“I am returning to my musical life with Joni Mitchell’s iconic song River  because for me this song has been incredibly influential throughout my songwriting career just as it has for so many Americana female singer songwriters.  I also chose this song because 2020 has been so painful for all of us artists with no touring and all of us learning to retool our careers such that skating away on an icy river just seemed to reflect the angst all of us are feeling.  But most importantly I wanted to honor where I come from as I embark on where I am going in 2021 as an artist with three original Americana albums coming out in the next 18 months. Joni Mitchel’s Blue album is always somewhere with me deep in my consciousness.  I decided to depart from the traditional intro  in favor of Phil Peterson and I performing a cello/vocal duet, rounded out with my son Cameron Lavi-Jones on acoustic guitar and my husband Maurice Jones Jr. on bass.  We shot the video in one continuous take in Phil’s studio and recorded the song at the same time.  To say creating this was magical would be an understatement.  I have never before released a song that someone else wrote ever in my career but if I had to choose one song to return to my authentic self with after  all these years  - River is most definitely   my truest choice.”

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~ Lara Lavi