The story behind the God's Cricket Chorus recording is that it contains two tracks:
1) the sound of the
crickets slowed down to match and mirror the length of the average lifespan of a human being
2) the natural sound of crickets chirping.
The angelic chorus you hear accompanying the sound of the crickets is NOT a synthesizer or a human voiced chorus singing. It's the crickets themselves slowed down which creates the effect.
"The Ballad of Twisted Hair" is also on Robbie Robertson: Music For Native Americans, and this features the cricket chorus, Native American Sioux opera singer Bonnie Jo Hunt's voice with Robbie Robertson etc to create the final mixed produced ballad.
Listen to Bonnie Jo Hunt on "Earth Song" National Public Radio Interview about singing with crickets for Jim Wilson and Robbie Robertson (April 2004)
Article from Hearing Voices: Bonnie Jo Hunt, A Sioux Singer Layers opera over insects (Broadcast Nov 2004)
Audio recording of crickets and Native American singing with music
Listen/purchase "Ballad of Twisted Hair"
About Jim Wilson
(Brief intro) Jim Wilson was born in the state of Oklahoma, of Choctow and Irish descent, in the month of August 1946. Childhood years were mostly spent in the small towns of west Texas and southern Oklahoma. At the behest of his grandmother, who was very active in Native American issues throughout the 1900's, Jim moved after graduating from high school in Richardson Texas, to Lame Deer Montana. He worked with the Northern Cheyenne Tribal council on projects to create and expand employment opportunities for the Cheyenne people. During this time he was gifted a great number friendships and experiences with tribal elders and the medicine men of this area. In later years, this experience became an invaluable source of inspiration in Jim's contemporary Native American music creations. Jim moved to Vancouver Canada in 1976. In 1992, Jim met the musician Robbie Robertson (Mohawk/Jewish), who had heard some of the "Shaman" tracks while visiting with mutual friends in Vancouver. Moving to the US, Jim and Robbie began some deep musical explorations contributing to world peace.
(Click Here for more of Jim's life-story + photos)
Tom Waits (on Jim Wilson): "Wilson, he's always playing with time. I heard a recording recently of crickets slowed way down. It sounds like a choir, it sounds like angel music. Something sparkling, celestial with full harmony and bass parts - you wouldn't believe it. It's like a sweeping chorus of heaven, and it's just slowed down, they didn't manipulate the tape at all. So I think when Wilson slows people down, it gives you a chance to watch them moving through space. And there's something to be said for slowing down the world."
July 2012 - In Memory of Jim Wilson (a friend who passed through this world) by Robbie Robertson
In Memory of Jim Wilson: Over many years, I have had the opportunity and good fortune to work with some of the great musical masters of our time. For me, working with Jim Wilson was one of the most profound and meaningful experiences of all. Jim, what a gift, what a talent, what a rhythmic soul. All the songs we wrote together were unique musical journeys, that I’m not sure either one of us fully grasped. They were almost like creations from another place and time. Like a red clay mesa in the desert, Jim just stood there until it rained. His patience and gentle heart brought music out of many native artists, that they didn’t even know they had, including myself. All of our collaborations took us to a higher place, and were mystical and bold, whether a Peyote hymn or
Ghost Dance. What an extraordinary spirit, what a beautiful person.
~ With love and blessings, Robbie Robertson
About Robbie Robertson and
Website
Robertson was born Jaime Robert Klegerman in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His mother, Rosemarie Myke Chrysler, was of predominantly Mohawk descent. His father, Alexander David Klegerman, was Jewish. His father died when he was a child, and his mother re-married to James Patrick Robertson, who adopted Robbie and whose surname Robbie had taken. He had his earliest exposure to the music legends of the
Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation (Ontario, Canada), where he spent summers with his mother's family. Robbie Robertson himself became a musical legend. He has won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. He was the primary songwriter for the critically acclaimed group "The Band", penning Americana classics like “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek”, and toured and recorded with Bob Dylan. After "The Band" bid farewell to performing in "The Last Waltz" concert, filmed by Martin Scorsese, Robertson followed his longtime fascination with film. He was a creative executive at DreamWorks, and has scored and/or been an executive music producer on a number of films. He has also acted in, written, and produced, other major motion pictures. Robertson recorded five solo albums. The fourth, the Grammy nominated "Contact from the Underworld of Redboy", inspired the one-hour PBS documentary
"Making A Noise: A Native American Journey with Robbie Robertson". Robertson’s 2013 latest release "How To Become Clairvoyant" featured collaborations with longtime friend Eric Clapton. Currently 2013/2014, Robbie is working on a new record, the music for Scorsese’s new movie, and his personal memoirs and promoting the new Oct 2013 children's book release: "Legends, Icons and Rebels: Music That Changed the World" authored by Robbie Robertson, Jim Guerinot, Sebastian Robertson, Jared Levine. Book comes with CDs and is described as: "Part memoir, part tribute, and all great storytelling.."
