Jim Adams has asked us to post about a musical artist whose birthday is in July. I have chosen Emily Frantz, a gifted violinist and half of the folk duo with Andrew Marlin of the band called “Watchhouse.” This song, “Golden Embers” is based on a true story, and a very tragic one. Marlin wrote the song about what happened to his mother when Marlin was just 18 years old. He wrote the song as a direct message to his father, in an effort to try and open up a conversation about the tragedy.

As I sit here outside, the crickets and cidadas serenading me and sun gone now behind the trees, I am feeling melancholy and am thinking about how grief can bring us closer together or tear us apart.

Marlin wrote about his mother, choosing to see her memory shining like golden embers in the night.

Just like an old friend, kinder than expected
That Cadillac came and gave our girl a ride
Loss has no end, it binds to our connection
And we don’t speak of it, we don’t even try

If you could help me to share the trouble
That you’ve got burning in you, then you can help me
And in our time together
Her memory will ever shine like golden embers in the night

I miss the old hymns when she used to sing
The sparrows spread their mortal wings
Now they’ve all lighted with the silence of strings
Like notes on the pages, she breathed life into all things

If you could help me to share the trouble
That you’ve got burning in you, then you can help me
And in our time together
Her memory will ever shine like golden embers in the night

Just like an old friend, reach out to me
Bathe me in the light of understanding

And try to help me to share the trouble
That you’ve got burning in you, then you can help me
And in our time together
Her memory will ever shine like golden embers in the night

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Andrew Marlin

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Mid-Summer State of Mind