Amid the pandemic, a poet and a musician came together to create a record.
The musician is George Hennig, a Swiss guitarist, singer, and songwriter with several albums to his credit including First Snow, From Grey To Gold, Jewels In The Gutter, The Definition of Face, GHOSTS, and Of Piers & Repose.
The poet, in this case, is Solstice contributing editor Richard Cambridge, whose poetry and theater productions address controversial themes on the American political landscape. A longtime resident of Cambridge, Mass., in 2004 he received the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award for his art and activism.
Cambridge reached out to Hennig in winter 2020 after hearing the latter’s version of “John Barleycorn.”
“I am new to your work, and it moves me profoundly,” Cambridge wrote, offering Hennig a bouquet of poems. Hennig picked one and replied: “May I make this a song?”
Thus commenced their collaboration. One year later, their album, Songs From The Crossing was born.
In this video interview with Solstice Nonfiction Editor Richard Hoffman, Cambridge and Hennig discuss how the album—and their friendship—came together, offering both a ray a hope during a trying time.
Richard Hoffman is the author of nine books, including the memoirs Half the House and Love & Fury; the story collection Interference and other stories; the essay collection Remembering the Alchemists and other essays; and five books of poems: Without Paradise; Gold Star Road, which won the 2006 Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize and the New England Poetry Club’s Sheila Motton Book Award; Emblem; Noon until Night, winner of the 2018 Massachusetts Book Award for poetry; and People Once Real.
