Bob Zentz releases "Horizons" CD

Long-anticipated studio album to be released on Folk-Legacy Records; CD to be supported by Midwest, West Coast tours

December 18, 2009 -- The long-awaited new studio CD by Bob Zentz featuring all-new material will ring in the New Year on January 1, 2010, marking his return to the legendary record label that released his first two albums in the 1970s.

"Horizons" is a collection of fourteen songs written, arranged, or set to music by Zentz over the past forty years, some of which have been extensively covered by other artists yet have never appeared on one of his own albums.

"'Horizons' is more than just a song inspired from my earliest childhood visits to the shores of Chesapeake Bay," says Zentz. "The sense of horizon inhabits my work, my life and this collection."

The CD will appear on Folk-Legacy Records, the label founded by Sandy and Caroline Paton that has produced music by some of the world's best-known folk artists, and which released Bob's first two albums: Mirrors and Changes (1974), lauded by Johnny Cash as "one of the finest works I've heard by any artist," and Beaucatcher Farewell (1979), whose title track has become a folk instrumental standard.

Among the new CD's highlights:

- Two classics that have already been widely covered by other artists – the title track, "Horizons," recorded with long-time friend and performance-collaborator Gordon Bok, and "The End of Another Year," written for the inaugural "First Night" celebration in Bob's hometown of Norfolk VA

- A number of iconic songs about Bob's native state of Virginia, including his reworking of the state song emeritus, "Ol' Virginia," and tribute songs to the "Schooner Virginia," the battle of the "Ironclads" in Hampton Roads, Norfolk firefighter "Captain Charley" Harrison, and the legendary Eastern Shore banjo man "Ol' Sud Bell"

- Two tracks – "Few Days" and "Where Does It Go When It's Gone" – with daughter Skye Zentz, an exciting new singer-songwriter in her own right making her first appearance on a Bob Zentz album since her pre-school debut

- The latest of Bob's settings of nautical poetry to music: "Trade Winds (aka A Nautical Extravaganza)," showcasing Wallace Irwin's whimsical work of the same name, and "A Lifeboat Song," an anonymous treasure unearthed in a used book store

- Two songs about the folk-music tradition: "Fret and File," telling the story of Bob's use of "the wood that makes the wood that sets the music free," and "Time to Go Now," destined to be a closing song for many a set to come

The CD's dramatic cover photography was taken on the shores of Norfolk's Willoughby Spit by master photographer Jerry W. Kelley; the cover photograph captures Bob at the moment of composing the sole instrumental to appear on the new CD, "Willoughby Sunrise."

The new CD will also be supported by Bob's annual tours of the Midwest and West Coast, scheduled for December 2009-January 2010.

A CD release party is scheduled for late January in Bob's hometown of Norfolk VA -- watch the web site for details. Pre-release events will be held during January in Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland OR and Seattle.

Lyrics/chords, mp3 clips, and bonus liner notes are available at: http://www.bobzentz.com/horizons.htm

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For five decades, Bob Zentz has been at the heart of the Hampton Roads traditional music scene. The Norfolk native performs internationally yet still lives and plays in his hometown, and is active in nurturing the next generation of traditional music performers, in the belief that the future of our world depends upon our youth, and music. Information about Bob's music, life, friends, performances, and programs for all ages – elementary school to elders – is available at www.bobzentz.com

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