Sarah Sample

The last time Colorado singer-songwriter Edie Carey and her Wyoming-based musical partner, Sarah Sample, recorded together the world was in quite a different state. Their first collaboration, 2014’s Independent Music Award-winning full-length ‘Til the Morning: Lullabies and Songs of Comfort, was welcomed as a warm musical hug by children and adults alike and received wide critical acclaim. 

Suffice it to say, a lot of things have happened since then, resulting in multiple full-force blows to our collective psyche.

In response, the duo elected to come together once again to record a follow up, of sorts, entitled Lantern in the Dark: Songs of Comfort and Lullabies now confirmed for release on October 18. An album of this nature may never have been so needed by so many.  The first single “In My Arms” is out today. 

“We had been hearing from our fans for years that they’d put on ‘Til The Morning every night for their kids at bedtime,” says Sample. “From folks who had been playing it in delivery rooms, in hospice care, or just for solace and comfort when they were grieving deep losses. That album’s reach and staying power was so much more than we could have imagined. It had a timelessness that we never could have anticipated.” 

The duo’s new offering, Lantern in the Dark, combines originals like their first-ever co-write “In My Arms," Sample’s “Shine," and Carey’s “All the Ways You Comfort Me," and “Heaven Now” — with standards (or should-be standards) like the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love,” James Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes,” and Wilco’s “My Darling.” 

On the album the pair are backed by a large collection of musicians including producer and engineer Scott Wiley (bass, guitar, pump organ, banjo, drum programming), Mai Bloomfield (cello, background vocals), Paul Jacobsen (acoustic & electric guitar), Dustin Christensen (acoustic guitar), Aaron Anderson (percussion & drums), Ryan Shupe (fiddle), Sam Cardon (piano), and Maren Gayle (keyboard). 

Across this 12-song collection, the seasoned singer-songwriters address the dual surreality of both giving life and losing it, and they navigate rarefied territory, yielding a collection of masterfully-written, emotive originals and novel, openhearted approaches to songs from the canon. These songs will just as easily soothe a child into sleep as they will provide solace for a grieving heart, at any age.