"Four Walls", the first song released from my new album And a Roof, is streaming now on all the things.
It was inspired by the neighbourhood in west Windsor just below the Ambassador Bridge, where almost a hundred homes were bought, vacated and boarded up a decade ago to make way for a new bridge. Since Moroun, the billionaire owner of the bridge, didn't yet have permission to build the new one, the city refused to hand out demolition permits in a bid to save the neighbourhood. They also required the owner to maintain the houses, but this was ignored and they fell into disrepair, sealing their fate (intentionally I'm sure). Eventually the federal government ordered the houses demolished and they came down in 2017 at this time of the year.
Elements of the song have been kicking around for years, but the impetus for the final version was a picture in the news about two years ago of a group of people watching the first house come down and I wondered about the people who used to live there. I walked by these houses almost every day when I was in university and it seemed to me that, inevitable or not, it's always a little bit sad when a house comes down.
So I wrote a song about it, and The Old Salts helped me whip it into shape.
- Erika Christou on bass
- James Da Mota on acoustic guitar
- Jef Harrison on drums
- Devin Staple on electric guitar
- Tish Gaudio and James on bgvs
- I'm playing mandolin and singing.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1z8nUtTRuZE84jKKNeZib5
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/four-walls/1482053293?i=1482053294
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Derek_Harrison_Four_Walls?id=Bvzt2e4h3cfgbdoii4577rwbxhm&tid=song-Tjfuj5qats7vlb7h2vtbz24fqri
...and all the other ones. Search for it, save it, etc.
More about the story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/world/americas/windsor-residents-caught-in-shadow-of-bridge-that-isnt-built-yet.html