Tompkins Square have announced the digital release of Mossy Kilcher’s 1977 Private Press Double-LP ‘Northwind Calling’. A hunt around the internet reveals this album isn’t by any means easy to come by, or cheap, but this digital release looks set to place Northwind Calling alongside those unearthed folk records by lost sirens that have made their way beyond hardcore collectors into the collective consciousness of the indie music-buying public: Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Sibylle Baier, Tia Blake, Connie Converse, to name a few.
The double LP was issued in 1977 under her name at the time – Mossy Davidson – mainly for her family (which included 7 sisters and brothers) and friends. Besides being a beautiful album that has the potential to resonate with listeners today, it is from a time and a place very far removed from the norm, based around and a pioneer lifestyle that has already caught press attention.
The album is also a love letter to the land outside of Homer where Mossy lives to this day and where she clearly still feels the ‘enchantment of the North Country’ – she owns a farm and songbird sanctuary called Seaside situated close by to the unspoiled shores of Kachemak Bay. Her parents, Yule and Ruth Kilcher, set up a homestead on land outside of Homer in the late 1930s after arriving from Switzerland. They were a focus of a reality show, ‘Alaska: The Last Frontier,’ which premiered on Discovery Channel in December 2011. A musical family, the Kilchers also produced Alaska’s most successful recording artist of all time, Mossy’s niece, Jewel. Jewel lived with Mossy at Seaside Farm in Homer as a teenager. “Jewel would be my horse-riding sidekick, helping me out on the farm,” Mossy said. The two performed together on a televised Christmas special filmed in Nashville in 2016.
Musically, ‘Northwind Calling’ is fascinating all on its own, even without the backstory. The gentle accompaniment of 12 and 6-string guitar, harmonica, banjo, flute and piano is so sympathetic and exquisitely placed. Mossy’s reedy woodwind of a voice is full of feeling and seemingly untainted by and firmly outside the era’s commercial singer-songwriter machinery or conventions. A tinge of unintended psychedelia and natural sound effects take it all over the top.
Take a listen to Coyote’s Cry
Tompkins Square’s Josh Rosenthal made a special trip with his daughters to Homer last summer and spent time with Mossy at Seaside Farm. It was an unforgettable experience, and the beauty of Mossy’s album coupled with the natural surroundings and Kilcher Homestead – it all came together. Tompkins Square is very proud to bring this album to many more ears – in Alaska and all around the world!
From the original liner notes:
These songs are for you ~
My dear children, family, and friends, and for all who have felt the enchantment of the North Country ~
for my 7 sisters and brothers
and the close times we shared singing together ~
songs of our hopes and dreams,
and the adventures of growing up in a log cabin in the wilderness ~
where we learned to make our own music
~ singing along with the music of nature
~ with the coyote’s cry,
and the calling of the seabirds ~
for times of travelling by
horse and wagon
along the beach of
Kachemak Bay ~
where the Fox Sparrow sings high above the windy shore ~
where the eagle soars ~
and where the melody of the Hermit Thrush echoes
from the deep, wild canyons
and mossy forests ~
the true music of Alaska~
for my pioneer parents, Ruth and Yule,
who came from Switzerland
to homestead in Alaska in the 1940’s ~
and who taught us the folksongs of the old country ~
for the last wild places where someday our children also may go to daydream and explore nature,
for the salmon returning,
for the old timers who have gone,
for all who live close to the land,
for the seasons and the times ever changing ~
Love,
Mairiis (Mossy)
Mossy Kilcher’s 1977 Private Press Double-LP ‘Northwind Calling’ out digitally via Tompkins Square, July 10