Music Minute: Further Around the Bend

GRAMMY Award winning singer/songwriter, storyteller, author and playwright Bill Harley¸ debuts his 26th album of stories and songs for families, Further Around the Bend. The album is available now from Harley’s online store and at his holiday season performances. The national retail release (Amazon, iTunes, etc.) will be January 19, 2018. In 2003 Bill Harley took his listeners on a story and song-filled tour of theTown Around the Bend, a whimsical place filled with colorful and oddly named characters who did some very unusual things. Since that recording’s release, thousands of children (and their parents) have visited and loved the Town Around the Bend. Departing from the usual up-tempo music and boisterous fun of a Bill Harley album, this collection is softer and sweeter, with an air of magic that transports the listener to dreamland. Cover art for both recordings was created by R. W. Alley, illustrator of the Paddington Bear book series. In Further Around the Bend, Harley leads us back to the enchanted world of the Town Around the Bend. This time we meet the large-eared Skeezy Boofer whose superhuman auditory abilities get him into trouble,  Terrence Froom who rearranges rocks to produce songs along Slippery Stream and 12 year old Swing the Gate who still wants to lead the town’s Worm Brigade.  We also meet Melody Rimshot whose love of the Tub of Pickles band leads to rumination on dreams and memory, and Carmella Cellar Door who sings a somnolent and rhythmic bedtime song that puts the whole town to sleep each night. Harley performs all of the instruments – from piano to piccolo – for the songs and interludes. Brimming with charm, humor and wisdom, this recording celebrates the best of who we are and can be and reminds young and old about the power of community. Catch the video preview trailer on Bill Harley’s YouTube channel.

More about Bill Harley Harley has earned international acclaim and numerous awards for his storytelling, music and books. Entertainment Weekly called him “the Mark Twain of contemporary children’s music,” but he’s just as accomplished as a storyteller and author. Two of his previous story recordings (Blah Blah Blah: Stories about Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates & Dogs and Yes to Running: Bill Harley Live) have won GRAMMY awards, and he has received seven GRAMMY nominations as well as awards from Parents’ Choice, American Library Association and NAPPA.  Harley’s book series “Charlie Bumpers vs.…”has garnered national critical acclaim, winning the Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award and as part of the One School One Book program. His novel Night of the Spadefoot Toads(Peachtree) was the recipient of the Green Earth Book Award. He has also published Between Home and School, a story told through the correspondence between a mother and her son's various teachers during his school career. Harley won the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Lifetime Achievement Award, an honorary degree from Hamilton College and is a member of the RI Music Hall of Fame. He continues to tour nationally, performing at venues ranging from concert halls to classrooms. For a full biography and the latest Bill Harley performance news, visit www.billharley.com and connect on hisFacebook page.