Brian Kalinec — “Redwood Fence”
Americana Highways presents this video premiere of Brian Kalinec’s song “Redwood Fence” from his forthcoming album The Beauty Of It All, due to be available this spring.
The audio for this song was produced by Merel Bregante at Cribworks; and the video was produced by Brian Kalinec at Berkalin Records.
Musicians on “Redwood Fence” are Brian Kalinec on lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Sarah Pierce on backing vocals; Mark Epstein on fretless bass; Merel Bregante on drums and percussion; Pete Wasner on grand piano and Fender Rhodes piano; Dirje Childs on cello; and James Rieder on chamber strings and double bass.
The scene is a racistly erected “backyard fence in 1965, shielded us from what we didn’t know,” and then the story unfolds of the fence breaking down over time, although the difficulties remained. Brian Kalinec tells it like it is with lilting, easy instrumentation.
Our perspective of life is greatly shaped by our experiences. We learn from the things we see, but we may not understand or even be aware of the lives of others around us. Until we do become aware, we cannot appreciate what each human being can contribute to the world. Ultimately, the cruelty of discrimination against anyone makes us a poorer, less kind,and less knowledgeable society. I grew up in the north end of Beaumont,TX. In our immediate area, our street was the most southerly one with white residents. Immediately south of our backyard fence was a series of large, adjacent African American neighborhoods extending all the way to downtown. When our subdivision was built in the1950’s the builder constructed a continuous six-foot redwood fence which spanned the entire 20 house block on the back property line of our backyards. This song explores the relationships and regrets related to that fence, as observed through the eyes of a child and reconsidered often as an adult. The accompanying video reminds us of the continuing struggle for equality and racial justice through the past century and a half. Everything in this song happened and is as true as I know it to be. — Brian Kalinec
Find more information and tour dates here: www.BrianKalinec.com