Seven years ago while visiting New Orleans in the springtime, Seattle native Colin Lake met his future wife in the airport. The meeting sparked a cosmic chain reaction that would change his life forever. Overwhelmed by the gravity that seemed to be drawing him to the city, Lake moved to town less than a year later and his passion and innate feel for roots music would find fertile ground from which to spring. While his powerful vocal style and soulful touch on the guitar and lap steel owe heavily to countless blues greats, it’s Lake’s knack for song craft that sets him apart from almost anyone in that genre.

Lake’s latest album, One Thing That’s For Sure, captures the songwriter’s unique musical vision, delivering penetrating lyrics with soul and gritty sincerity. On the album’s eleven original songs, Lake sings of love and longing, truth and transcendence, hope and struggle. These are love songs, but not just in the romantic sense — these are songs that celebrate love’s well earned triumph over fear and tread the territory where light and shadows meet.

To share the music from his new release, Lake was able to rent out the Mt. Cavalry Lutheran Church in Mid-City of New Orleans, LA, where he and his crew set up shop and recorded performances of a number of songs from Lake’s catalog. Watch “One Thing That’s For Sure” from this beautiful session, streaming below:

We asked Colin Lake to tell us more about the inspiration for the Mt. Cavalry Sessions. “I’ve been kicking this idea around for a while now; to set up in a space that looks and sounds great and capture performances of a handful of songs on really good looking video.  These sessions were born from the convergence of that simple idea and some very fortunate timing.  When I got wind that friends of mine had purchased an old church in Mid-City, I asked if we could invade for a day. They graciously obliged, and within a few days I was able to enlist the help of my entire band and a few friends, as well as a talented sound engineer and film crew.

In one very long day, we ran the gamut from full-band house rockers to intimate, stripped-down performances.  And as day turned to night, the scene inside the church changed dramatically and seemed to offer up the perfect vibe for each successive tune.  We did songs from my last two records, as well as a classic number and even a couple of new tunes that will most likely appear on my next album.  I’m grateful for the help of the incredible team that made this series possible, and humbled by the musicians that work so hard to make these songs come alive on stage, in the studio and for these videos. I hope you enjoy Mt. Calvary Sessions.” 

We certainly do! The series is presented by NOLA Brewing, and Colin Lake will be appearing at the upcoming NOLA Crawfish Fest featuring performances from George Porter Jr., Ivan Neville, Anders Osborne and more, scheduled in the days between Jazz Fest weekends from April 25-27. More information can be found here.

We’d like to thank the following people for making this happen:

One Thing That’s For Sure:

Colin Lake – guitar, lead vocals
Bill Richards – bass guitar, backing vocals
Marc Adams – organ
Erik Golson – drums
Brad Walker – saxophone
Mark Levron – trumpet
Myles Weeks – tambourine, backing vocals

Audio engineered and mixed by Michael Seaman of Listen Up! Studios
Recorded at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, New Orleans, LA on January 8th, 2016.
Mt. Calvary Sessions logo by Scott W. Williams

Video produced by ABIS Productions
Directed by: Sam Radutzky
Camera Operators: Sam Radutzky and Zac Manuel
Edited by Sam Radutzky
Color Correction: Sam Radutzky and Nicole Cobb