The Farewell Concert

After years on the road, the time had come to say farewell. There had been world tours and musical digressions, hotels and backstreets, harmony and chaos. Freedom Alley had weathered the storm. Blew through songs like a D-harp blows in the wind and the six string lays down the trail to follow. Slip the knot and cut the cord. The winding road had taken the boys all around the world. Now, it was time to lay it down for the evening.

There were rumors that everyone was fighting with each other. Some say it was a woman who drove the spike. Some say it was the heavy libations that took their toll. Even others tell of mystic episodes that split the very essence of the heart and soul of the group. Truth is, it was all of that and none of it. The boys somehow sensed that this was the end of the line. At the same time, they all knew that nothing could take away from what they had created. It was time to part ways and one last journey together would nail it shut….

And so it was that Freedom Alley said farewell in the time they did. Not because of any rift or demon crossroad, but because they had said all they could in that incarnation. New journeys were beckoning.

Take a moment, then, to hear these songs. Tapes long thought to be destroyed, but uncovered and brought back to life. There’s a nervous sound to the live recording, perhaps because they knew it was the end. Yet, the rehearsal songs show the group in high form. Just as tight as when they first started playing together and when it all began.

There would be other sessions, new songs and new blood. But this recording of The Farewell Concert captures the boys as they stood together one last time…to say farewell.

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