessons’ folk opera and co-writing for the Bay Station project. When it was time to record, I enlisted musical genius Art Khu – who I’ve worked with over the years — to produce. We headed to Women’s Audio Mission to complete the vocals and mixing and now the project is nearing completion.
These songs are decidedly more personal, concerned with the everyday perils of living and relating as a woman, the consequences of internalized sexism and attempts at its transcendence. The first song I’ll release from the upcoming collection, ‘41st Avenue’ will be released on Bandcamp and other streaming platforms this Friday. It’s about negotiating an unsupervised teenhood, at once full of potential and confusion, desire and risk (I had the lines “older boyfriends and drunken breakups/eating disorders and Maybelline makeup” kicking around for more than a year before I knew how to finish it!)
I feel a little wary about starting to release this kind of work, NOW, amid such national and global strife. But then that would just be bowing to the silencing power of the various kinds of oppression at play — which getting out from under is a lot of what the song (and most of what I do!) is really about — anew. So, a song, an offering, another kick at the dark. I’m hoping this tune and those to come add to the cause of creating that much more understanding and empathy among we humans.
‘41st Avenue’ by Deborah Crooks available 6/27/25.
Photo “Little cove in Pleasure Point, East Side, Santa Cruz”
by Suzanne LaGasa www.flickr.com/photos/lagasa/
Recording made possible by Whippoorwill Arts
