CELIA:
Autumn is the culmination of a growth cycle: the season of taking stock. For our Suite, we looked for songs that conveyed a kind of inward gathering. They express loss, reaching maturity, and ultimately a determination to keep moving forward. Bálint’s orchestrations for string sextet are both wistful and sweeping, taking deep breaths and then releasing.

BÁLINT:
Autumn has always been my favorite season. The year isn’t over yet, but by this time, we’ve come a long way and learned so much about ourselves — it’s a natural moment for reflection. For me, it’s the most exciting part of the year: the turning leaves, the crisp breeze, and the softer sunlight create the perfect atmosphere for inspiration. It’s a season to gather new thoughts, let go of what no longer serves us, and prepare for what’s to come. Musically, we set out to capture that feeling — a state of reflection and growth, carried by a sense of hope and quiet comfort.

Words and Music by Wells Hanley
Wells Hanley Music

CELIA:
In March 2024, I attended a wonderful evening of music by my friend and fellow cabaret performer Lisa Viggiano, featuring her collaboration with Pianist and Musical Director Wells Hanley. A highlight for me was INDIAN SUMMER, written by Wells and perfectly suited to Lisa’s warm voice and soulful persona. Admiring the song, and already deep into finding material for my new seasonal project, I asked Lisa if she would mind my asking Wells for a copy. Characteristically generous, she immediately shared the lead sheet.

INDIAN SUMMER quickly rose to the top of the stack of Autumn songs that Bálint and I were considering, and a year later Lisa put me in touch with Wells while finalizing her own recording for release. (It’s streaming on all platforms, and I highly recommend it.)

It’s always a gift when a singer can talk to a songwriter, and I always have lots of questions and ideas to discuss. But before I could do that, Wells shared a link to his podcast “I Wrote This Song For You,” where he used his music to “help people feel seen and appreciated and loved.” He explained that he writes songs based on true life stories, and INDIAN SUMMER is the story of “Sophie,” who found the love of her life late in her life.

In her episode of the podcast, Sophie described the experience of finding Dan as being like “a song played in my body.” Their story began with an intense dream Sophie had one night in Overall, her farmhouse in the Shenandoah Valley. She later learned that, at that same time, Dan was walking above her house on the Appalachian Trail. Less than a year after they came together, she was plunged into “the deepest deluge of pain” at Dan’s untimely death. Processing her grief, she came to the realization that “you don’t expect a miracle to stay.” Now determined to “keep walking the path” of her life, she told Wells that his song made her feel like she and Dan were “on top of the mountain forever.”

I invite you to keep that back story in mind as you listen to what Wells crafted to convey Sophie’s profound and magical experience, coupled with Bálint’s almost cinematic arrangement for violin, viola and cello. To my ear, it is now a kind of aria.

WELLS:
Hearing Celia’s interpretation of INDIAN SUMMER has been a rare and moving experience for me as a songwriter. It is the first time one of my songs has been recorded without my direct involvement, and she has brought it to life in a way I could not have expected, and yet it felt instantly familiar.

Though I wrote INDIAN SUMMER in an explosion of emotion, Celia’s performance carries a kind of wisdom that seems to unfold through time. In her hands, the song feels like an ancient tale freshly told; her shaping of the compound meter lends it the lilt of an old Irish air – an unexpected touch, yet perfectly attuned to the song’s natural imagery of a landscape steeped in mystery and legend.

Bálint’s arrangement for strings is cinematic but never obvious, often complex, sometimes even emotionally demanding – and always in service of the story’s emotional depth. Through it all, Celia’s pacing, unhurried and assured, allows the story to breathe and settle into a profound resonance.

For me, it is a reminder that a song’s life does not end when it leaves the writer’s hands – it begins again every time a singer of Celia’s depth breathes her unique life into it and makes it her own.

Music by Scott Frankel/Lyric by Michael Korie
Staunch Music c/o Concord Music Group, Inc. d/b/a Concord Sounds and Korie Music c/o Concord Music Group, Inc. d/b/a Concord Sounds

CELIA:
I’ve long admired the score of Grey Gardens, the musical based on the documentary of the same name about Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale. In fact, ANOTHER WINTER IN A WINTER TOWN from Act 2 was on our master list of music to be considered for these seasonal EPs.

But it was ultimately WILL YOU? — removed from its context in the show (it’s the final number of Act 1, set in 1941) — that fit our criteria for Autumn. Its melody cannily evokes a bygone era. And the lyrics “Time rushes by, memories fade, dreams never do” have the balance of loss and looking to the future that we were looking for.

Words and Music by Maurice White, Al McKay and Allee Willis
Rhythm Records Inc. d/b/a Steelchest Music, EMI April Music Inc., EMI Blackwood Music Inc., and Irving Music, Inc.

CELIA:
Yep, it’s the Earth, Wind & Fire song. But don’t worry, I didn’t attempt funk!

I put the song on the pile of possible Autumn songs, curious what Bálint’s reaction would be, and he grabbed it with both hands. What you’re hearing is what he almost immediately pitched to me. Throughout this Autumn Suite, he was aiming for a pop sensibility with a classical sound, and SEPTEMBER became a kind of cosmic incantation that to me echoes the mysticism of INDIAN SUMMER in a very contemporary way.