I wrote the prose for this song (intentionally misspelled) for my friend, and brilliant guitarist Jeff Brackett. We sat side by side endlessly in clubs answering requests - in rehearsals always pushing the envelope, constantly creating.

When we recorded these singles Joy and Mel Kay had recently joined and the Brookfield (now Brookfield North) legacy was embryonic and flourishing.

Photo - Neil Newton

Band Members: Fredrick Brooks acoustic guitar/lead vocals Jeff Brackett - electric guitar/vocal harmony Joy Brooks - vocal harmony Mel Kay - Bass Eric Walker - vocal harmony David Hawes - keyboards Morey Patchen - drums Bob Federer - mix engineer/mastering/Round Sound

Another song from the deep well. It has evolved since the late nineties when we jammed it in practice. Still, we kept revisiting it… just couldn’t let it go. We loved the song, Joy added an extra verse and here it lands. It is centered around light and dark and how finding love pulls one from the shadows into the light.

Joy Palmer Brooks - vocals, harmonies, flute Fredrick Brooks - guitar, keys, bass, harmony Chris Pezzarello - drums

Like so many of us who’ve been watching the tragedy in Ukraine, I felt hopeless, ‘How could I help’ - so I listened to everyday Ukrainians that were interviewed, and I decided to write this song with their conversations in mind. One conversation that hit hard was with a 90 year old woman who said, “It was in the silence, the waiting, the calm before the chaos I couldn’t stand.” That would become the genesis of this song. At the end I choose the first section of the Ukrainian national anthem and played them on bells with some intentional dissonance. We recorded In The Silence in our little home studio.

John Francis Anthony “Jaco” Pastorius III was a bassist, composer and producer. He was known for his work with Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Weather Report, and Joni Mitchell among others. I wrote John Francis shortly after his death when he was 35. We were devastated by his passing and the circumstances that led to it. It was one of those songs that flows out of you. I asked myself, did I create this, or was I a conduit? Reviving it recently and bringing his memory back is a token of our love for Jaco, for what he brought to us during his brief life.

Joy Brooks - Vocals

Fredrick Brooks - Acoustic Guitar

Chris Pezzarello - Drums

Charles James - Bass

Christine Bougie - Electric Guitars

Robbie Grunwald - Keyboards

Produced and Mixed by Robbie Grunwald

Written by Fredrick Brooks

Mastered by Justin Gray

Cover art - Mal Bray mixed media based on Chris Hakkens photo (no downloading, republication, retransmission, reproduction, and all other uses of the licensed image as a standalone file).

John Francis

There could be a chance

For you had the fire

From Des Moines to pork pie hat

The weather was fine

Trashed on the blues

Or manicked by life

I reach out

Only to cry

And where does the wind blow

The baddest of all

Silenced – empty

Divided by loss

For laughter is seldom

On this tired road

Hear me now

On you I’ll call

For laughter is seldom

On this tired road

Hear me now

Jaco’s called home

©Fredrick Brooks

There are so many ways to stop fake news. Consider the source and the author, and build critical-thinking skills. With our song, Leave This Blue, we’re just asking for all of us to do due diligence and move together, away from this social disease. Let our personal biases go, and embrace each other. The lyrics are straightforward, “Those hearts that lie, we’ll watch them fade away.

This was the title song of our first album Medicine Lands. When I wrote this tune I’d just read Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring and Whatever Happened to Ecology by Stephanie Mills and what I took from these titles was the idea of ‘is hope a thing called chlorophyll’ and it haunted me. ‘I stand in line, I hold the mirror to my face’ , admits my footprint was in need of examination. Medicine Lands is a plea and a prayer to shelter these sacred lands. Remember ‘under the canopy lies the lifeline of Earth’.
 Joy Brooks - vocal/harmonies
 Caroline and Katherine Brooks - harmonies 
Fredrick Brooks - acoustic guitar/percussion 
Jeff Brackett - electric guitar
 Paul LaChappelle - bass
 Mark Congram - drums
 Chants - Brookfield (North) - Joy Gearing, Victor Fuke, Jay Olson, and Emerson Brooks
 Produced by Paul LaChappelle, Fredrick Brooks, and Jeff Brackett
Recorded and mastered at Quest Recording

My Little Boat is a true story of how a refugee named Assef left his home due to war and prejudice. Assef’s story traces a journey over land and sea, his rejection of citizenship everywhere he turned, and finally, his sad journey back to his homeland, starving, a broken man.

Fredrick Brooks Writer, Guitars, Bass and Lead Vocal Chris Pezzarello - Drums, Doumbek and Percussion Joy Brooks - Backup Vocals Recorded, Mixed, Mastered by Fredrick Brooks and Chris Pezzarello at Brookfield North Studio. Cover art by Ruth Read

My Little Boat

I am on my way home Through the dark, hope marks my road Years of waiting Over sea and stone I’ve carried this load

Chorus My little boat sailed a sea of dreams Into shadow where my heart would grieve

I am barely breathing For deep in my heart lies a story untold It whispers memories As I walk in silence on my own

Chorus

Still you deny me Like I’m skin and bone left to roam Why this sorrow Where is the light without home

Chorus © Fredrick Brooks