An album I have been exploring and greatly enjoying lately is the recently released live recording of some of Peter Foley‘s compositions.
Out of Myself – Songs of Peter Foley (Live) is a labor of love, created by Peter’s family, friends and colleagues, in the time since Peter’s passing. And Peter’s work was also a labor of love. He was an artist utterly committed to his craft and vision.
Peter Foley was a year or two behind me at Berkeley High School, and we became friends at Cazadero Music Camp in the very early 1980s. Even in youth, he radiated positivity. The man was a source of light.
In the mid-’90s, I attended a reading of The Hidden Sky in New York. I went because I knew Peter and I was curious, but I had really no idea what to expect. The music and lyrics were revelations to me. I was completely transported, and I left feeling awestruck and inspired.
I didn’t hear The Hidden Sky again for decades, and when I finally did, in this new recording, it struck me in just the same way. There’s a wealth of great material on the album, showing Mr. Foley’s great range of influences in and out of pop and musical theater and rock and jazz, and things unique to him.
You can read more about Peter’s journey in this New Yorker article – https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/a-gifted-composer-gone-too-soon,
learn more about the new album here: https://www.peterfoleymusic.org/,
and check out the beautiful digital album booklet, here.
I bought it on iTunes, and you can also find it on Pandora and other streaming services I’m sure.
The smile, on this record cover, is how I remember him. Thanks to the great efforts of Peter’s wife Kate Chisholm, and a stellar cast of singers and players, Peter Foley’s music can now and forever be discovered and rediscovered by anyone, worldwide. And this is something to celebrate.
