Doug Levitt, who has travelled more than 12 years and 120,000 Greyhound bus miles writing songs about fellow travellers, has announced his debut full-length album ‘Edge of Everywhere’ to be released on March 3.
Levitt has also shared its anthemic title track, which fans can now stream.
Produced by multiple Grammy Award-winner Trina Shoemaker, the producer/engineer behind albums by Brandi Carlile, Josh Ritter, Sheryl Crow and Emmylou Harris, the album is drawn from Levitt’s travels by Greyhound bus and tells the tales of the folks he met along the way. “Our stories are where we meet.” Levitt says, “They are the crossroads of human experience.
Greyhound bus is the cheapest means of travel in the US and largely serves the poorest in the community. Inspired by Depression-era projects like that of Woody Guthrie and conscious of the increasingly deep inequalities within the country, Levitt has travelled to every single state in the continental US by Greyhound, and through these songs, is giving voice to those on the margins who often go unheard.
‘Edge of Everywhere’ is, as he puts it, a kind of “anthem from the edge,” a song about grit and defiance in the face of struggle and disparity. It’s inspired by Brenda, a graying woman who lost her job and home years back and is reflecting on the (metaphorical) hills and valley of LA, while pulling into her sprawling hometown. “Living on the edge is a binding force on the bus,” Levitt says, “one that transcends any other differences in race, politics or culture.”
Following the success of a BBC World Service documentary in 2018, two further documentaries about Levitt’s Greyhound journeys are planned for 2023 on BBC Radio 4 and BBC 4 TV. Both will feature excerpts of songs from ‘Edge of Everywhere’.
