In the ’60s and ’70s, it was not rare to see Jerry Yester’s name on classic albums, as producer for acts like the Association, the Turtles, Tim Buckley, and Tom Waits, or as a performer with the Modern Folk Quartet, Rosebud, the Lovin’ Spoonful, and Judy Henske (on the rediscovered gem Farewell Aldebaran). But aside from a pair of 1967 singles, there wasn’t a Jerry Yester “solo album” from that period, as he was so busy creating music with and for other artists.
Pass Your Light Around collects the songs Yester recorded in various studios throughout the 1970s (and even one dating back as far as 1964 from his Bleecker Street apartment). Written with poet/ lyricist and Tim Buckley collaborator Larry Beckett (who he got to know while producing Buckley’s Goodbye and Hello), the material features performances by Yester, Rosebud bandmates David Vaught and John Seiter, future Lone Justice member Don Heffington, and Laurel Masse from the Manhattan Transfer, among others. In true Yester fashion, the instrumentation moves from classic guitar-based instrumentation to strings, celeste, harmonium and synthesizer.
Produced by Yester with Grammy® Award winner Cheryl Pawelski, the release features tracks sourced from Jerry’s personal archives and remastered by Grammy® Award-winning engineer Michael Graves. These 15 previously unissued songs act as what could, and should have been another Yester-tagged classic, but this time under his own name. Packaging contains photos, lyrics, and a new essay from Barry Alfonso detailing the genesis of the songs and recordings, augmented by new interviews with both Yester and Beckett.
While it may have taken more than 40 years to hear it, as Alfonso states in his liner notes, “What matters is that this remarkable music is available after four decades of obscurity. The light never dimmed. Now it’s finally ready to be shared.”
Pass Your Light Around will be released on October 6.
Track Listing:
- Pass Your Light Around
- My Dusty Darling
- Brooklyn Girl
- The Whiskey Moon
- Showboat
- The Sun Is Like A Big Brass Band
- Corn Cracker
- Dance For Me, Anna Lee
- With A Hickory Pole
- Seesaw
- The Minutes
- The Rose
- Across The Persian Gulf
- All I Can Do Is Dance
- Hip Toad