If they’re good enough for a Beatle, they’re good enough for you.
Multiple JUNO Award Winning / Platinum Producer / Songwriter CHRIS BIRKETT Releases “Everyday People” Cover
With 100+ million albums sold worldwide, multi-JUNO Award-winning, Platinum-status producer, composer, singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Birkett and his new band The Free Spirits have released a new production — this time in single and video “Everyday People,” available now!
Birkett, who has worked with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mel Brooks, Steve Earle, Bob Geldof, Alison Moyet, Dexys Midnight Runners, Talking Heads, The Pogues, and The Proclaimers — not to mention, just celebrated the 30th anniversary of producing Sinead O’Connor’s seismic release I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got — joined with Shari Tallon, to create The Free Spirits.
Together, the duo — Birkett on vocals, guitar, drums, bass, and keys, and Tallon on flute, keyboards and backing vocals — are unlocking sonic synchronicity with their debut album, 11:11 (Birkett’s fourth overall).
“The cover of this Sly and the Family Stone hit is included on 11:11,” Birkett says of the track and video. “The song’s message of world peace is as important today as when it was first recorded in the 1970s.”
While the song has long been a magnet for a multitude of musicians since its 1968 release, including versions by Aretha Franklin, Joan Jett, and Pearl Jam, Birkett’s take is not only well received by fans, but the original band itself.
“I sent the video to Andy Newmark,” he explains. “He was Sly and the Family Stone’s drummer and someone who I’d worked with in the past.
“He wrote back to me on November 11th — so, 11:11 — and said ‘sounds and looks great, Chris. Good work!’
“It’s great to have his thumbs up!”
The track features Birkett on lead vocals, and is backed by the Hamilton Academy of Performing Arts Student Choir. Not to be missed, there are additional vocals from 2019 Maple Blues Award winner Ann Vriend.
The video for Birkett and The Free Spirits’ take on “Everyday People” bittersweetly stands as a tribute of sorts to an important person connected to the project. “The video was directed by Tom Omorean, who passed away suddenly and sadly in December 2019, soon after finishing what would be his last video.”
The Free Spirit’s debut LP together features thought-provoking lyrics, dynamic instrumental arrangements, and spans across multiple genres, and they pride themselves on being more than just what meets the ear. Under this musical moniker, Birkett and Tallon are a musical collaboration shedding light on life, the world, and how artists can help be a positive force for truth and change, they say.
Birkett — whose song “Where Do We Go From Here” was featured alongside Dire Straits, Bob Marley, U2, Peter Gabriel, and Queen, among others, on 1993’s One Voice, One Love compilation album in support of CARE International — says he believes “in the universal language of music to make a change in humanity’s attitude to climate, culture, and race.”
The Free Spirits’ “Everyday People” and 11:11 are available now.
The 5 Main Ways Music Can Impact Your Life
Music affects all people differently.
One thing that is consistent is that no matter who you are or where you are from – music changes lives and can improve your day to day living.
There’s nothing better than pairing one of your favorite activities, for example driving or jogging, with an awesome tune. Music is transformative in many ways, but it is especially impactful on both our physical and emotional wellbeing.
So what are the most common ways music can impact people’s lives?
That’s exactly what we’ll explain below. Some may surprise you while others won’t. Either way, we’re certain when you’re done reading, you’ll be ready to throw on one of your favorite jams.
1. Therapeutic – Music is a Way To Relax
Music affects the body both mentally and physically, and it can create relaxing state of being. This can come in the form of slowing down blood pressure or slowing down a heart rate.
Additionally, different styles of songs can reduce the production of stress inducing hormones. Whether you’re passively listening or actively using music during prayer or meditation, music’s ability to help someone relax is undeniable.
2. Emotive – Improves Expression and Communication
By listening or creating music, people can express emotions and feelings beyond words. Researchers claim that listening to music may be able to change how the brain functions to the same extent as medication.
Music is an outlet for defining our existence in our reality. And this is a universal truth that spans time and culture. Because of this, music serves as a primary mode for human expression and allows people to communicate feelings or experiences better.
3. Physical Enhancement – Improves Performance Activity
Going for a run or embarking on your daily workout routine is practically impossible without your music. And there’s a good reason for that. Music can improve performance in multiple ways.
Music is a good type of distraction that keeps the mind occupied, with reported physical improvement of 15% during a workout. Music also helps ‘put you in the zone,’ contribute to helping you keep pace and time your workouts, and make you want to exercise in the first place.
4. Intelligence Boosting – Increases Memory
There has been decades and decades of research that has gone into understanding how music can improve one’s intelligence and brain. Whether you’re listening to music or playing an instrument, there are many brain benefits in music.
Some research suggests that playing an instrument regularly alters the shape and power of the brain. There are even indications that music helps enhance memory, meaning learning music online via a site like allstringed.com has many added benefits.
5. Fosters Self-Perception – Gives Perspective
Music is an opportunity for storytelling. Whether it’s through the lyrics or the rhythm and harmony created by notes and sounds, music is the composer’s way to tell their story, and the audience’s job is to listen.
And it’s because of this reciprocal relationship humans can connect with both their heart and mind to the experience. Whether it’s Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” or Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” or Debussy’s “Clair De Lune” music’s ability to impact a person’s self-perception is undeniable.
Final Thoughts
Was there anything that surprised you from our list? With so many different benefits and ways music can affect your life, don’t you think we could all do with a bit more tunes and a lot less television?
It’s undeniable that music can elevate people in many ways that will benefit them throughout their entire lives. All we have to do is create and listen.
Believed to be the only surviving footage of The Beatles Abbey Road TV special from BBC 2 in 1969
The special is notable for the first airing of the “Day in the Life” music video and also contained other things such as a animation sequence of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.
1-minute tip for artists: Your Merch
👕 by Kelsi Mayne, by the way? Why, because not only do I love her music, I love a great pun, and that’s a great enough reason to re-think your merch for sale.
Radiohead Are Putting Classic Live Shows on YouTube During the Pandemic
Just watch. First up, Punchestown Racecourse, County Kildare, Ireland.
.. and here’s Live In Berlin, where the crowd goes, how do you say, bezerk?
Johnny Marr Teaches “The Headmaster Ritual” by The Smiths
Johnny Marr gives a unique access to his home studio where he performs and then teaches how to play “The Headmaster Ritual” by The Smiths.
1-minute tip for artists: Do a takeover.
The social media takeover is another cool way for artists to get heard and seen – you get to posting your own content on a whole different stream, reaching new people, and they get to do the same.
1-minute tip for artists: Trending topics.
Find those trneidn topics on social media to connect a post with, but stay away from anything negative, or one that’s an absolute storm of controversy.
Canadian Folk Outlier NOBLE SON Offers “Sad Dumb Lovesick Young Kid” Ahead of New Album, Life Isn’t Fun
When it comes to describing the indie-folk undertaking that is Canadian artist Noble Son — aka Adam Kirschner, singer/songwriter, actor, and VFV (very familiar voice) — his new single “Sad Dumb Lovesick Young Kid,” and album Life Isn’t Fun, here’s what others have to say:
“There is a dichotomy buried deep in the musical well that is Noble Son: the brutal heartbreak of reality and the bounding absurdity of life itself,” says BeatRoute. “His romanticism is all wrong according to feel-good rules — where love fails, politics prevail, that sort of thing — but maybe that’s why his music makes us hurt so good.
“It’s impossible to speak of his work without also exclaiming about the other component of Noble Son: an uncanny Jim Carrey-esque persona. All the roiling energy in that creative well of the artist also expresses itself through comically brilliant physicality.”
“When we think of folk music at a glance, visions of somber men and women standing emotionally with their guitars often comes to mind,” Citrus Magazine concurs. “Noble Son is quite the opposite.
“Kirschner confronts and criticizes his genre for being too serious, which is pretty obvious for anyone who’s seen him live. Perhaps life is a bit more of a playground than we give it credit, and it’s time for the sad boy musician trope to be a thing of the past. Through storytelling, Kirschner reminds us that we are allowed to have fun, even in times of uncertainty and political unrest.”
Between long, isolating winters during his Northern Canadian upbringing, and inspiration mined from themes of anxiety, self pity, obsessive joy, and rage, Kirschner’s uniquely eruptive songwriting and displays of sonic inventiveness walk the line between subtly endearing and unbridled animalism.
Recorded at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver, BC — and his most ambitious work to date — Life Isn’t Fun features contributions from Erik Nielsen (We Are The City, Deep Dark Woods), Andrew Rasmussen (Hey, Ocean!, Hannah Georgas), Alex Dobson (Old Man Canyon, David Beckingham) and more.
Adam Kirschner is an internationally recognized voice actor, having backed cartoons and commercials for brands such as Porsche, Disney, Bud Light, My Little Pony, the Vancouver Canucks, and more. He’s also an accomplished television and film actor, and has been seen on shows such as CW’s iZombie and the upcoming Hulu original series, Woke.
His most previous video for “Love Love Love” — also featured on Life Isn’t Fun — was shot by Director of Photography Cole Graham (Drake, Solange) and directed by Kasey Lum (Lights, Felix Cartel).
Life Isn’t Fun is available May 15, 2020.
“Sad Dumb Lovesick Young Kid” is available now.