Ordinary Elephant Unveils New Song and Video 'Jenny & James'

Ordinary Elephant, whose forthcoming LP Honest is due out May 3rd via Berkalin Records, has unveiled another powerful track and accompanying video--this week, For Folk's Sake premiered "Jenny & James," a song from their forthcoming new LP Honest, the story of an interracial couple who struggle to maintain their relationship in a region where it is considered taboo. "If you're looking for one word to sum up the music of Ordinary Elephant, the title of their new album will do you," said For Folk's Sake. "Honest. Honest in its tradition, honest in its sentiment, honest in its sound. 'Jenny & James' fits right in as it pays tribute to an interracial couple who fought back against hatred and discrimination to stay true to their feelings for one another. This is a song about love, sung with love." "Love can enable people to overcome boundaries arbitrarily set by others," Ordinary Elephant explained. "We can learn from their strength." The moral of the story? Love wins.

Watch the video!

"Jenny & James" follows the release of "The War," a song inspired by a moving experience at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC, when the band considered those whose names weren't on the wall, the survivors who have struggled and continue to grapple with the after-effects of combat, and "Scars We Keep," about coming to terms with being raised in an area historically entrenched in racism, refusing to be bound by that, and instead, approaching the world with love and acceptance.

Recorded in Nashville and produced by Neilson Hubbard, the album's eleven tracks explore pressing beyond the confines of others' expectations and pursuing a wholehearted and authentic life. The duo, who won the 2017 International Folk Music Association's Artist of the Year Award, sing of hardship rimmed with hope, facing difficult truths, and pursuing what you love, no matter what others think. Ordinary Elephant uses their art to remind themselves and show us all that we as humans are capable of being bigger than our environments, and that cycles can be broken.

Ordinary Elephant, comprised of Crystal and Pete Damore, set aside the work they'd done previously, as a veterinary cardiologist and a computer programmer, respectively, in order to focus on making music. Several years ago, they threw all caution to the wind and hit the road in their van and travel trailer. In song after song, the Damores take on what it means to follow your heart and eschew all the expectations, assumptions, and limitations projected upon you by others. They also use their own life experience to point out that the "safe" route can be anything but safe. "I had a safe job and was on a safe life trajectory, financially," Crystal says, "but those things were like a safety rail you reach for - a habit, a comfortable familiarity... something you're expected to reach for. I was letting those things hold me up instead of learning to stand on my own."

With Ordinary Elephant, it's always about telling the story in the truest, kindest way. "You will wonder if it's worth the weight, the worry that wears you down. Half your life spent figuring out how to make the other half count," they sing. Honest is worth so much more than its weight, and Ordinary Elephant makes every kind word count. "That is why we do this," they agree. "Songs speak, and they can heal."

Oridinary Elephant will embark on a string of tour dates throughout the US and Australia this Spring, see below for more information. "The War" will be available for digital streaming on April 5th. Honest is available for pre-order at iTunes, Bandcamp, and at their website.

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