Juniata
Where the mountain dips, is a place called the ‘Kettle.’ It is at this place where you first see the rain that travels from the west. When I was young, I thought that the rain started there from the springs that filled our reservoirs.
We rarely went to the mountain - it was a place filled with rattlesnakes and bears. The lowlands, wet and unpredictable, could swallow you before you even knew that you stepped in a quagmire. Whether this is true, is still yet to be discovered. What a great word, quagmire….
As children, we kept to the fields and picked the berries that grew wild in the fence rows. It has always been the wild lands that have called to me and the wild spaces that bordered the cultivated fields - marking a different pasture or signifying the property line where our land ended and the neighbouring farm began.
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Fields
The fields taught me how to sing.
Wheat in the autumn and timothy in spring.
They know me, they’ve shown me,
run, run, run,
oh that’s how they’ve grown me.
I won’t deny it,
I won’t despise it.
The sidewalks taught you how to think.
Step out either swim or sink.
Here, where your world, it begins.
And here, oh my dear
Where it may end.
I won’t deny it,
I won’t despise it.
I want to walk in the air of a mountain’s shadow.
The fields I run are grassy meadows…
I won’t deny it,
I won’t despise it
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This collection of early recordings speaks to a time when I was living across the world in Australia and then made a sudden return to the United States. A summer at home on the farm and along the banks of the Juniata River led me to the New York City chapter of my life.
For me, life is about observation, creation, constant evolution and seeking challenges to better myself as a musician, writer and person. It is about cherishing who and where you came from, but keeping awareness in the present and following your heart.
These songs were written in 2010 and 2011 and are a collection of my favorites from the first album, Mountain Fields (only available in CD format). The tracks were recorded in 2011 in a home studio in Melbourne, Australia and at Rough Magic Studios in Brooklyn, NY.
Re-released December 1, 2017
All songs written by Kendy Gable
Vocals & Guitar on Fields by Kendy Gable
Guitar, Bass, Keys by David Kean
Violin by Philip Healey & Jacq Mackinnon