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Kim and Reggie Harris |
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As longtime songwriters, performers, and residents of planet Earth, Kim and Reggie Harris have learned the meaning and virtue of simplicity. As they write in the liner notes of their fourth and latest Appleseed Recordings CD, Simplicity, “In a world that seems to grow more violent and overwhelming with each passing day, this music is, for us, a reminder of one simple truth: we are all connected.” Without pretension or elaborate instrumentation, Simplicity is like an open window on the seemingly self-evident but obviously hard-to-achieve concept that global peace and understanding are the only means for our own survival and that of future generations. The CD’s fourteen tracks mix Kim and Reggie originals with traditional compositions and songs by Sting (“We Work the Black Seam”), Phil Ochs (“Changes”), and Pete Seeger (“Rainbow Race”), among others, but the theme remains the same: learn or be chained to the mistakes of history. The determined spirit of optimism and activism that inspired Simplicity is introduced on the CD’s opening song, the traditional spiritual “This Little Light of Mine.” “The real power is yours and mine/So let your little light shine,” sing Kim and Reggie, joined by another Appleseed duo, Charlie King and Karen Brandow, who also appear on the ecology-minded “Solar Carol.” Another special guest, John Sebastian (solo artist and founder of the Lovin’ Spoonful), galvanizes “Big, Big World” with some raucous harmonica work, and the Harrises are joined by their longtime friends and frequent collaborators Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino (a.k.a. Magpie) on the CD’s affirmative closer, “Rainbow Race.” Oboist Troy Messenger adds a lovely texture to the two peaceful instrumentals – Reggie’s “Simplicity” and “Finlandia (Song of Peace)” by classical composer Jean Sibelius – that bracket Kim Harris’s chilling “Short Shift at Ground Zero.” Written two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, her song is a kaleidoscope of images from that dreadful day, shards of news reports and prayers interwoven with disaster-scene vignettes, a drifting chorus from the gospel song “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” and a montage of sound effects. Despite the despair and uncertainty reflected in “Short Shift,” “We Work the Black Seam,” and “Changes,” the warmth of the Harrises’ voices and arrangements and the tantalizing simplicity of their musical and social goal – universal harmony – makes their new CD a comforting and inspiring call to common sense.
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