When Mark Erelli and I got to chat for the RLR podcast, I asked him about the vocal demand of a song like “Stranger’s Eyes,” which my kids were starting to sing in the house because I’d played it so many times. This is a tune that requires more than a few “me-me-me’s” by way of warm up to deliver. But there’s so much more to this song that Mark’s impressive range. It’s the clear heart of a song that expresses something that most people in intimate relationships would acknowledge if they’re being totally honest: that even “after all this time,” sometimes we just don’t get each other. And, not for nothing, he gets the word “prognosis” into a lyric, and it works–that’s some next level sorcery right there and makes me wonder if Mark struck some sort of Faustian deal to pull that one off.
It’s a pleasure to premiere this video for “Stranger’s Eyes,” with each member of the band that brought you Mark’s excellent new record Blindsided playing from their own quarantined domiciles. One of the strangely satisfying things of these COVID times is the creative ways folks are finding to build community, and as much as you know the people in this video are physically apart, they are unquestionably musically together.
We hope you enjoy the video, check out Mark’s new record Blindsided, and be well out there.
photo credit to Joe Navas