Spiky Shell - Grand Hotel Garden Recording by Claire Bates Music

When I lived in Watsonville, CA, in part of 2018, I wrote this song inspired by teenage men there. I met one wearing a literally spiked backpack. With underpaid farm work and criminal activity the future options immediately available to them, what options of dignity, openness, and freedom could these men access?

I experienced a lot of vulnerability while living in CA, compared to what I've usually experienced in my life, so this song speaks for me as well.

This recording was completed in the beautiful, buggy secret garden of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island once I had returned to Michigan. Michigan is an environment I find more restful, and I was regaining a sense of having a safe and predictable home. But inequality is pervasive and work is not done. To learn more about the Grand Hotel Garden Recordings, please visit this blog post: https://clairebatesmusic.com/2019/07/21/what-are-the-grand-hotel-garden-recordings/.