The music video for "YES" is built around the art of Dan Eldon — a British-American photojournalist raised in Kenya, who died in Somalia at 22, leaving behind 17 journals as his legacy. I saw them firsthand at 19, when Dan's sister Amy — who I hadn't seen since we were babies — found her way back into my life and moved into my crappy Hell's Kitchen apartment for six weeks, not long after he was killed. Our parents were friends in the '70s, so his young work was always hanging on our fridge growing up — long before I knew it would one day find its way into my own art.
I've always been in awe of photojournalists because of him. We both tell stories — mine just through music — but both carry that same fearlessness and curiosity, mine filtered through song. That idea of being lost as a form of exploring is what led me to "YES," my latest single: a reminder that uncertainty often opens the door to discovery, in art and in every relationship, as we're all just finding our way.
There are no words to describe the depth of it all — Amy and her mother Kathy have always been family. I never really knew Dan — our lives only overlapped in my toddler years — but his work and spirit have stuck with me, subtly pushing me in the adventures I choose and in living fully. His line "the journey is the destination," and the idea that there's little difference between being lost and exploring, has threaded through my whole life. It also shaped the artwork for my next album, I Need To Roam, and I think I only now understand just how deeply, starting with my first trip to Kenya at 21.
Guess who’s gonna be singing on Jimmy Kimmel Live with The Cletones for 4 nights?!
Tune in wherever you can/are! June 8-11. I’m beyond excited.
Photo by Sophie Conin
Read the reviews of the Lucy Woodward & New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra: The Rocketeers project we just toured with! Jazznu & Jazzism magazines!
Lucy Woodward & The Rocketeers with NRJO bring the Bimhuis to a frenzy…attention is immediately captivated and never wavers. The themes offer insight into Woodward's musical universe from the singer's perspective. Alice in Wonderland—wonder, curiosity, anger, seduction, and vulnerability—each finds its place. Woodward's vocals stand on equal footing between the often unwavering orchestration and the fantastic playing of the big band. - Monica Rijpma, Jazzism
