Driftless by Harry Kimball

This album came out of a trip I made to the rugged Driftless Area of the Upper Midwest, in July 2017. I was the very first citizen-artist-in-residence (CAIR) at a new interactive program in southeastern Minnesota. My headquarters was a hand-hewn cabin on the outskirts of Houston (pop. 979). During the program I hosted workshops, wandered around in my rental, toured a farm in the valley and had dinner at a farm on the ridge. I wrote “Flyover Country” the second day of the residency. “Old Stone Church” began as a collaborative exercise and was finished (mostly) before I left. “MN Rt. 43” lodged in my head on the titular road but didn’t find full expression until I was back in Brooklyn. Other songs took longer; for a year, “Spreadin’ that New York Money Around” was just a phrase I came up with while cruising down the baking midday streets of Winona. “John” I presented in early form, back in Houston, at the residency's Capstone event in April 2018. My friend Jay and I arrived there in a 1991 Ford Escort with a Grumman canoe strapped to the top, part of a cross-country trip I accompanied him on. Later we drove down the Mississippi towards St. Louis and left the bluffs, eagles and pelicans for the prairie, but that’s another set of songs. You get the picture.

LINKS
Crystal Creek Citizen-Artist Residency | crystalcreekcitizenartist.com
Houston Arts Resource Council | harcmn.webs.com
Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council | semac.org
Hardt’s Music | hardtsmusic.com

Harry Kimball is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose compositions carry a wistful melancholy tinged with dark humor. He borrows from John Prine’s sepia realism and Warren Zevon’s playful world-weariness, adding the lyrical density of Stephen Malkmus and the literary sensibilities of Bill Callahan. Follow Harry on Facebook + Instagram @ harrykimballsongs