Song Premiere: Jon Stickley Trio, "Take the Air"

“Take the Air,” from the Jon Stickley Trio, opens with a jaunty pop breeziness, gliding in on Hunter Deacon’s syncopations and Jon Stickley’s guitar notes swooping in and out of the snare shots. The tune eases into its flight pattern as Stickley’s fluid fingerpicking sails over his frets, establishing the riffs on which the tune takes flight, lifting the tune as it spirals into the stratosphere. About one minute in, Lyndsay Pruett’s flowing violin runs pick up the theme and fly with it for several measures before Stickley’s fingerpicking twins Pruett’s strokes, and the two instruments play call and response.

Deacon shines as the song modulates from the original key, and he uses snare, bass, and cymbals to reproduce the thematic riff while at the same time flying off on some acrobatic rolls of his own; Stickley’s flying fretwork darts in and out of Deacon’s percussive flights. As the Trio climbs into the sonic heavens, they soar on Stickley’s mounting riffs, circling ever upward into blissful heights from which we never want to come down.

As Jon Stickley says of the song: “Over the last couple years I found a lot of comfort in getting outside and taking walks. This song, ‘Take the Air’ came to me after taking a stroll and thinking about all the picker buddies I was missing. It’s the kind of laid back tune I’d love to sit around on the porch and play with some good friends. I hope it brings everyone a little peace like a good walk can.”