Since I left New York City in 1988 for pastoral Amherst, Massachusetts, I’ve been concentrating on teaching music and raising my daughters with my wife, author Lisa Kleinholz (www.kleinholz.com).  But a series of events convinced me that I should get back to recording and touring.  First, in 2000, the Grammy-nominated The Best of Broadside came out, with my song “Vietnam” right after Pete Seeger’s “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.”  The next year I was asked and happily agreed to record “While I’m Here” for The Best of Bob Blue. Then, in 2002, my song “King of Hearts” was released on Fast Folk-a Community of Singers & Songwriters.  After all this, I felt I had to put down on a Cd the songs I’ve been brewing since 1985’s King of Hearts-Live at Speakeasy.

So, I went into the studio and came out with 64 minutes of music that I hope you will like as much as I do.  Helping me were some of the Pioneer Valley’s best musicians, including Rico Spence on bass, Chris Haynes on keyboard and accordion, Doug Plavin on percussion, Bruce Krasin on flute and Van Kaynor on fiddle.

I was also honored to be joined by the next generation of musicians: cellist Jamie Schlessinger and vocalists Asia Seager and Sianna Plavin, all three former guitar students of mine.

But, best of all, I got to record with my teenaged daughters Brittany (violin) and Siena (viola).  They’ve come a long way since they had me doling out M&Ms as rewards for practicing “Twinkle Twinkle.”  You can hear them both on “As Through This World I Go.”

In fact, you can hear samples of all the songs by following this link.  So, have a listen, have a look, and tell the world: Paul Kaplan is back!