Spins: Kris Delmhorst, Strange Conversation

I've been smitten lately with this New England singer-songwriter's fourth CD, a collection of songs inspired in various ways by poets and poetry. Songwriters will especially appreciate the opening track, "Galuppi Baldessari," in which the lyrics in one section call out the chord changes:

with the minor third so bitter
six chord like a sigh
suspension, solution
asking must we die, must we die, must we die
and the seventh says, well, fellas
life might not last, but we can try

In case you're wondering--I know I was--Baldessare was an 18th-century Venetian composer celebrated in Robert Browning's poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's"...which Delmhorst adapted for this song. If that all sounds high-brow and heavy, the song itself is anything but.

More about Kris Delmhorst and the CD here.