Wildfires, floods, quarantine and isolation, protests, riots, degrading national discourse and raising children who are coming into awareness of these issues all influenced Jon Chi as he wrote the words and music to his 3rd solo album, River of Marigolds.
He’s answering this question with the help of an all-star ensemble of musicians, including Dave Schools (bass), Dave Zirbel (pedal steel), Jeremy Feinstein (keyboard), Jeremy Hoenig (drums), Mike Emerson (keyboard, harmony vocals), John-Paul McLean (bass, harmony vocals), Ian “Inxk” Herman (drums), Mingo Lewis Jr. (percussion), Rob Hooper (drums), Ryan Scott (trumpet), Steve Pile (harmony vocal).
During these times of isolation, many people have found their sense of community strengthened and in the San Francisco Bay Area-based Chi was no exception. While incredible venues like Terrapin Crossroads (Chi was a regular there) were forced to close, Chi notes “I’m super lucky to have a slew of amazing musicians in my community. A lot of that formed at Terrapin. I met a lot of incredible players there. I have a much deeper appreciation every time I rehearse with them, or go to a recording session, and definitely every time we perform. The music community that bonded at Terrapin has been amazingly supportive during these past couple of years. They’ve really gone out of their way to show support for musicians which has been incredibly heartening. The venue is gone, but the community it created lives on.”