Verses is the European version of Verse by Verse, the 8th album by internationally-acclaimed musician and artist Caroline Herring, originally a 22-song musical meditation for our toxic, divisive times. "I started out trying to write an album in response to the Trump moment," Herring says, "something in the great tradition of protest and political songs of the American folk tradition." But nothing came to her. The unending ugliness, the continual outrage on social media, the increasing violence, the 24-hour news cycle - it was impossible for her to find any meaning in it. Herring turned instead to another tradition, one rooted in the ancient texts of the Psalms and the Christian Gospels. Selecting passages full of wisdom, longing, and love, she set the words alongside simple, haunting melodies designed to be sung in community. Working with Nashville engineer Shani Gandhi and guitarist Steven Sheehan, she recorded the songs over three days in the former home studio of Allison Krauss. She returned several months later for more recording, this time to Zac Brown's Southern Ground Studios, with her harmonizing children in tow. "This project is my art offering to these times," says Herring. Verse by Verse/Verses is a statement of Herring's belief in the mysterious power of ancient texts to give insight, comfort and strength in times of trouble.
