New Album! - 'StoryBook Soundscapes'

Friends, I'm so excited to announce my newest recording, STORYBOOK SOUNDSCAPES! For a very long time, I've wanted to write grand and enchanting compositions for full symphony orchestra and piano, and that time has finally arrived!

When I was a kid, summer was the time for adventure. From daring feats of bravery and renown, to quests seeking lost treasures in far off lands, summer was the time for entering into the world of story. Sometimes my siblings and I would be noble knights jousting with pool noodles, and other times we would be daring explorers venturing into the deepest, darkest jungles at the far end of my grandmother's 200 acre ranch. Then there were those 'inside' days, stretched out in a window seat on a rainy afternoon, when Robert Louis Stevenson, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, Brian Jaques, and countless other authors would cast me forth on the seas of a rollicking tale. Always accompanying these stories were the soaring harmonies of movie soundtracks and great classical works, soundscapes that underscored all my growing imagination.

As an adult, getting to work as a composer for movies was a dream-come-true, that allowed me begin to learn the craft of setting music to stories and tales. I got to collaborate with the storytellers themselves, and together we created new stories for the world to enjoy.

Now, after many years, it feels like I'm coming full circle to get to write STORYBOOK SOUNDSCAPES. Each of these compositions are drawn from the joyful remembrance of many summer days of galavanting adventurously into the world of imagination, combined with all the many tricks of the trade that I learned in film music, and set to the anthemic sound of full symphony orchestra and piano. This album is the perfect accompaniment to all your summer adventures, from reading, to roadtripping, to hiking and writing and anything else that keeps you busy in the coming months. I hope that it gives you inspiration for your imagination, delights your soul, and draws you into the enchantment of a storybook summer. 

Stay tuned for more information soon, and in the meantime, please do follow me on Instagram (www.instagram.com/joel.i.clarkson) and also on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/joelclarksonmusic), to see the photo narrative of all my summer adventures!