Mighty Souls Brass Band - The People (2020)

486 shows in 7 years. That’s how many shows the Mighty Souls Brass Band had played at the moment all of our lives were turned upside down by COVID-19! Think about that! It’s an extraordinary amount of time to spend creating with others and it is a beautiful, precious thing!

It is interesting when you spend years performing music with a bunch of fantastic musicians and it suddenly just comes to a halt. It takes days, weeks, months to come to terms with it. So far its been nearly 6 months and there’ve only been a smattering of performances that’ve actually happened in that time. Sure, we could be playing more but honestly we’ve turned down more than we’ve played because it just hasn’t been safe or responsible to perform together in most cases.

But you know what? It’s okay. We’re going to get to play music together again. And we’re discovering new ways to perform together again right now. I look around and see this extended family of musicians that I’m a part of and what they’re doing in the midst of this incredibly difficult time to connect with each other and to connect with you, the audience, and I couldn’t be more inspired, more proud to be an artist living right here in the present.

So that’s what this new album is about. All the musicians that I’ve spent the last 7 years of my life creating an artistic bond with to be the Mighty Souls. Not just the ones that are represented performing on this album but every person that has ever performed in this family. And also every other musician that I’ve come across as an artist in a lifetime of following this path – every one of you, whether we’ve ever played a note together or not, are a part of the music. I salute you all.

And to the incalculable number of people that’ve been part of the audiences at these 486 shows and counting – you are very much part of the band. We are all Mighty Souls!