Angela Easterling “Count All The Stars”
Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Angela Easterling’s song “Count All The Stars” from her forthcoming album Songs From The Knoxville Project, which is set for release on September 28th. This song will be available on August 21st. Songs From the Knoxville Project is based upon the historical account of Mary Middleton Orr, an ancestor of Angela’s who was a Union loyalist in North Carolina during the Civil War.
The album was produced by Brandon Turner and Ian Guthrie; engineered and mixed by Ian Guthrie at Studio 101 in Woodruff, SC, with additional recording at Crooked Floor Studio in Greer, SC.
Musicians on “Count All The Stars” are Angela Easterling on lead and harmony vocals; Brandon Turner on acoustic guitar, resonator, dobro, electric guitar, banjo and percussion; Sam Kruer on upright bass; Matt Purinton on mandolin; Darby Wilcox on vocals; and Ian Guthrie on harmony vocals; and Harrison, Miles, and Rory Turner on children’s vocals and hand claps.
As Angela explains it: “My Dad’s maternal ancestors lived in Henderson County, NC during the Civil War,” Easterling says. “And they were Union sympathizers. The men of the family were drafted into the Confederate army, then they deserted that army and went to Knoxville, TN, which was the closest Union army holding. That left the women alone in what was now hostile territory back in North Carolina.”
Easterling’s great-great-great grandmother, Narcissus Middleton actually walked from North Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee with her ten children, unimaginably; leaving her 19 year old sister and child to live with that sister’s father in law. “She had a two-year-old,” Easterling says. “She had a four-year-old. These are little, little kids. Two of the children were babies that had to be carried in their arms. And if you’ve ever driven between Tennessee and North Carolina, you’ve seen those mountains they had to cross. It took them 2 ½ weeks to get there, and they all survived. That’s the only way they COULD survive, because the Confederate government refused to let the family have any provisions because their husbands had deserted the Confederate army.”
This album comes from the handwritten journals of one of the daughters of the woman who made that journey, as it explores what that journey music have been like, through song after song.
“Count All The Stars” is a song of finding your inner strength, feeling the power of your own will. You can imagine folks on literal exoduses and journeys must have had countless thoughts like this, and it will resonate with folks on their own personal, inner journeys as well.
Find more details here on her website: http://www.angelaeasterling.com
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