"There Beneath the Stars" - Album Release! - Pagan Song: Music for Your Magic

The beginning of June is so very beautiful.

The greening is almost complete, most gardens are planted and if you are far enough south, maybe even a few things have been harvested.

Being in Northeast Ohio….my gardens have been, for the most part, planted….

Also…I have just finished my 12^th solo album There Beneath the Stars. A different kind of garden.

I tracked these songs in Cleveland and Bay Village, Ohio and Henderson North Carolina. Mixing and mastering with Jay Bentoff at Dark Tree Studios in Cleveland, all online.

A few of these songs had been planned for earlier albums, but as always, I just had too many songs….

Every song on this new album except for Roses Tangled in Ivy and Forevermore are just one acoustic guitar and one lead vocal.

Roses Tangled in Ivy includes a harmony added by Mama Gina Lamonte. Forevermore is one guitar, one lead vocal and over 40 harmony vocal tracks from Alexander James Adams, Vicki Scotti, Helen Avakian, Theresa Bentley, Eddy Sky and Sinann Patricia.

I had to whittle the album down to 12 songs which leaves more than enough for another album too….

Forevermore

Forevermore is the last song on the album.

It’s also the finale song for the musical I’m writing with Byron Ballard.

Here we are, forevermore we are the light
That shines between the stars so bright
We shine

Here we are, forevermore we are the song
That tells the story of our lives
Between the darkness and the light
We shine

And if we pass this way again
I will know you as a friend
And we will share the story
Of love without an end…forevermore

Here we are, another moment and it’s gone
Passing by us like the wind
To start again the end begins
A light that never, ever dims

And if we pass this way again
I will know you as a friend
And we will share the story
Of love without and end
The circle never ends…forevermore

And if we pass this way again
I will know you as a friend
and we will share the story
of love without an end
the circle never ends
the story never ends…forevermore…..
“Forevermore” (c) 2024 by Brian Henke, from the album “There Beneath the Stars”

There Beneath the Stars

I wrote Kisses Remember at a festival July 2023 and it is a companion song to There Beneath the Stars…. The night before and then the morning after.

Lay me down upon the green
will see us in the dark
Misty shadows in the moonlight
We will melt into the night

(Chorus)
Lay me down, gently on the ground
Take me down to where you are
There beneath the stars

Sighing kisses in the shadows
Slowly spinning starry night
Crickets and katydids are singing
Dreams and Summer firelight(Chorus)

Promises whispered in the shadows
Dreams of castles in the sky
I can hear the distant thunder
Lightning flashing in your eyes (Chorus Twice)
“There Beneath the Stars” (c) 2024 by Brian Henke, from the album “There Beneath the Stars”

Kisses Remember

Lie with me early in the morning of a dream
Awaken with Summer wind laughing with the trees

Kisses remember
Kisses remember the dream

Sleepy day in your smile, Sun is shining down
All our clothes scattered round with your flower crown

Kisses remember the stars
Spinning around us the night before

Love is real, love is true as the Summer wind
Holding close the night before as the day begins

Kisses remember the stars
Spinning around us the night before
Kisses remember the dream
Spinning around and round
“Kisses Remember” (c) 2024 by Brian Henke, from the album “There Beneath the Stars”

At the Crossroads

The 2^nd to last song on the album is I Will Follow the Stars and includes a bit of the imagery that is also in At the Crossroads, specifically truck stop coffee…

Heaven will just have to wait
Stealing from the collection plate
You did not know the collection was for you
Breaking hearts and telling lies
Jesus was your alibi
Now you just can’t tell the lying from the truth

Chorus:
Standing at the crossroads
In the middle of your life
Strait ahead’s a hard road
And you can’t go left or right

Finally see the horizon line
But now you’re running out of time
Trying to find a different point of view
Is it all just black and white
Or shades of grey that steal your sight
Like clouds that hide the sky from you, your deepest blue
(Chorus)

Bridge:
And you can’t go back to where you were
Standing at the crossroads

The truck stop you are waiting in
Coffee’s cold, your welcome’s thin
You don’t know where to go but you’re moving on….
“At the Crossroads” (c) 2024 by Brian Henke, from the album “There Beneath the Stars”

I Will Follow the Stars

I Will Follow the Stars is the song about finally finding a direction….

Faded sign says Jesus Saves
Wild roses on your grave
I’m leaving town, I’m on my way
No reason left for me to stay

bridge:
I’ll be gone with the Sun
Deep into the night
I will follow the stars

Shadows falling from the trees
The smell of distant burning leaves
Falling Sun begins to bleed
A broken heart down on it’s knees
(bridge)

chorus:
I will follow the stars, sign posts of the light
And pray that someday they lead to you

Swirling blackness of my luck
Like truck stop coffee in my cup
This lonesome highway song
Sings on every road I’m on
(bridge, chorus twice)

Wild roses on your grave
I’m leaving town, I’m on my way
“I Will Follow the Stars” (c) 2024 by Brian Henke, from the album “There Beneath the Stars”

Starting in the middle of June I’ll be beginning my Summer touring and it does look like I will be busy.

Pagan fests confirmed so far are in order : Earth House Midsummer Gather in Blue River WI, Appalachian Summer Solstice at Wisteria in Pomeroy OH, Starwood Festival in Pomeroy OH, Sirius Rising in Sherman NY, Free Spirit Gathering in Darlington MD, Pittsburgh Witches Ball in Pittsburgh PA.

There are, of course, lots of other shows and concerts as well….

Please visit me at one or both of my Facebook pages for music and more info at

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010766799665

and

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100043052874844

To listen all 12 new songs on my new album please also visit me at ReverbNation:

For more information about Brian Henke, including his collected articles here on Pagan Song, his bio, and links to Brian’s sites on the web, check out Brian Henke’s page on Pagan Song.

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