Kevin Welch's brand new CD A Patch of Blue Sky dropped yesterday. That's industry talk for it now being available to purchase. From his announcing press release, "Songwriter & Traveler Kevin Welch Releases First Solo CD In Eight Years." The main reason I copied and pasted is for the word 'traveler.' Recently I sat over beers with someone who articulately illustrated the difference between being a tourist and a traveler. It is a philosophy of life. We all know what the tourist piece is, I think, primarily an unwillingness to engage, at an arm's length 'just passing through' the circumstances. But when a person is a traveler, it imparts a full drinking in of the places one visits. An ability to be home anywhere in the world. A meeting of people on their own terms, and an appreciation of what's put in front of them. Kevin Welch is all that, moreover, because then he articulates it. Such beauty to his craft. The ability to dig down deep and bring you a mood, a portrait; to focus you on something special, something to hold dear.
This latest CD is a painful travel through love and loss. Ever questioning, ever fine tuning the words and music...and traveling too! Kevin is on the road in the US, popping over to Sardinia, Italy for the first weekend in July. He makes it all feel effortless. "Answer Me That." Indeed!
- Jessie Scott
[To see a wonderful video featuring the making of the record, visit the album's page on Kevin's website by clicking here.]