Mark Freshwater
As I began composing songs in 2015, I found myself repeatedly inspired by events in our family and in the world. For that reason, I chose The Diary as a theme for the project. Nearly every song on the CD has a story behind it that provided inspiration or context.
While in Arizona we were invited to a wedding back in Ohio in February which we could not attend so I composed Wedding Song as a gift to the bride and groom. Babes in the New World was inspired by the birth of our tenth grandchild, a baby girl, in May. Then in the summer a cousin’s daughter went through a grueling heart transplant operation passing away seven weeks later. The Journey was written in honor and memory of her battle.
Petroglyphs was inspired by various hikes we took during the year and specifically a trip to caves we hadn’t been to in 30 or 40 years. Elegy was inspired by the November terrorist events in Paris. In December, I had the good fortune of participating in a holiday concert at the new Oracle Center for the Arts (Oracle, Arizona). I performed and sang one of my favorite holiday songs, Mary, Did You Know? After the concert, I decided I would include an instrumental version on The Diary CD.
I have always been inspired by Jim Brickman whom we went to see again in concert last year. When I perform, I almost always do at least one of his songs. Seeing him again reminded me that I wanted to record a cover of one of his tunes and so I chose to learn, play and arrange Amalfi Rain and use it as my opening song.
The spring, summer, autumn and stormy songs were derived from melodies that I have been working on for a while and since this CD was somewhat of a calendar I thought the seasonal additions would be a good fit. I wanted to add something funky to the project and so decided to include 65 Jive which is decidedly different than anything else on the CD. My Life Flows on in Endless Song is a beautiful and simple hymn that I was drawn to in 2015 and with which I chose to close the project. The songs were initially recorded in both Columbus, Ohio and Tucson in home studios; the final arranging and mixing done in my SaddleBrooke home.
Kathy Parsons Review excerpts: “The Diary is the fifth solo album by pianist/composer Mark Freshwater. The 14 tracks include 11 new original pieces and three arrangements. The instrumentation is mostly piano with keyboard and electronic instrumental enhancements. (Three of my favorites on this project are Pilgrim’s Winter, Babes in the New World and Mary Did You Know? The Diary is quite possibly Mark Freshwater’s best album to date.”
For those interested in hearing the music behind the stories, the music is available on CD directly from Mark Freshwater or CDBaby.com or digitally download from iTunes or Amazon. (Key artist words: Mark Freshwater) For additional information go to the website www.freshwatermusic.com or email Mark at [email protected] and follow on Facebook. Thanks for listening!