Rebecca Nelson

Do Not Lament is not an order or a rule, but a gentle reminder. I felt myself drawn into a state of lamentation many times in the course of creating this album. Grief over my own personal tragedies was compounded by the tragedies of countless others as a global pandemic raged and the world seemed to spiral out of control. Despair was a natural reaction and sometimes I needed to wade into it. Do Not Lament is a reminder to seek the shore. This is an album of consolation, highlighting the beauty in joy, in sadness, and most of all in the moments when joy and sadness intersect. 

Musically the album draws heavily from baroque and bluegrass traditions. These styles are at the peak of their powers when telling compelling stories; the former through rhetoric, the latter through more literal narrative. Do Not Lament tells stories with a bit of both. It features baroque violin, viola da gamba, theorbo and harpsichord; baroque instrumentation that despite being removed from the bluegrass era by centuries, shares a vitality that is complementary and universal. I hope that listeners hearing these instruments for the first time ever or for the first time in this new context will be inspired to dive further into their sound world just as I have. -RN