Garden Valley

Slow ballad in Ab. Starts a capella (verse + chorus), then the guitar comes in, to be joined later by mandolin and dobro.

Music & lyrics: Douglas Menzies MacLean (Limetree Arts and Music)

The herrings:
Loes: lead vocal, guitar
Arthur: mandolin

The special guest:
Floris de Vries: dobro

ABOUT THIS SONG
In 2015, I was in Prague for a month to study the Czech language. In the summer school I befriended a man from Damascus whose eyes sparkled when he enlightened us (who knew nothing) about arts and culture in Syria, but who also tried to get across how utterly desolate he felt about the ongoing war. It was hard for us, who were basically on vacation in a beautiful city, to imagine what it must be like for him to be away from home against his will, constantly worried about what would become of his family and friends. Telling somebody to make a new place their home is easier than it sounds, I realized, as I thought about Dougie MacLean's beautiful song "Garden Valley." In a hopeless situation, this is my very limited attempt at reaching out a hand.
- Loes