I read a short portion of LeRoi Jones' liner notes to a 1963 John Coltrane record. For more combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org
I perform British poet Charlotte Mew's poem for the American Memorial Day with music. For more about this and many other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
Ralph Waldo Emerson's playful fable about different talents performed in front of a rock band. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
Robert Frost's well-loved poem performed with mountain dulcimer, tampura, harmonium and drums. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music, visit frankhudson.org
Carl Sandburg's moving poem of praise to lasting love performed accompanied by an unusual arrangement for keyboard instruments and strings. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org
Robert Frost's darkest poem is still held in the tightly controlled form of a terza rima sonnet. Performed here with just electric guitar and voice. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
Combining writing from Thoreau, Michael McClure, and Whitman with a small orchestral piece. For more about this an it's connection to Blake and Ginsberg, visit frankhudson.org
A morning song about awaking and birdsong performed with woozy Mellotron, piano and acoustic guitar. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music go to frankhudson.org
Emily Dickinson wrote a sublime poem in praise of springtime, here performed with a indie rock trio. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
An early poem of Robert Frost recast into an folk song with acoustic guitar, piano, and contrabass. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
The final section of Robert Herrick's 17th century May Day poem played like a Vee-Jay blues record circa 1960. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
To conclude our celebration of National Poetry Month, my performance of a musical tribute to three inspired poets. For more about his and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org
For the past 4 years the Parlando Project has been performing a section of T. E. Eliot's "The Waste Land" with original music for National Poetry Month. Here's this year's section. For more about this and the Parlando Project, go to frankhudson.org
In honor a Record Store Day that won't happen, here's a piece about remembering record stores of The Sixties and asking if my aging generation still has left something else to remember, something undone. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org
It's Shakespeare's birthday and National Poetry Month, so here's one of his sonnets, a particularly bitter one in a small orchestral setting. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music, visit frankhudson.org
Bob Dylan released a new song during National Poetry Month called "I Contain Multitudes." People picked up on the William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe references, but too many missed the reference to America's first punk rock poet: Walt Whitman. Let me fix that with this performance of the last part of Whitman's "Song of Myself." For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
W. B. Yeats' poem seems to be about aged regret, even though it was written when he was in his 20s. Doesn't matter-still lovely. I perform it with acoustic guitar and piano for National Poetry Month today. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
Wallace Stevens' contrasting nighttime reveries performed by a piano trio for National Poetry Month. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
Claude McKay's wrote a lovely lyric about experiencing Easter as a non-believer, and I performed it today. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music, visit frankhudson.org
Sara Teasdale wrote in this unusual form: a premature self-elegy. I preform it with a short orchestral instrument lament and acoustic guitar while thinking of those that have succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org
Sara Teasdale's extraordinarily compressed expression of aloneness and infinity performed for #NPM2020. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org
An LP-side-long musical performance of the largest section of the Modernist poetic landmark presenting a bleak look at love and sex. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music, visit frankhudson.org
Wordsworth wrote this joyous ode to the beginning of spring--but what if it was performed with driving slide guitar? For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org for our celebration of National Poetry Month #NPM2020
Keats song of almost and not interrogates art and beauty. His poem speaks of "unheard music," but in my performance I eventually allow music to intrude. For more about this and other combinations of various words with original music visit frankhudson.org
For this World Poetry Day, Emily Dickinson practices social distancing and shelters in place. For more about this and other combinations of various words and original music visit frankhudson.org