Angela Josephine released her new album "Daylight" today (May 4th) and to celebrate we asked her to tell us the story behind the song "40 Days". Here is the story:
Back in June of 2012, I was following the adventures of a guy named Steve Cannon who was running 40 marathons in 40 days around Lake Michigan to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. Several members of my family had struggled with and succumbed to the disease, so he caught my attention. Starting off in Chicago, he was following the west shoreline through Wisconsin, into the Upper Peninsula and down through lower Michigan on his way back to Chicago, passing through Traverse City which is where I live.
One morning while sipping coffee, I noticed a tweet from Steve saying that the trail he was on had just changed from gravel to pavement. I knew he was due to arrive in Traverse City that day and from the description, intuited that he was most likely, quite literally, down the hill from my house! I was already dressed for a run and, though it was a longshot, dashed off to try to find him. No sooner had I stepped onto the path, when a moose of a man came lumbering toward me. I shouted, "Hey! You wouldn't happen to be that Steve guy?" A broad smile lit up his bearded face and he boomed, "I might just happen to be that Steve guy!" I wound up running with him for the rest of the day. Our day together became a chapter in his book, "40 Days," and so the title of my song is a nod back to Steve.
When I was writing "40 Days," which is a hammered dulcimer instrumental, I was thinking about exile. Especially what happens internally when you are displaced from everything you know. I had experienced this in my own life, but there was also a lot in the news about the plight of refugees. And here was this guy Steve who was on a sort of chosen exile. The song became a soundtrack to those stories, so I guess you could say in that way "40 Days" is an anthem to the exiled.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!
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