Local musician launches new album with Edmund Fitzgerald tribute

Local artist Jerry Popiel has released a brand new album, titled Interstellar Interstate. A completely solo effort, all instruments and tracks were performed, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie in Avon Lake, Ohio. With a "spacey" cover photo by Will Popiel, the album is available at https://jerrypopiel.bandcamp.c... and all streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon and many more.

The album kicks off with the eponymous Interstellar Interstate, a no-holds-barred celestial road trip song. Hard driving rhythms, open road guitars and adventurous wah-wah make it a hot 21st century highway companion. In urgent pursuit of the opener, Say a Prayer is a galaxy-sized, atmospheric rock song that says we hope the worst is behind us and the best is yet to come.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is perhaps the album’s centerpiece. November 10, 2020 marks the 45th anniversary of the ship’s sinking on Lake Superior. Jerry’s version of Gordon Lightfoot’s perfect classic is a fitting tribute, true to the folk-tinged original with haunting, interstellar rock updates.

Picture Me Gone is thoughtful look to the sky about what is beyond. Dead End Dreaming is a rocking trip to daydream land. Soaring harmonies, powerful guitars and a ripping lead send this one into the stratosphere and beyond. A Distant June, with its funky guitars, Motown-inflected bass and groove is a melancholic look back to a time when it wasn’t quite clear what life would eventually hold for the singer.

I Would Not Die in Springtime is the oldest song on the album. Written in 1850 by the 19th century father of American folk music, Stephen Foster, this gorgeous, little-known song is brought back to life with a light acoustic treatment.

Today’s the Day says it’s time to leave inferior ways behind and try for something better. Leaving Ohio is a folk-rock song about a good friend who left us all too soon. Not Everybody Knows, the album’s closer, notes that people can carry hurt inside them for a very long time.

Stream it now at https://itunes.apple.com/us/ar... and see more at www.jerrypopiel.com. Check out a video of A Distant June at