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11 years ago, I dreamt that I was completely distraught & running hard when I reached the end of a dock, teetered precariously there, regained my balance & avoided a fall into turbulent water. I began running back along my prior path when a “Woman in White” appeared in a field of deep green. She comforted me with her smile & a glowing light that warmed me before I woke. 2 or 3 weeks later, my artist friend, Judi Puiia, gifted me with the painting that graces the front panel of this CD. I had not shared my dream with her… spooky cool that she painted me at peace at the end of a dock.

Fast forward to May 24, 2020… I had been solo quarantining for 10 weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All my live shows had been canceled, I had no income, people were dying & all over the world we were reshaping our lives to adjust to this crisis. I was physically healthy, but I was desperately lonely. I felt an overwhelming need to have myself a good cry. I was at the end of a dock on Moosehead Lake in northern Maine when I became a blubbering idiot. I lost my balance, fell into the frigid lake & injured my left leg pulling myself to shore.

The song “Will It Ever Be the Same” just poured out of me 2 days after a stay at the hospital where they put 20 stitches in my leg. The fact that I didn’t die of hypothermia or drowning is not lost on me. I believe I survived this near-death experience for a reason. I have more music to share, more life to live & more lessons to learn. I felt a definitive pull to get back into the studio for the first time in 18 years. (I released a LIVE album in 2005, but my last studio album was Big Water in 2002. Funny how I am continually drawn to water!)

These 12 songs all connect in some way & speak, at least to me, about love, loss, transition, hope, social distance & the need to find closeness. Can our lives ever be the same after COVID-19? Probably not. But they can be better. We have an opportunity to come out of this thing much stronger & more focused on what is really important. Maybe it takes a pandemic or a fall off a dock for us to dig down deep & find the best in ourselves. That painting of me at peace at the end of the dock? I’m not there yet. But that’s where I’m headed. Meanwhile, I’m “Between the Rungs” but I am dancing.

From Keith Smith’s review of “Will It Ever Be the Same” at AmeicanaHighways.org: 

“With this intensely personal latest release from Clark not only has she validated that there was a reason to continue her artistic journey but, that the world is a much better place with her music, humor, compassion, and insight not only into her world, but ours.”  

Link to Full Review: https://americanahighways.org/2021/08/23/review-anni-clark-will-it-ever-be-the-same/