Ask and you shall receive. I literally had no idea what song I was going to write about this morning. I hadn’t come across anything new this week, and the new songs I’d heard in the past month or so hadn’t really inspired me a whole lot. I thought I was going to have to do some digging to find something I wanted to write about. Then I woke up this morning and opened Facebook and literally the first thing I saw was this video posted on the Newport Folk Festival’s account.

Christopher Paul Stelling’s set at the Newport Folk Festival back in 2015 is still one of my favorite sets there ever. He blew me away, which is kind of a funny sentiment for someone who was out there by himself with an acoustic guitar for the most part. Based on the music alone I would have been enthralled, but then in probably my favorite Newport moment he proposed to his girlfriend, which I know I have written about here before. 

Julia Christgau, who I presume is now his wife since it’s been 4 years, is featured in the video for his new song “Have to Do for Now”. The song is produced by Ben Harper and has a wonderful sense of place with a real Southern feel that the video just adds to.

Here’s what Christopher Paul Stelling had to say about it:

“Have To Do For Now” is a song about September. It’s a song about memory and fear. It’s about the fear of losing memories and the relief of letting memories go. When imagination starts spinning out and we return to the center, back to the present, where everything is a bit more calm. For me this was the end of something and the beginning of something entirely new. This beautiful video directed by Andrew Anderson captures my vision in a way I still can’t believe.

It’s a beautiful song, and it feels right that it just dropped in my lap at the perfect moment.