Ears Wide Open: Kid Lighting

Kevin Bronson on July 15th, 2020

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Folk singer, activist and adventurer Will Munroe works under the name Kid Lightning. And suffice to say lightning has struck with his debut single “End of the Empire,” a song that abides the rich tradition of truth-telling troubadours throughout history.

From the first verse, Kid Lightning places himself at center of today’s political zeitgeist: “I’m a kid from the turn of the century / predisposed to addiction and fantasy / been handed a world without tact or fact / been handed a burden that I can’t hand back …”

It’s the first single from the songwriter’s forthcoming album, “Kid Lighting,” and features sublime harmonies from fellow L.A. singer-songwriter Brenda Carsey, who also co-produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the album.

Munroe says the album “aspires to articulate the responsibilities and principles that need to be upheld by a generation in order to usher in an age of empathy.” While that may seem a pipe dream given the onslaught of daily news, songs such as this have provided the spark before.

Among Munroe’s exploits prior to launching the Kid Lightning project was his quest to play improvised music in as many national parks and monuments as possible — and, yes, that involved lugging along a baby grand piano. Northern Arizona public radio caught up with him at the Grand Canyon, and he’s done Death Valley and Joshua Tree, too. Watch Munroe and Carsey at the Grand Canyon here.

||| Stream: “End of the Empire”