I just published a remix here: soundcloud.com/castaneasounds/spiritscradle

Feel good vibes

Hamakua

"Medicine” is a song-anthem honoring the traditions of folk medicine; plant-based medicine as a tool for empowerment and healing. It is a call to action to support the voices of the herbalists, healers, and teachers… the roots, plants, trees, and stones… the arts, the spirits, and the wild ones. It is an honoring of all the many ways that we can be well, and the radical and traditional ways in which we can steward health within ourselves. 

This song is a direct tribute to the people around the world who are holding and teaching these ways of herbal plant-based medicine, educating us all to know our gardens, our forests, our plants and our own bodies... to bring wellness back into our own hands and communities. It is not a dismissal of modern medicine, but a gratitude and honoring of its ancestry and foundations within folkloric traditions. 

This release comes on the New Moon after the Fall Equinox. As we are moving into a new season, a new time, and a new chapter, we offer this song as a ritual anthem for this transition and time of great change.

"Medicine" Lyrics:

Wise men say that rushing is violence
and so is your silence
when its rooted in compliance
To stand firm in loving defiance,
make art your alliance
give voice to the fire

Move people to the beat of the wind
Gather yourself and begin
to dance the song until it ends
We are winners, champions of the light
forming in numbers and might
keep the truth close in sight...

Chorus:
Medicine Woman, Medicine Man
walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands
Medicine Woman, Medicine Man
walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands

Find your teachers in the voice of the forests
unplug you cant ignore this
wisdom of the voiceless
Remedies are bountiful and surround us
from the garden to the farthest 
prayers made of star dust

Find your healing in the music that calls you
the voice that enthralls you
what do you belong to 
Eyes out theres the setting of the sun
give thanks to each and everyone
the lesson is the...

Medicine Woman, Medicine Man
walking with grace I know your face, and I trust your hand
Medicine Woman, Medicine Man
walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hand  
 
Poem:

I believe in bending backwards and extending
in my tracks 
trip back
until the lesson is in action and
your yard is feeding
stop stark the disbelieving
cause the garden holds the shards 
the medicine is in the seeds when

We hold tight to our right to protect and
we know our might is 10-fold in connection
our elders hold them bright lights 
we protect them
the medicine is evident 
the wolf, the hawk, the bear clan

We hold tight to our right to protect and
we know our might is 10-fold in connection
our elders hold them bright lights 
we protect them
the medicine is evident 
the wolf, the hawk, the bear clan...

Medicine Woman, Medicine Man
walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands
Medicine Woman, Medicine Man
walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands

Download

Medicine

Toll Free

"Wider Circles" is the newest album from Rising Appalachia. With influences of folk, soul, roots, world music, and poetry, the album showcases the alchemy of sibling harmonies paired with banjo and fiddle duets. The album was inspired by folk standards and traditional hymns, old mountain odes, and activist anthems that pull equally from the swampy sounds of the bayou, the twang of the Appalachian mountains, and the beat of a global rhythm.

Find Your Way

Synchronicity

"Wider Circles" is the newest release from Rising Appalachia. With influences of folk, soul, roots, world music, and poetry, the album showcases the alchemy of sibling harmonies paired with banjo and fiddle duets. "Wider Circles" was inspired by folk standards and traditional hymns, old mountain odes, and activist anthems that pull equally from the swampy sounds of the bayou, the twang of the Appalachian mountains, and the beat of a global rhythm.

Spirit's Cradle

Lyrics Naima & Be Steady, arrangement Be Steady
original tracks produced by Be Steadwell additional recording Produced by Toshi Reagon

Can't Help But Fly

I've watched Stranger Things three times over and this track is kind of dedicated to it. It's not perfect of course, but I'm still learning. 

I would advise neon lights, big glasses, some marijuuhana, some christmas lights to make contact with the other side and ugly crop tops while listening to this.

Enjoy.

Weirder Stuff

We wrote this song 4 years ago and its meaning is even more poignant. it's about the pending natural disaster of the Cascadian Subduction Zone shifting off the coast of Oregon and causing a catastrophic earthquake that could end us all in the NW. The world is currently overtaken by greed and money and natural disasters. As we wrote this song, we imagined a good hearted couple surviving the disaster, starting over from scratch and rebuilding their lives with their own 2 hands, and this time greed doesn't win, and a different world is born. It's interesting to hear this song so stripped down as just a duo, i think it's more about the story this way. ~ Laurie Shook

Shake

This is remix is an ode to all those hurt by the prison industrial system of the United States, and is dedicated towards transforming the "eye for an eye" retributive justice model towards a restorative justice model - one that strengthens, rather than fractures, communities. 

This remix is based off of two recordings: Rising Appalachia's "Spirit's Cradle" and a reading by the great, late poet Etheridge Knight. "Apology for Apostasy" was one of many poems that Knight wrote while incarcerated, which were originally published in the collection "Poems from Prison." His poems bear witness to the resiliency of the creative spirit. Leah Song, of Rising Appalachia, has been a long time advocate of criminal justice reform and is involved in projects that bring yoga, song and mindfulness into prisons. 

Resources:
"The 13th" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1yJsaFwqDM
The Prison Yoga Project - prisonyoga.org
Etheridge Knight - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/etheridge-knight

Elephant Revival - Sing To The Mountain

This track is from the album The Sails of Self and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RisingAppalachia

You and I Are Falling, You and I Are Free

an ode to one of our oldest mothers, the moon.

Luna

Sisters Leah and Chloe Smith founded Rising Appalachia on their back porch in Georgia, playing simple fiddle and banjo melodies and leaning into their families rich musical traditions. It has since become a globally recognized Americana and world folk ensemble, celebrating a unique blend of Southern-rooted music, storytelling, and community. The band features David Brown (bass, guitar), Duncan Wickel (fiddle, cello), and Biko Casini (percussion), and infuses music with a unique tapestry of Appalachian, Irish and traditional influence but stays connected to simple songwriting. Rising Appalachia has captivated audiences for nearly 2 decades, from busking in New Orleans to touring Europe, and has been featured at prestigious venues like Red Rocks, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Woodford Folk Fest. Their performances at NPR's Tiny Desk and Preservation Jazz Hall have solidified their status in the folk music scene. Breaking industry norms, the band's approach to music is as much an artistic statement as it is a movement, culminating in their newest album, 'Folk and Anchor' a carefully curated collection of cover songs. This project includes remakes from Bob Dylan to James Blake, Erykah Badu to Beyonce and showcases their eclectic style, inviting listeners into a rich musical journey.

Spirit's Cradle

Rising Appalachia

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