Singer-Songwriter Liz Kennedy Releases New Single And Music Video 'Hike Up Your Socks'

"Hike Up Your Socks", The new video from Singer-songwriter Liz Kennedy is a love letter to Telegraph Hill, historic North Beach, and San Francisco in general. In the video, Kennedy presents herself as a woman enchanted by her surroundings and deeply invested in her neighborhood, and the message of her clip is clear: a life well lived, she argues, is one that's deeply rooted in the local community.

Kennedy's late husband was a good citizen and a good neighbor, and "Hike Up Your Socks" was, in part, inspired by his passion for North Beach and the many relationships he'd cultivated while living there. But it's also a powerful reaffirmation of something that fans of Liz Kennedy already know: the artist is a genuine San Francisco resident and a carrier of her city's storied folk tradition. Since the 1960s, the Californian style of folk has foregrounded idiosyncratic perspectives, wry personal narratives, engaging characters, good humor, flashes of insight, and above all, camaraderie with other artists - and arguably, nobody's been truer to that communitarian project than Liz Kennedy has. Her five albums are textbook examples of winning San Francisco folk, and "Hike Up Your Socks" radiates local pride. The witty lyrics namecheck area landmarks (Mario's Bohemian Cigars and Stella's Pastry if you're following along in your guidebook), extols the benefits of pedestrianism, and encourages you to greet passersby with the warmth of a good ambassador. Because, really, why wouldn't you?

Director, Eric Peltier's clip for "Hike Up Your Socks" follows Liz Kennedy - on foot, naturally - from the stone stairs and landings of Telegraph Hill to Washington Square to the independent shops on Columbus Avenue. Some of the landmarks, like the Transamerica Pyramid, the Powell and Market cable car, and the City Lights Bookshop, are internationally recognized symbols of the Bay Area that happen to be right there in the singer's backyard. Yet the video also immerses the viewer in North Beach, the oldest Italian American neighborhood in the city, and its quotidian sights: restaurants, pastry shops, churches and parks, locals walking dogs and taking in the sunshine. Most of all, it shows Liz Kennedy interacting with her friends and neighbors - smiling, talking, joking, living a life in full in a place as wondrous as San Francisco.

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