Her awe over the affect wind can have on stone, the way it shapes a landscape over time, was the inspiration behind singer/songwriter Dulcie Taylor’s new album, “Wind Over Stone.” Slated for release Sept. 25, the album is 14 tracks of observations, illustrating the way time shapes the future just as wind does to stone.
“You look at something like the Grand Canyon and you think about how many years it took for the wind and water to carve it,” Taylor said. “You don’t often think about what wind does to stone but that might be a unifying theme in the album, looking at time and what it does to our lives and the planet.
Wind Over Stone was recorded at Colorado Studios in Atascadero and the material will debut in a series of live performances – Sept. 26 at Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo, Sept. 27 at the Shell Café in Pismo Beach and Oct. 2 at Cheren Ranch in Atascadero.
The new album boasts some strong musical talent. Taylor and friends collaborated to bring Wind Over Stone to fruition. The musical talent includes Taylor on lead vocals, acoustic guitar, dulcimer and percussion; George Nauful on guitar, keyboards, backing vocals and lead vocal on “Amy” and “I Wanna Ride”; Tony Recupido on acoustic guitar and lead vocal on “Reasons Why” and “Joyful News”; Tim Pierce and Nina Gerber on guitar; Tyson Leonard on the mandolin and violin; Aaron Porter on keyboards and accordion; Bob Gross and Randy Tico on bass; Tom Lackner, Tracy Morgan and Scott Breadman on drums and percussion.
Together Taylor and friends have produced an album that is not just full of pretty sounds, but is stimulating and thought provoking. The lyric is inspired, taking real life experiences out of history, actions of people today and sharing a point of view that most can relate too.
Taylor said that the album’s first track, “Not Here, Not Today,” is inspired by some of her American heroes. She said the first verse is about Valley Forge, the second verse is about Rosa Parks and the third verse was about Flight 93.
“I have just often. Thought about America and how people stand up and take action,” Taylor said. “Like recently those three Americans were on that train and that guy tried to take it over and the Americans just took him down and tied him up with a tie. People who stand up for freedom with a gun in their hands for our country and people who say I am not getting out of my seat, like Rosa Parks, they are both heroes. The major impetus for that song lies in reading about those people on Flight 93. They had their cell phones, they knew the Pentagon had been hit and the Twin Towers had gone down and figured they were heading for the White House and they too it down where they wanted it to go down. I thought that was amazingly brave of those men to stand up and say the plane is going down here.”
She went on to say that the one thing about the present political climate that should be represented, but isn’t is the idea that we can have different beliefs and still believe in this country. Taylor said that she feels that this idea is the point of the song and it really captures the intent behind the album, to unify like-minded people and give strength to those who fight for freedom every day and know they are not alone.
Each song that follows on “Wind Over Stone” continues in a similar vein. In the song “Cherokee,” Taylor discourses on the physical changes the country has gone through over the years and in the song “Prayers,” she revisits her upbringing, looking at the way spirituality and belief affected her development.
