Have you ever read Paddle-to-the-Sea<\/em>, by Holling C. Holling? It is a 1941 children\u2019s book about a Native American boy from Lake Nipigon, Canada, way up near the top of Lake Superior, who carves a wooden model of an Indian in a canoe, then sets it free to travel the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. The boy bestows the name \u201cPaddle-to-the-Sea\u201d upon the little Indian in the canoe, and the book provides an excellent geographic and historical picture of the region through text and illustrations.<\/p>\n The book now has a musical score, performed by voices that should be familiar to Benzie County. <\/p>\n Song of the Lakes is a folk and roots band, made up of Ingemar and Lisa Johannson, Mike Sullivan, and Rick Jones. The band has serenaded Northern Michigan for 33 years and is releasing its first album in 12 years\u2014an homage to Paddle-to-the-Sea<\/em>. Song of the Lakes will officially unveil its new project on Saturday, February 27, at 7 p.m. at the Traverse City Opera House.<\/p>\n Several years ago, Song of the Lakes performed at the Manitou Music Festival\u2019s popular annual concert at the foot of the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb. After the concert, over libations at Art\u2019s Tavern\u2014the place where most official business gets done in Glen Arbor\u2014festival director Deb Fayroian suggested that Song of the Lakes consider writing music for her favorite children\u2019s book. Some of the band members already knew the story, having read it to their own children, and those who had not previously known the book soon fell in love with it. <\/p>\n \u201cThe story fit in with the band\u2019s mission to sing the praises of the Great Lakes and to spread joy,\u201d says Ingemar Johansson, who sings and plays stringed instruments like guitars, mandolin, and the Swedish nyckelharpa (keyfiddle) for Song of the Lakes.<\/p>\n Fayroian arranged a concert the following summer around the Paddle <\/em>project, and the band decided to make it their newest album\u2014the first since they released \u201cPoets Say\u201d in 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is a return to our earlier sound,\u201d says Sullivan, who plays guitar. \u201cSimple storytelling, yet it also reflects the musical forms we\u2019ve been exposed to in our travels over the past decade. Each song reflects a different aspect of Paddle\u2019s<\/em> journey, and each song represents a different musical form.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting position to be in, to make music to somebody else\u2019s story,\u201d Johansson adds. \u201cThe intrigue is given to you, and the challenge becomes to interpret the spirit of the chapters in music. We stayed true to the story, although it was fun to take some liberties in the interpretation and to invent a few things that we thought would enhance the listening experience.\u201d<\/p>\n A grant from the Michigan Humanities Council will fund their trip across the state to play the newest album. The band will perform at schools during the day and give community concerts during the evening.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope to replicate Paddle\u2019s journey over the next two years,\u201d says Sullivan, who adds that 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the story.<\/p>\n Song of the Lakes performs together less frequently than in its early years, though they still do weddings, anniversaries, and funerals, as well as a regular summer gig on sunset cruises aboard the Tall Ship Manitou in West Grand Traverse Bay. But everywhere the band goes, devoted fans, or \u201clakeheads\u201d seem to crawl out of the woodwork; Song of the Lakes\u2019 followers now span three generations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have a strong audience of families that have grown up with us,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cIt has been gratifying to see the growth of young, extremely talented singer songwriters and musicians [in Northern Michigan]. It wasn\u2019t long ago that there was talk that folk music was dead. It\u2019s good to see it alive and well. The future is bright. I\u2019d like to think we made a contribution to the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n The performance on February 27 at the City Opera House promises to be a fully interactive, multi-dimensional show; check out CityOperaHouse.org<\/a> for more information or to order tickets. The event also marks the start of Song of the Lakes\u2019 2016 Paddle <\/em>Tour. Want to see the Paddle <\/em>Tour come to your neck of the Benzie County woods? Call 231-947-0398 or email makenwavez@aol.com to book the band. Find the new album at East Shore Market in Beulah or The Bookstore in Frankfort; also available at SongOfTheLakes.com<\/a> and all major online music stores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Song of the Lakes releases first album in over a decade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Getting the Band Back Together http:\/\/wp.me\/p3TDCr-nd","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[173,46,41,52,44],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Paddle-to-the-Sea-Song-of-the-Lakes.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3TDCr-nd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1442,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions\/1442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How The Project Came About<\/h2>\n
Three Generations of Lakeheads<\/h3>\n