Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace: Vinyl LP

Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Release Date: 24th April

In no way a pop on in the background record from one time US poet laureate  and respected pillar of the Native American Renaissance literary movement. The musician blends spiritual jazz with indigenous and classic American jazz in a coming together of worlds, whilst Joy delivers captivating and powerful poetry. Absorbing stuff. 

As a poet and musician, Joy Harjo channels a creative force she describes as
a "vibration of love" to connect countless traditions and artforms, countering
the despair and heartache caused by power and hate
Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace, her debut for Smithsonian Folkways, draws on
the long-intertwined rhythms of jazz and poetry, the power of improvisation and self-
expression through sound, and the vitality of Native culture and spirituality to spark a
chain of vibrational energy to engulf the whole world. Harjo's voice is bold and direct,
supported producer and bass player esperanza spalding, covering a repertoire that
includes a jazz standard, a song written by Harjo's mother and uncovered by her sister,
and many originals that speak to contemporary issues and her life as one of the most
celebrated American poets of the last century.
* Joy Harjo has published eleven acclaimed books of poetry and served three terms
as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022.
* "Joy Harjo combines the wisdom that was here long before Europeans showed up
with the challenges of a woman's life in the present. The result is inspired by the past
and a personal preparation for the future." --Gloria Steinem
* "Since she published her debut collection, in 1975, she has produced eight books of
poetry, a memoir, and children's books; received just about every prominent poetry
award that the literary world can offer; and embraced the universal in her work without
being burdened by it. She has made each of her stories--even ones that predate her, or
dwarf her in scale--in some way part of her own story of survival." - The New Yorker
* "Joy Harjo is more than a poet, painter, and musician; she is a spiritual being aware
of the meaning of everything we see as well as the things around us that are usually
invisible." - NPR