Screenshot of 30 Louisville musicians performing “Lift Up Louisville.” Louisville Orchestra Music Director Teddy Abrams is pictured at the piano in the second row, second from right.
“Soon after Louisville, Kentucky shut down in response to the global pandemic, Teddy Abrams, the conductor of the Louisville Orchestra, was asked by the city’s mayor to create a song that would emphasize its strengths,” reports Christopher Booker in Sunday’s (4/26) PBS Newshour. “The end result, ‘Lift Up Louisville,’ is a creation that involves an impressive collaboration of artists…. Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher [told Abrams] ‘he wanted a Louisville song … that shows off the talent of our city and the diversity of our city and really has a positive message because we need it right now,’ Abrams says.… Abrams sent [a] piano track to an eclectic mix of 29 Louisville musicians: members of the orchestra, bluegrass fiddle players, a beat boxer and rock musicians to work on the music…. An equally diverse group got to work on the lyrics: Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Scott Carney of the band Wax Fang, rapper Jecorey 1200 Arthur and Will Oldham, also known as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.… The musicians composed and recorded their parts from home sending a file to Abrams co-producer Ben Sollee, who put together the full track. After that, they all recorded videos, which were then assembled into one complete performance.”
