"I envisioned my first commercial recordings of original music as a cross-section, a retrospective, of all my adult repertoire: thirty years of exploration crossing genres and cultures. So I picked compositions from my catalog with an eye for diversity, carefully selecting examples that would reflect all facets and influences. But I couldn't imagine forcing the rock tunes and fractured post-punk instrumentals onto the same album with the mostly acoustic folk and African-influenced songs. So I accumulated a list and split it down the middle into two albums.

"The title Promised Land comes from the song Moses of Indiana and resonates with the spiritual side of my music and my yearning for roots in the earth throughout the long migration of my life."

Online release November 3, 2010

Track notes & lyrics:

You Come From the Lake

Afternoon at the Cave

Country Dancer

Beautiful Penguins

Tiare's Theme

Black Water

Moses of Indiana

Love Chant

Contact Zone

Copyright © 2010-2011 Max Carmichael

"At first I couldn't categorize this music. I like it, and some tracks I absolutely love, but I was hard pressed to say what kind of music it was. True, music doesn't have to have a category, but putting things in some form of order, giving them a label, is just something we humans do, and thus my conundrum. Then it struck me: for me, this is folk music. But not your parent's folk music. This is the folk music of our times, of today and just last week. Given how small the world is today, you'll find tracks reminiscent of distant lands, but there is also a sense of how important connections and community are in our world. A sense of longing and love of friendship and connection. Buy the CD, play it, then play it again while you're doing something else, like cooking or driving, and you'll find yourself singing along without even knowing - and in that sense we'll all be connected to the promised land."

Le Capitaine, Amazon.com

"Meaningful. honest. creative. offering ideas. real."

Norman Salant

"This is the work of an artist, not just a musician. Humble and real, Max Carmichael’s songs ring true all that is natural and fundamental in our lives. There are samplings of all sorts of historical and cultural references to remind us in a contemporary way where we came from. The album’s complex and varying rhythms speak simply to our soul. This album is timeless."

Leitning, iTunes