Each One’s Different Like a Work of Art – Michael Stern

“Each One’s Different Like a Work of Art” – By Michael Stern – is just what you’d expect from the title: a uniquely original work of art. It’s a beautifully arranged & disarmingly genuine collection of music about peace & diversity (plus some very tender new love songs) which alternate between Michael’s originals & a few great cover songs like Peace Train (by Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens) & You’ve Got a Friend (by Carole King).

Accompanists include Michael’s nephew Jesse Stern on bass, singers Betsy Rose, William Limbach & others, Grammy nominated pianist David Lanz, & mandolin player Jacob Jolliff. And it’s clear from the first to the very last song why Jolliff was named the National Mandolin Champion of 2012.

Every one of Stern’s gifted collaborators contribute to a wonderful mosaic of folk, jazz, gospel, R&R, & bluegrass music. The bilingually narrated ballad Michael wrote for Hiroshima, “As If the Flowers Knew” is perhaps the most haunting & poetic of this new CD. Steve Leeper, the chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation described it as “an inspired piece of musical artistry.”