A heartfelt new single from San Francisco-based artist Patrick Costello, “You Can’t Ask the Wind Not to Blow” embraces a timeless bluegrass inspiration in its riveting sound — melding impactful strings and twangy guitars amidst a memorable vocal presence, showing both longing adoration and mourning. The track is a tribute to Costello’s loving wife of 20 years, Erica Ziegler, who passed away only two months following a cancer diagnosis.
“The process of writing, recording and producing this precious song has been incredibly cathartic for me, and my heart goes out to anyone and anyone who has lost a loved one to the inexplicable cruelty of cancer,” Costello says.
Erica loved bluegrass music — and Costello fully embraces that styling within the track, which also features Erica’s favorite bluegrass musician, Mike Witcher, in addition to a cast of talented players — Chad Manning on fiddle, Mark Schatz on acoustic bass, Jesse Appleman on mandolin, and Tom Finch on 12 and 6-string guitar.
Plucky guitars and solemn strings ease in as Costello’s vocals flow with clear adoration: “She lit my heart on fire 20 years ago, where the time went, I don’t know.” His touching vocals continue: “I never loved someone so much, but now I know, you can’t ask the wind not to blow.” The gorgeous folk and bluegrass production plays with tender, melodic charm, as the lyrics ruminate on Erica’s loving impact, and also the fleeting nature of time and mortality — capturing the tragic imminence of life and death via the title-touting refrain. “You Can’t Ask the Wind Not to Blow” is a stirring showcase in introspective songwriting and love-filled emotion from Costello.
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The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Indie Folk.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
