Taking a minute to plug someone’s music besides my own…”The Parklands” by Jimbo Scott is one of my favorite songs released this year. Give it a listen, and if you don’t use Spotify, here’s the Soundcloud link or you can just go ahead and buy it on iTunes. If you listen reeeeeally closely, you can hear me singing some harmonies on the choruses!
From the press release:
Jimbo Scott wrote “The Parklands” after a tour that took him through five National Parks in the Western US. “Being in the parks leaves an impression. I played music the whole time and I met a lot of amazing people, so I wanted to capture something about that experience, about realizing how important it is for me to connect with these places.”
Though originally intended to be an intimate meditation, as he shared it at live shows it evolved into a joyous celebration. “Feeling small” is often depicted negatively in popular culture, but Jimbo’s song reminds us that there is also freedom in recognizing the massive scale of the world and its wonders. Inspired by nature but writing in the city, Jimbo sought that parallel in the recording process. He laid down the main tracks in a cabin in the Sierras and fleshed out the single in an electrician’s Oakland warehouse. Seeking that final touch, he recruited violin virtuoso Tim Snider to compose and perform a string arrangement. The end result is a song that makes you smile and wonder “When was the last time I went for a hike?”