A reflection on this moment (and video!) from our own Chris Good, inspired by our song "On the Other Side."

"The deeper the darkness the more the world needs your light.

Today, my offering is a simple song of encouragement & commitment. A video expression of pure love between parent & child. I'm keenly aware of my own privilege, aching for those who deserve these precious moments of carefree joy & safety no less than I do but are targeted because of the color of their skin, their country of origin, or their religious belief.

I've been keeping my daughter extra close these last few weeks. As if somehow my loving embrace can extend out across the miles to wrap up all of those parents and children so cruelly separated from one another..."  (to read the full statement click here)

Bursting into summer next week with an eclectic run of shows. We'll be rocking a legendary rock club with some bluegrass/americana heavyweights on Wednesday (Ann Arbor, MI), kicking out some lakeside jams for a free community concert series on Thursday (Prudenville, MI), and cozying down for a hometown house concert/community singalong on Friday (N. Manchester, IN). We'd love to see you.

Wednesday, June 20: Mark Lavengood, Fireside Collective, Friends with the Weather at the Blind Pig 6/20
Thursday, June 21: June Third Thursday Free Concert ~ Friends With The Weather
Friday, June 22: Friends with the Weather & Yurtfolk at The Redwood

We're thrilled to release a brand new song (and lyric video!) today, "Be the Song." Available for download through our store or at bandcamp.  Check out the lyric video below!!

We live. We love. We belong. In times full of fear, conflict, and pain, it is so easy to forget one of life's first lessons...the power of holding hands with those beside us. Stepping with courage into the unknown with simple acts of strength, grace, & resilience reveals a different way...a way of healing and a way of hope in honoring our shared humanity.

Out of the devastation of World War II, many stories of hope would emerge. Individuals & communities across the United States & Canada responded to the call to care for & transport livestock on an epic journey across the ocean, delivering the animals to the families & communities devastated by the war. This work continues more than 70 years later through the work of Heifer International, using this "give a cow, not a cup" philosophy to work with communities across the world to end hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth.

This project would not have been possible without the support & generosity of Peggy Reiff Miller, who has spent years archiving these inspiring stories of the "seagoing cowboys." Peggy, through her archivist work, her children's book, and her public presentations captures the many layers to these adventurous stories & has chronicled them for us to continue to learn from. Thank you so much, Peggy, for granting us permission to use these photo & video treasures from your collection.

Chris shares a glimpse into a love story on this Valentine's Day in the behind the songs look at "Tell me Stories."

Seth shares his behind the songs reflections on the song, "Love Wins," featuring the incredibly talented Lindsay Lou. 

Our behind-the-songs series continues with Seth Hendrick's look at our song, "Ezra's Song." Read more HERE.

This week's behind-the-songs feature tells a bit of the story of how the 3 FWTW founders came together and more of David Hupp's reflections on the song "Moon & Stars." Read it HERE.

"My Family" is today's featured song in our behind-the-songs series. Our cover of the Seth Bernard song that helped inspire our name (listen close!) found it's way on to our LIve from Johnny's Speakeasy EP as well as being our contribution to the Earthwork covers Earthwork series. Read Chris' reflections on the song HERE. AND catch Friends with the Weather AND Seth Bernard in concert tomorrow night at Ignition Music Garage in Goshen, IN!

"Brave Man from Ohio" from our Live from Johnny's Speakeasy EP is our next featured song in our behind-the songs series. Read Seth & Chris' reflections HERE.

David & Chris share some of their thoughts on the song "Loveliness" in our continuing exploration of looking behind-the songs of our debut album.

Read Chris' reflections on "Light Awakes" and the 3 movements of "Friends with the Weather" as we continue our behind-the-songs series celebrating the 1 year anniversary of the release of our debut album.

In celebration of the upcoming 1 year anniversary of our debut album, we're excited to kick off a weekly series of behind the songs stories featuring insight to song inspirations, the recording process, lyrical reflections and much more. "Love makes a way" begins our journey featuring the artwork of Kay Guyer. Read the full story from Chris Good HERE and stay tuned for more in the weeks to come. 

Eternal gratitude to all of you who have supported us through this last year of launching this project into the world. From supporting the kickstarter, to coming to shows, to feeding us, housing us, and offering words of encouragement, we feel so humbled by the generosity of our community. We are looking forward to a few months of respite from the road & some devoted time to be with our families to recharge & refresh before digging back in to the music and continuing to explore what comes next for Friends with the Weather.

We will be doing a couple shows later in the summer. Details on the SHOWS page. 

Much love & a big THANK YOU to you all! Chris, Seth, and David

Courtesy of our friend's at Purple Walrus Press, check out their show review from last night's album release performance at The Ark in Ann Arbor, MI. Many thanks to all who came out to make it such a beautiful evening.

VIDEO PREMIERE:

For those who believe in love...

"Tell me Stories" featuring Lindsay Lou.

Artwork by Grace Rother.

We are excited to continue touring in support of our debut album with upcoming visits to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and Virginia, including hometown stops in North Manchester, IN and Ann Arbor, MI. Show details on the SHOWS page or stay up to date via Facebook.

We're thrilled to announce some early 2017 double album release shows with our good friend & collaborator Seth Bernard!

1/27/17 @ The Rumpus Room - Chelsea, MI
https://www.facebook.com/events/1877895289110981

1/28/17 @ Founders Taproom - Grand Rapids, MI
https://www.facebook.com/events/1589298381086651

1/29/17 @ Kalamazoo First Congregational UCC - Kalamazoo, MI
https://www.facebook.com/events/133836097112831

poster credit: Bill Chesney

Blessings of love, light, and hope to you and yours during this season.

Here's some exciting news from the last few days!! And a reminder that TODAY is the final day to order FWTW merchandise to receive before Christmas! Order at: bit.ly/fwtwstore

1. "Friends with the Weather" was included on the Best of 2016 Albums list curated by John Bommarito of The Acoustic Brunch on ann arbor's 107one. We are thrilled to be included on this list with many artists that we deeply respect!

2. We are on the ballot for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Album by a New Artist, and Album of the Year for the 2016 WYCE Jammie Awards. We're deeply honored to be recognized along with so many other fabulous MI artists including our friends & collaborators from The Macpodz, The Ragbirds, and Seth Bernard.

3. Local Spins' Album review:
"As expected with a collective of seasoned songwriters and musicians, the album exemplifies a level of excellence; it takes every musical turn you hope it will, but then veers into a direction even more perfect and fitting than what you thought possible." Full review HERE.

VIDEO PREMIERE:
"One Foot" is the third song released from our "Live from Johnny's Speakeasy" session, a soulful song of encouragement written by our talented keyboardist David Hupp. 

ALBUM RELEASE:
Our "Live from Johnny's Speakeasy" EP is now available for download. The EP includes previously unreleased original songs "One Foot" & "Our Love" along with covers of Andy Murray's "Brave Man from Ohio" & Seth Bernard's "My Family." The 4 song collection showcases an acoustic vibe & speaks to a spirit of compassion, encouragement, and interconnectedness. Seth Hendricks, David Hupp, and Chris Good are again joined by bassist Brennan Andes along with Erin Zindle (fiddle/vocals) and Randall Moore (percussion) of The Ragbirds, Jacob Crouse (banjo/cello/percussion/vocals) of Mutual Kumquat, and Jacob Jolliff (mandolin) of Yonder Mountain String Band.

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER:
The new EP is available for pay-what-you-choose with all proceeds going to the Southern Poverty Law Center. 20% of sales of all other FWTW merchandise through our website will also be donated to SPLC through the end of the year. The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.

Order before 12/18 to ensure delivery by 12/23. 

We are so grateful for the tremendous support we have received this year and look forward to an exciting 2017. 

What will we find in the darkest hour?

We share this solo rendition of our song, "Was it You," to honor the deep grief that many of us are feeling right now. We commit ourselves as individuals and as a band to channeling the emotions of these days into art & action that is grounded in humility & love, seeking to create a world of justice & peace.

WE DID IT!! We are so grateful to our community for believing in this project and we look forward to celebrating the album release with you in the next few months!

We have 5 days left in the kickstarter campaign and we are continuing to spread the word in hopes of reaching our stretch goal of $33,000. Hitting this goal would not only allow us to cover all costs of recording and printing the album, it would also cover the costs of producing the kickstarter rewards as well as giving us a small promotional budget to help us get this music out into the world!

STRETCH GOAL REWARDS: if we hit our goal all kickstarter backers (at the $20 level & higher) will receive an extra CD copy of the album to share with a friend. AND, we will schedule another Facebook LIVE mini-concert featuring Seth Hendricks singing you sweet lullabies.

Thanks again, so much, for your support. Please help us to continue to spread the word! http://kck.st/28TbYt4

Who is Friends with the Weather? A community of talented & soulful friends & collaborators coming together to breathe life & intention into this new project. Bringing a harmonious depth and groove and spirit to the songs while honoring the many paths (funk, soul, jazz, rock, world music, pop, folk, bluegrass) in which all of the contributors have travelled.

12 days to go on our Kickstarter and we're almost half way there! Thank you so much to all who have supported financially or by helping to spread the word!! If you haven't supported the project yet, now would be a great time!! If you're not able to support financially, help us see this project through by sharing the link or the picture and telling your friends!! To learn more visit:http://kck.st/28TbYt4

We chose to include the powerful song, "Brave Man from Ohio," in our Live from Johnny's Speakeasy acoustic session because of its continued poignancy & relevance decades after it was originally written.

"If I die I'll die making something, instead of tearing something down."

This song will be included in the 5 song EP featured in our kickstarter campaign rewards.

As brandnew members of the Earthwork Music Collective we're thrilled to get the chance to participate in this sweet compilation project "Earthwork Covers Earthwork." Here's our take on our good friend, collaborator & Earthwork founder Seth Bernard's great tune "My Family." Visit the blog for a glimpse at the story of why we chose the song, to see an accompanying original painting by the talented Michigan artist Michael Anne Erlewine, and to see the live video of the recording of the song featuring some very special guests!!

Read the blog HERE!