Singing and fiddling with passion: a chat with "bad ass" fiddler Laura Cortese

We began recording this album in late July 2020, under California’s Covid–19 stay-at-home order, in Dan’s Bonny Doon home studio, The Shed. We were wrapping up by mid-August, but then a heatwave and extremely unusual lightning storm sparked a fast-moving forest fire. Completed after our evacuation to the safe haven of a friend’s home, After the Fire marks the end of an era and a fresh start; Dan’s little studio burned the morning after he’d rescued the rough tracks, studio equipment, and a range of instruments we play, yet rarely have the space to bring with us on the road. Highlighting them on this album helped us feel the joy of performing again and to know that despite the setbacks of the past year, our music will thrive in new ways.

Each song portrays a facet of the journey from setback to reclaimed hope - finding faith in the possibility of LOVE in “Make Me Come Alive,” HOME in “Beale Street,” COMMUNITY in “Together Again” and “Money Shouldn’t Talk That Strong,” and one’s own STRENGTH and FORTITUDE in “If A Wave” and “Hey, It’ll Be OK.”