So many people have been turning to Craig Hella Johnson’s arrangement of “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” as we grieve Dolly Parton’s passing. Craig’s arrangement premiered on Company of Voices, which first aired on PBS in 2008 and was released as an album. The single has been streamed 325,242 on Spotify alone.
In January, on the occasion of her 80th birthday, Dolly Parton released a new version saying, “I wrote ‘Light of a Clear Blue Morning’ during a season when I was searching for hope, and 50 years later that message still feels just as true.”
We asked Craig to share the backstory for his arrangement:
“I sensed that this program near the ending was needing a kind of secular benediction, a quiet closing.
I felt the internal nudge that if I slowed this fantastic Dolly song down and trimmed away anything extraneous to the core message, then her song revealed itself to be this deeply authentic expression of comfort, a quiet and noble anthem, rooted in shared humanity and hope.”
Conspirare’s voices were the first of thousands to perform Craig’s moving arrangement. Since its premiere, choirs around the world continue to perform Dolly’s hopeful lyrics in this arrangement. It is also available in a treble voicing.
View some of our favorite performances on YouTube:
Join us at Fresh Off the Page: New Music by Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare Christmas to experience more of Craig’s arrangements.
