[Cover photo credit to Fairlight Hubbard]
Jessie Baylin has announced a Deluxe Edition of Strawberry Wind, an album Baylin made “to create an honest album for kids and parents alike.” With four new tracks added (three on the vinyl edition), lyrical themes include “dream life, supermoons, and summertime vibes.” The new edition arrives on May 31, 2024. Some of the songs also share some more sobering ideas.
Baylin says:
I don’t want to lie to my kids. Life can be hard sometimes and you need to find a way to deal with it. There will always be things in life you can’t control, but you can dream of a better world and make your own refuge. I wanted it to feel magical and remind people of the child inside of all of us that is filled with a sense of wonder, pure joy, and hope.
Having released five albums in the past, Baylin says the seed was planted for this album after recording a cover of Harry Nilsson’s “He Needs Me” from the kids’ film Popeye, released via Amazon Music’s original “Acoustics” playlist.
This led to her creating Strawberry Wind as an original and exclusive album for Amazon, released in 2018.
She explains:
Since becoming a mother, I found myself being around the house a lot, and I started gravitating to these wonderful albums I remembered from my own childhood — The Beatles, Harry Nilsson’s The Point!, John Lennon, Roger Miller’s Robin Hood, and Carole King’s Really Rosie. They’re all grounded in solid songwriting and were never dumbed down for the audience.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, Baylin recorded a new album, Jersey Girl, with Grammy winning producers/writers/musicians Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour). The record was released in September 2022.
In addition to the four new tracks on the album, and as part of the Deluxe Edition, Strawberry Wind (a short film) will be available for streaming on YouTube on May 10, 2024. The short film is inspired by five songs from Baylin’s album.
Created by award-winning animator Steven Mertens, it tells the story of a little girl, inspired by Baylin’s daughter, who goes to sleep, only to go on a grand adventure in a cosmic dream world.
