The Beautiful Ferocity of Holy River.
As a music blog we could go on and on about the songs Holy River performed at Potter’s Craft Cider last Sunday. About Laney Sullivan’s otherworldly voice. About the Harmonium she plays. Or about how Jameson Price uses all four limbs to play all manor of acoustic and digital things.
We could say things like “Earth Folk” “ethereal” “mystical” “holistic” ”haunting vocals” “multi-instrument” and “transcendent”. That would all be corrrect but it would miss the essential truth of the band.
Holy River are warriors at the forefront of the DIY struggle to humanize our behavior on this planet before we destroy it and ourselves. Their recent release Steady ruminates on constant change, offering up the importance of “collecting sea shells”.
I wanna tell you
Everything’ s going to be ok
But I don’t know
And I can’t say
We’ve spoken before about how music of all kinds can provide a safe space for us to express our fear that things are not OK while simultaneously helping us take strength and optimism in the belief that if we hold on, keep trying, get up and do something, we can break the chains of generational neglect, hurt and greed. And maybe make a difference.
I need to tell you
Everything
Well it’s bound to change
That I do know
That I can say
Change is the life’s work of Holy River.
I think what this blog can do of service is to provide our readers — some of whom may be shell-shocked and exhausted by events — a bit of inspiration to maybe come back to the fight and some concrete examples of how to fight.
So here ya go, Cvillians (oh crud that didn’t come out right) here are just some of the ways Holy River is walking the walk.
— They are the founders of @fonticellofoodforest in Richmond which is a community garden hosting a weekly food pantry that provides sustenance for over 100 families a week.
— They are also founders of a co-housing project in Richmond called earthfolk @earthfolkrva.
— They have worked for many years fighting natural gas pipelines (Atlantic coast pipeline and mountain valley pipeline). @artivismvirginia is one of their main collaborators in that work, they are based in Charlottesville.
— They started a group in Richmond called the Richmond springs collective which is working to press the city to reopen as many historic fresh water springs as possible to mitigate failures of the municipal water plant.
— They hold community grief and death care training to help folks care for themselves and their loved ones when the time comes.
That’s not wringing your hands at the state of things. It’s a shit-ton of very important sea shell collecting.
Hold it open handed
Feel it as it comes
Nothing bypassed
Integrate it all
Collecting sea shells
Not accolades
Honoring the gift of what this life has made
Holy River is showing us how to make change. Not by throwing the rest of your Big Gulp at the guy with the flags in the Dodge Ram diesel OR the Prius plug-in hybrid with all the stickers (Old Hank will take either one of those joyous vehicles). Or watching hours of cable TV. Or putting signs in your damn yard. Or making charitable contributions.
But by getting out there and working. Everyday. In DIY, messy, thankless, gratifying, PMA, apolitical fucking important kinda ways.
Keep going
Move through it
Keep going
Be steady
There’s a calm ferocity of purpose and action here. A rejection of voices that tell you one person can’t do anything anymore. A refusal to ride out yer days and let the next generation worry ‘bout the mess we’ve made.
And it also just happens to sound as beautiful as their work is inspiring. Go see them.
Old Hank
