“These songs flowed like a stream…[they] reflect the vibrancy of everyday living for me in this extraordinary year. I’ve been able, in this time, to share sparks of love and inspiration as well as show that we can still be joyful in the midst of all obstacles and challenges. We need to be more than the sum of our fears.” REGGIE HARRIS

**An 8th Step at Proctors live-stream from GE Theatre on Mandolin.com; all artists will perform live together on our stage.

International touring artist REGGIE HARRIS, singer-songwriter-guitarist, introduces in concert his newest album On Solid Ground, following on the heels of his critically acclaimed CDs Ready to Go (2018) and Deeper Than the Skin (2019). This timely new 13-track collection, inspired by the explosion of awareness and change that confronts America and the world, features nine new originals and four songs by others carefully chosen for their power and inspiration.

On Solid Ground offers a masterful chronicle of the Pandemic year: political upheaval, love, and isolation, bringing us to question who we are as individual Americans, and re-focusing us most of all on who we wish to become as a nation. The original music, choices of borrowed songs and his finely crafted lyrical messages are filtered through the experience of a respected and beloved artist: an African American man who has faced everyday bias throughout his life; the descendent of a 19th Century Southern plantation owner and his slave; a Black man who successfully forged a relationship with White cousins, descendants of that same slaveowner. Reggie Harris surely names the evils bedeviling us, then like the Pied Piper musically inspires us to make the myth of American Exceptionalism a future reality.

An ensemble of musical masters joins Harris onstage: Greg Greenway, keyboard; Pat Wictor, guitar; Brian Melick, drums; Mark Murphy, bass.

ON SOLID GROUND (released April 2021):

- “It’s Who We Are” (original), paints American exceptionalism as a well-crafted myth and presents this realization as a crossroads and an opportunity for change.

- “My Working Bones” (original), addresses the dangers facing factory workers from ignored COVID protocols.

- “Come What May” (original) is a love song and a sonorous tribute to perseverance.

- “Standing in Freedom’s Name” (original) celebrates Black activist Rev. C. T. Vivian and thousands who’ve risked life and limb, past and present, to face down willful authoritarian injustice.

- Cutting to the core of issues that keep us up late at night: “Rise Up/ March On” (original) cautions that the battle against forces of ignorance and fear is not over.

- “All You Need is Love” (John Lennon & Paul McCartney) probably needs no introduction. ©Sony/ATV Tunes LLC dba ATV o/b/o ATV{Northern Song Catalog).

- “On Solid Ground” (original), harkens back to the time of slavery, and of the era’s spirituals, a grounding force for Reggie Harris since childhood. This was the first song he wrote when isolation became our daily reality.

- “Maybe It’s Love” (original) features singer Colleen Kattau with Harris, in a comically savvy duet about love.

- “Hello In There” (John Prine), a poignant love story that reminds us to check in on each other, especially vital during the isolation of Covid. ©John Prine, Copyright WB Music Corp. o/b/o Walden Music, Inc.)

- “Sing Out/March On” (Joshua Campbell) honors the long life of service of U.S. Rep. John Lewis. Juxtaposed with the old spiritual “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round” (traditional) in the spirit of Sankofa (looking back to look forward), this piece calls out to us that the torch is now ours to carry. (©Joshuah Campbell, Azalea Bush Music)

- Inspired by crowds of young and old gathered in cities and town squares to tear down offending statues and hate flags, “It Isn’t Nice” (Malvina Reynolds) reminds us that peaceful protest is an American birthright. The song is also a nod to Pete Seeger, who first championed Reynolds’ songs.

- “Let’s Meet up Early” (original) is a cautionary note that 2021 and beyond will require more watchful civic actions. “Remember,” says Harris, “in 2020 we got up and organized and…oh, my! Georgia?!?”

- “Tree Of Life” (original) is an anthem of inclusion, adapted from a song written with a class at the Swannanoa Gathering.

- “High Over the Hudson” (original) is the first recording of Harris’s oft-requested, soaring salute to his friend, mentor and inspiration Pete Seeger, written the day after Seeger’s death in 2014.

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