“LARGO” and “STRAYED” written by Bill Rieflin & Chris Connelly
“THE CALL GIRLS” and “LARGO’S PRAYER” written by Chris Connelly
As you probably know, when Bill passed two years ago, we were in lockdown. We could not visit him, we could not mourn with each other, it was downright miserable for all involved. Since then, at any of Bill’s anniversaries, it has been a real pleasure for me and others to do something to honour him, and at the same time, raise money for the clinic that worked so hard to make his remaining time as comfortable as possible.
This year, I have recorded three songs from the album LARGO and I also wrote a new song for my beloved friend. I’m not going to lie: Bill was with me when I did this - in my dreams, helping with chord decisions… he even got me up at 1 am one morning to figure out a new chord sequence for “The Call Girls”. The mood of these four songs is decidedly funereal, processional, modeled after the original “Largo” song, based around a metronome…
The song “Largo” here was arranged for autoharp, which is the centre of the piece in its re-recorded form. The autoharp belonged to Bill, and now it is in my studio, adored and doted on by its new adoptive father.
All proceeds from this special release will be donated to the Floyd & Delores Jones Cancer Institute at the Virginia Mason Foundation. In the past two years, CC fans have donated over $2000 to this worthy cause.
PLEASE NOTE: If you wish to make your own tax-deductible donation, please visit
connect.virginiamasonfoundation.org/donate -- contact us with your receipt and we will give you free download codes for THREE releases including LARGO 22, Prayer (released last year), and your choice of any other CC digital-only release.