Guitarist Cory Wong has teamed up with lauded mandolinist and former Live From Here host Chris Thile on a new single, “Bluebird”, which will appear on his upcoming TRAIL SONGS: DAWN LP. The new collection of songs will serve as a companion piece to the recently released, acoustic-based TRAIL SONGS: DUSK. The new album will arrive in full next Friday, August 7th. Other guests included on the new effort include Sierra Hull and Cy Leo.
As Wong explained in a press release, “I wanted to release two albums over the summer that reflect my personality on acoustic instruments. … The music I wrote for this album is nothing like the music I’ve put out before. It’s reflective and contemplative. It’s all acoustic music, recorded on acoustic instruments. I started by writing tunes on the guitar, and then added layers while mocking up demos. And then I sent the demos and scores out to my friends to replace the demo parts. It was really a magical thing to be able to bring some of my friends together to play music from around the world in a time where many of them felt isolated from any sense of community.”
“This music is meant to be taken in and absorbed through the lens of the listener’s self-reflection,” Cory surmised. “Some people dream of taking a trip to the midwest to find a respite in nature to write. For me, I didn’t need to take a trip. I needed to stop taking trips! The midwest is home for me, and this album reminded me of that.”
While the acoustic timbre of the song is surely a departure from Wong’s previous work, the same plucky, melodic songwriting and dextrous rhythm strumming for which he’s become known shine through. Of course, some added picking by a musical genius like Chris Thile has never hurt a song’s “wow” factor, either (that we know of).
“The last few years have been a wild ride with Vulfpeck blowing up, and my solo career taking off as well. It’s been really fun, but it’s been at a constant high-speed pace. In March, when everything went into lockdown, it was the first time in a long time I was able to just clear the calendar for a few months and take a breath. It kind of felt like there were no rules for an artist’s output…in a good sense. Some people needed time to just absorb everything going on, and others needed to express parts of their humanity through music. I am one of those artists who needed to express my feelings through writing and recording music, but more specifically, songs from sequester. I’ve never been in one place for this long in the last 10 years. It’s crazy, it’s different, but it’s in some ways exactly what I needed.”
Listen to “Bluebird” on the platform of your choice here or stream it via Spotify below:
Cory Wong ft. Chris Thile – “Bluebird”
In other Cory Wong news, Vulfpeck offshoot The Fearless Flyers, which features Wong on guitar, recently released their debut full-length effort, Tailwinds. Cory also served as the album’s producer. Cory Wong also recently teamed up with pianist Jon Batiste for an EP of contemplative, loosely-structured, instrumental Meditations. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also been hosting a new podcast, Wong Notes, featuring guests like John Scofield, Béla Fleck, and more.