Norfolk musician Holly Lerski releases her forthcoming album, Sweet Decline, this Friday April 26. Here she explains how she went off to find America – and herself
Can you remind readers who are you and what you do?
I’m a singer songwriter from Norwich. I started back in 1997 with my folk-rock band Angelou, but these days my music is more Americana as I’ve spent the last few years living on and off in Nashville and California, working on a project about some American road trips I took in 2019.
How has life been for you since we last featured you in April 2021 – and what have you been working on?
It’s been a long climb up a huge mountain! The US road trips were to get over a heartbreak and they ended up changing my life dramatically, for the better. I took a suitcase and miniature guitar and clocked up 4000 miles over 20 days writing songs. I took the Amtrak from Chicago to San Francisco and then drove round Southern Californian National Parks and along the Pacific coast, then I went back to do all the deserts and more coast a couple of months later, driving a further 1700 miles. I finally got to make it into an album in Nashville in 2022 with some incredible musicians – SistaStrings who played on the Grammy’s with Joni Mitchell this year, and Josh Hunt who’s played with Alison Kraus.
Your new album is out on Friday (April 26) – what can you tell us about this one?
This is a road tripping song cycle – the track order follows my route as I travelled since that’s when the songs were written, and it’s basically a healing journey. ‘Chicago’ – the first song – started in Heathrow departure lounge and continued as we flew over the Atlantic. It’s all about jumping off into the unknown, not knowing where I was going or what was ahead but determined to move on and heal the heartbreak. A few songs later I’m in Carmel on the beach “far from home, alone but not alone” – and it follows on from there really. None of the songs were planned. I wasn’t even intending to take a guitar, it just all happened and I vlogged it on Facebook as I travelled. It was all a bit crazy but incredible.
Are you having a launch party for it? And what’s next?
Yes, I’m throwing an album listening and launch party at Dick’s Bar in Norwich on Sunday April 28 in the afternoon from 3-6pm. It’s an open invite to all, celebrating everything American road trippy. They’re baking pecan pie and making signature ‘Sweet Decline’ cocktails especially for it.
After that I plan to finish the book that accompanies this album. It’s about the experience, all the synchronicities that happened on the road, and will basically be a kind of ‘how to get over a broken heart’ and feel some joy again. I found it was all about connection, trust and love. And a bit of quantum mechanics too.
Holly Lerski’s forthcoming album, Sweet Decline, is released on Friday April 26. Click here for the album link. For the official music video for the title track, visit youtube.com. Also, visit hollylerski.com, and follow on Instagram and Facebook.
Featured image of Holly Lerski – supplied
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