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Summer Sands & Sleeping Bears​-​Album

by James Filkins

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Lou Very mellow, carefully picked acoustic guitar. It's got that Windham Hill vibe. Perfect. Favorite track: The Five Alls.
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Summer Sands 04:01
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Tintagel 04:58
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Foamfollwer 06:38
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about

Summer sands and warm days that stretch out like a great big yawn, these are the days we live for. Sojourns, getaways, and respites from the mundanity of our working existence ... to rekindling relationships and reveling in the fruits of labor. Henry David Thoreau’s wisdom illuminates - We need to shake off our “quiet desperation” time and again “and suck the marrow out of life” with more dogged intent.  Yeah, it may sound funny, perhaps cliché, yet the significance resonates more than ever.

The beaches, dunes, bluffs & forests of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore, embody the power, wonder, and beauty of nature.  Symbolically a sleeping or hibernating bear exudes tranquility at its deepest level, as well as rebirth and rejuvenation. Being of middle age I find it very fitting and transcendent, akin to the sense of promise, possibility, and optimism I get when my fingers wander the fretboard of a guitar.

The compositions on Summer Sands & Sleeping Bears can be categorized as acoustic, ambient, new age, jazz, and even Celtic. The original music on this CD is acoustically melodic, moody, and sonically textured and features the musical talents of flautist Leslie Anne Harrison (New Time Ensemble, Folk Ragoût), Tim Lorsch on fiddle and octave violin, guitarist Steve Reinthal, and multi-instrumentalist Zac Leger on whistle. Summer Sands & Sleeping Bears features the artwork of acclaimed Michigan artist Glenn Wolff who created original pen and ink and watercolor drawings.

Many of the tunes on Summer Sands & Sleeping Bears were inspired by places close to my home in Northwestern Lower Michigan. One of the title tracks, “Sleeping Bears,” refers specifically to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and both Leland Harbor and the Schooner Inland Seas make an auditory appearance in the tune “Foamfollower, ”

Reviews:
“Filkins develops his ideas as a mini-musical journey, and we come along for the ride. His style is at times fluid, at times filled with stops and starts as he changes directions and we’re taken to a new place . . . reflective and never hurried . . . A musical departure that expresses the peace and joy of having been here, and the hope to return again sometime.
-Minor 7th
“The original songs presented on this CD are uplifting tunes that mirror Northern Michigan summer days. They are soft and serene yet captivating and powerful, similar to the sights and sounds of our beloved Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.” -MyNorth.com

"A treat for the ears - very reflective..." -Bridge Guitar Reviews

“The crisp, clean ring of an impeccably played steel-string guitar.”-Northern Express
“Uncluttered and full of homegrown integrity...” -Rambles.net

credits

released June 12, 2012

Reviews:
“The original songs presented on this CD are uplifting tunes that mirror Northern Michigan summer days. They are soft and serene yet captivating and powerful, similar to the sights and sounds of our beloved Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.” -MyNorth.com

"A treat for the ears - very reflective..." -Bridge Guitar Reviews

“The crisp, clean ring of an impeccably played steel string guitar.”-Northern Express

“Uncluttered and full of homegrown integrity...” -Rambles.net

“Filkins develops his ideas as a mini-musical journey, and we come along for the ride. His style is at times fluid, at times filled with stops and starts as he changes directions and we’re taken to a new place . . . reflective and never hurried . . . A musical departure that expresses the peace and joy of having been here, and the hope to return again sometime.
-Minor 7th

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about

James Filkins Traverse City, Michigan

A guitarist and composer of acoustically melodic instrumental music, infused with moody atmosphere and sonic texture. Utilizing acoustic stringed instruments, primarily guitar, steel stringed, nylon stringed and baritone, as well as percussion, flutes and whistles, his operating philosophy is “a barbaric yawp is better than no yawp at all”. An unfettered fresh water breeze
for your ears.
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