This Ordinary Day

This Ordinary Day by Diane Jarvi

New Release · Limited Edition

These songs were recorded fall and winter of 2020-21 in my ordinary basement during a not so ordinary year. Just me and my guitar. Thinking on all the ordinary words, deeds, days, moons, fires, rivers and wings. Ordinary times with my daughter, –tunes, walks, photos, wishes.

There are women of resistance here from another time: Emily, Elinor, Helmi and Maybelle. History repeating, persistence, of the homesick, of the lost, the wild, the muse, the painter, the singer. All the ordinary hungers, the ordinary telling, the listening, the luck, ordinary goals to continue onward. Ordinary moments, shy moments. Equilibrium and resilience. And those wild winds of summer, brief songs of summer. All those ways to make them last.

This is just me, captured live. Complete with real life hesitations and buzzes. The ordinary sounds of a performer. My audience was a family of doves, goldfinches, cardinals, chipmunks and rabbits that I could view outside my basement window. I want to thank them for adding that Beatrix Potter tableaux.

I want to thank Matthew Zimmerman for lending me the sound equipment so I could roam around the roads of old songs and new, and also for mixing my vocal and guitar tracks so beautifully. I want to also thank John Reinhard for kindly sending me lyrics over all the years that I took and ran with and attached a tune. And thank you to Mary Overson for generously offering her poem that seemed to invite a melody. Acknowledgment goes to Helmi Mattson for inspiring the song I’m A Volcano and also to my mother Aili Jarvenpa for translating Mattson’s amazing poem. Helmi’s words launch each verse of this song.

And the most important thank you goes to my daughter LiLi who has been nudging me to make a recording of new tunes for a while now, all in English. And a big thank you to her for singing with me on the last track on the CD. And for taking the photos that appear on the jacket. This was a family DIY. All gratitude and love to her for her vision, voice and wisdom.

This past year drove home how an ordinary day often contains the extraordinary. Grateful for them all.

Listen to Twin Cities Weekend interview with Diane Jarvi on PRX: “Diane Jarvi Turns Towards Americana on Her Recent CD”

This Ordinary Day by Diane Jarvi

$15.00

  1. I’m a Volcano · Lyrics: Helmi Mattson and Diane Jarvi, Music: Diane Jarvi
  2. Wild Peaches · Lyrics adapted from poem by Elinor Wylie, Music: Diane Jarvi
  3. Lucky to be Alive · Lyrics: John Reinhard and Diane Jarvi, Music: Diane Jarvi
  4. Lonesome Homesick Blues · Lyrics and Music by Maybelle Carter
  5. This Ordinary Day · Lyrics and Music: Diane Jarvi
  6. The Moon Was But A Chin of Gold · Lyrics: Emily Dickinson, Music: Diane Jarvi
  7. Practicing History · Lyrics and Music: Diane Jarvi
  8. Speed God · Lyrics: Mary Overson, Music: Diane Jarvi
  9. Another Fire · Lyrics and Music: Diane Jarvi
  10. Ballad of Skye · Lyrics: John Reinhard and Diane Jarvi, Music: Diane Jarvi
  11. Brief Wings of Summer · Lyrics: John Reinhard and Diane Jarvi, Music: Diane Jarvi

All songs Diane Jarvi · vocal and guitar
Except on Brief Wings of Summer- LiLi Jarvenpa: backup vocals

Limited Edition

Recordings by Diane Jarvi
This Ordinary Day by Diane Jarvi
This Ordinary Day
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Diane Jarvi's Paper Heart CD cover
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Flying into Blue by Diane Jarvi CD cover
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Revontuli by Diane Jarvi CD cover
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Diane Jarvi's Foreign WInds CD cover
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Café Accordion Orchestra: La Zingara
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Cafe Accordion Orchestra: Berets and Bongos
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Cafe Accordion Orchestra: Dancing on the Moon
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