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Circle of Days is the twenty-first album by the folk-rock group, The Nields. That is remarkable in itself. How many other bands have been together for so long producing new material on a regular basis? What is most remarkable is that this album may be its best work yet. The versatile musicians on this album explore a variety of genres, from Appalachian folk ballad to gospel to some of the most rocking songs since the earliest incarnations of the band. The production beautifully balances each sister’s vocals, bringing out the best in their individual vocal styles and then bringing them together in their exquisite harmonies. The singing is more mature, more assured, and, to my ears, the best they’ve ever sounded. In these days in which the female songwriting voice is in its ascendency, we have grown accustomed to hearing that perspective from younger artists. What a joy to hear the same from a seasoned writer. In Nerissa Nields’ songs, she’s preaching her gospel. That’s what we want from an artist. One song ends with, “I want to write one sentence that is true and sing it to you. That’s what we do.” To that, I say, “Amen.” -Jeff Passe
Circle of Days
The Nields, the folk-rock band from Massachusetts, are delighted to announce the release of their much-anticipated twenty-first album, Circle of Days. An homage to the calendar––and really, time itself––this collection of songs is a testament to the band's enduring creativity and unwavering commitment to their craft.
During the pandemic, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, the band's frontwomen, took a daily walk with their beloved dogs, Greta and Hudson. The destination was a nearby lake, where Katryna would take a daily photo. Inspired by the ever-shifting seasons, they came to realize that each of Nerissa’s new songs could be intimately connected to a particular time of year, forming a musical cycle.
Circle of Days resonates with those twinned states of mind––hope and fear––that come with living through quite a number of circles of days. From the anxious yet hopeful musings of the winter solstice in "Darkest Day of the Year" to the qualified optimism of summer's bounty in "Angel on the Roof," the album weaves together a vibrant tapestry of melodies and narratives that encapsulate the ebb and flow of life.
Among the album's standout tracks are "Brigid," an Imbolc song paying homage to the ancient celebration of the pagan goddess who gave her name to what became St. Brigid's Day–-or what we in the US know as Groundhog’s Day. "When I Was a DJ" explores the losses we all experience in a career that becomes increasingly irrelevant as Big Business takes over, leaving so many of us voiceless. "Death & Resurrection" is about our current epidemic of so-called deaths of despair, while "That's What We Do" serves as a stirring graduation anthem, celebrating the triumphs and aspirations of artists and activists.
With their unparalleled ability to blend pop craftsmanship, folk sensibility, and the influences of '60s classic rock and '90s alternative, The Nields have created a distinctive musical style that defies categorization. Their songs, imbued with intelligence and occasional humor, offer poignant observations on life's unexpected twists and turns. Apple Music describes their sound as "equal parts The Beatles, the cranberries, and Joni Mitchell," a testament to their unique fusion of melodic sensibilities
Circle of Days: The Nields Twenty-First Album, a Journey through the Seasons
The Nields, the folk-rock band from Massachusetts, are delighted to announce the release of their much-anticipated twenty-first album, Circle of Days. An homage to the calendar––and really, time itself––this collection of songs is a testament to the band's enduring creativity and unwavering commitment to their craft.
During the pandemic, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, the band's frontwomen, took a daily walk with their beloved dogs, Greta and Hudson. The destination was a nearby lake, where Katryna would take a daily photo. Inspired by the ever-shifting seasons, they came to realize that each of Nerissa’s new songs could be intimately connected to a particular time of year, forming a musical cycle.
Circle of Days resonates with those twinned states of mind––hope and fear––that come with living through quite a number of circles of days. From the anxious yet hopeful musings of the winter solstice in "Darkest Day of the Year" to the qualified optimism of summer's bounty in "Angel on the Roof," the album weaves together a vibrant tapestry of melodies and narratives that encapsulate the ebb and flow of life.
Among the album's standout tracks are "Brigid," an Imbolc song paying homage to the ancient celebration of the pagan goddess who gave her name to what became St. Brigid's Day–-or what we in the US know as Groundhog’s Day. "When I Was a DJ" explores the losses we all experience in careers that becomes increasingly irrelevant as Big Business takes over, leaving so many of us voiceless. "Death & Resurrection" addresses our current epidemic of so-called deaths of despair, while "That's What We Do" serves as a stirring graduation anthem, celebrating the triumphs and aspirations of artists and activists.
With their unparalleled ability to blend pop craftsmanship, folk sensibility, and the influences of '60s classic rock and '90s alternative, The Nields have created a distinctive musical style that defies categorization. Their songs, imbued with intelligence and occasional humor, offer poignant observations on life's unexpected twists and turns. Apple Music describes their sound as "equal parts The Beatles, the cranberries, and Joni Mitchell," a testament to their unique fusion of melodic sensibilities.
Having earned their stripes with 21 albums, major and independent record and publishing deals, and performances alongside luminaries such as 10,000 Maniacs, The Band, James Taylor, and the Indigo Girls, The Nields have unquestionably paid their dues, paving their own path, forging a remarkable musical legacy that continues to captivate audiences around the world.
Praise for the Nields
On first listen, some might glibly categorize this acoustic folk trio-turned-modern rock quintet as Alanis Fronts the Indigo Girls. But listen to [the Nields] twice and you’ll start to catch the twists in the tales, the quirks and ironies that make every song a short story. And then you’ll be hooked. -SPIN Magazine
Imagine if Natalie Merchant had a sister with an equally good voice singing perfect harmony with her…intimate and electric. -Sing Out! Magazine
If you don’t like the Nields, you need to get your ears checked. -ESP, Winston-Salem
A masterful mix of modern folk with an alternative edge. -Minneapolis Star Tribune
[The Nields] sounds like the Roches meets the Cranberries, but with better songwriting and better vocal harmonies. -Cincinnati Enquirer
If there’s one constant here, it’s The Nields sisters’ beautifully sweet vocal harmonies that sound eerily like the Roches singing Lush in a really big room. It’s infectious stuff. -Austin Chronicle
The marvelously expressive Katryna and Nerissa Nields provide vocals sounding at various times very much like the Bangles, the Roches and …Alanis Morrissette…a delightful discovery. -Chicago Tribune
…a gentle explosion of high-strung harmonies and spare arrangements of songs that snap like cinnamon sticks. They ride their dynamics from literally whispered passages over tick-tocking sidestick or no drums at all, up to electric squalls that push Katryna and sister Nerissa Nields’ vocals without overwhelming them. -Musician Magazine
As the work of the Everly Brothers or the McGarrigle Sisters has amply demonstrated, there are few sounds as sublime as close harmonies rendered by siblings. In the case of western Massachusetts folk rockers the Nields, the siblings are sisters Nerissa and Katryna Nields, and their inimitable vocal blend is a disarming mix of clean folk harmonies and clenched Generation-X angst. -The Chicago Tribune
Guitarist Nerissa has written the clear-eyed, literary lyrics and sister Katryna has provided a gloriously eccentric vocal delivery …Lots of backward glances and relationship foibles punctuate this quiet collection, which is ideal for harmony addicts and dreamers alike. -Billboard Magazine
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Praise for the Nields
Guitarist Nerissa has written the clear-eyed, literary lyrics and sister Katryna has provided a gloriously eccentric vocal delivery …Lots of backward glances and relationship foibles punctuate this quiet collection, which is ideal for harmony addicts and dreamers alike. -Billboard Magazine
The Nields make clever folk pop full of sweet harmonizing. -The New Yorker
Press releases (pdf)
Throughout their 22-year career, Nerissa & Katryna Nields have always been beloved by young people.
At their alt-rock shows in the ‘90s, it was a common occurrence for parents to approach the sisters after a show in a sweaty rock club with a teenager cum nose-ring in tow confessing, “You are the one music we agree on.” It was not unheard of to see a toddle mosh pit at Nields shows. The Nields have always had a sound that translates across the generations. But when the sisters became parents (each has a daughter and a son, in that order), the occasional kids song (“Superhero Soup,”) was joined by more and more original kid-friendly songs, inspired (sometimes demanded) by their growing children. In addition, they were inspired to mine their childhood for great traditional and folk songs to share with their kids.Recordings for Families
To this end, they convinced their father, John Nields (a famous lawyer who interrogated Oliver North in the Iran-Contra hearings of 1987, successfully prosecuted Deep Throat before anyone knew he was Deep Throat, represented the homeless in a suit against the District of Columbia in the 80's—and also sang for 20 years in the Christmas Revels) to come up and join in on a collection of the songs they loved so many years ago. Result: All Together Singing in the Kitchen - a spontaneous sounding jam of joyful family music. With the release of this CD, they made official what they had been doing for years: making music for children and their parents to sing together. The CD did very well, garnering rave reviews and getting spun on NPR’s All Things Considered. Two years later, the Nields repeated their successful formula of a post Thanksgiving jam to produce Rock All Day/Rock All Night, a two CD set with up-tempos and dance-ables on the first disk, and lullabies on the second.
Nields on DVD
In 2009, longtime Nields supporter and recently new dad Ed McKeon, a filmmaker and folk music DJ in Hartford CT called the sisters to say, “My kids need your video. So I am going to make it.” What resulted was “Organic Farm,” a charming DVD featuring a live concert, mixed with pieces by Henry Chalfant, award-winning documentary filmmaker (“Style Wars”).
HooteNanny Music Classes
After the birth of Nerissa’s first child in 2006, the sisters created a class in the spirit of Music Together for families in the Pioneer Valley of Western Ma called HooteNanny. An early music program for kids aged 0-5 and their grownups, HooteNanny became a powerful way to foster community connections while teaching families to sing together and giving young children the rudiments of music. The popularity of the classes mushroomed, and by 2011, the sisters were running, between them, nine classes a week, including new classes for older kids (HooteNanny Singers) and a parent guitar class (HooteNanny Parent Guitar). In 2013, Nields Family HooteNanny—a weekend, monthly, all ages jam-along/family chorus––was born. For HooteNanny, Nerissa and Katryna hand-select their favorites songs, as well as write much new material. The music is chosen for its accessibility, but also for its musicality and ability to bear repeated listening and singing. Classes are aimed equally at fostering musical children and at encouraging family connections. HooteNanny is all about singing, dancing, playing instruments, big and small, and most importantly, indulging the imagination and creativity of the families who participate.The Book!
2011 saw the publication of All Together Singing in the Kitchen: Creative Ways of Making and Listening to Music as a Family. Published on Shambhala’s Roost Books imprint and distributed by Random House, this book is the fruit of Nerissa and Katryna’s lifelong experience of music: growing up in a musical family, as well as growing new musicians. The book is part How To and part Why To. It includes a section on beginning basics––singing, keeping the beat, simple accompaniment; a section on songs, dance, play, making instruments, songwriting and that most important talent: listening. Throughout there are anecdotes from the sisters’s upbringing as well as stories about their children today. There’s advice about music lessons (when, if, what school, etc.), family traditions, community celebrations and the many ways music can provide the glue to a family, or a community. Music creates bonds like no other. From the jacket cover:
Music is not only fun, but it's also the foolproof way to family harmony and connection—it can soothe a crying baby, engage an active toddler, entertain during long car rides, and help everyone get through daily chores.
In All Together Singing in the Kitchen you'll find all the tools you need for family music making—you don't need to know a thing about music to get started. With over thirty songs (with lyrics, chords, and audio recordings) to get you singing, musical games to get you dancing, and tips on playing instruments to get you grooving, this book will help you make music a larger part of your family's life, from playtime to bedtime.
Making music with any group of people is one of the best and surest ways to forge deep emotional connections. Making music with the members of your family practically guarantees a lifetime of distinct, memorable, warm moments of togetherness.
Live Shows for Families
Nerissa & Katryna Nields continue to tour the country playing for all ages. The Nields's family shows are a blend of Pete Seeger-esque group song leading and Dan Zanes-like reconstruction of old classics, plus their own inimitable style of high energy, whimsy and filigreed harmony singing. In a typical kids show, they’ll pause in the middle of a song to ask an audience member what her favorite color is, or what kind of animal he’d like on the Organic Farm. The songs become collaborations with the young songwriters in the audience. Katryna takes advantage of a giant poster board and her collection of Sharpies to spontaneously create an Aikendrum; as Nerissa plays and sings the song, kids shout out the requested food items-cum-clothing “a cream cheese hat!” “His tie was made of bacon!” “His shoes were made of Dyno-nuggets!” And as quickly as the kids’s ideas wing through the air and up to the stage, Katryna draws them on the poster board. Parents and kids clap along to “Molly the Donkey.” Everyone gets up and dances to “Going to Boston.” And toddlers crowd the stage to wake up Katryna at the end of “Going to the Zoo” when she’s fallen asleep because the zoo was just so much fun. They fervently believe that a group of people singing folk songs together is tantamount to heaven on earth.
Katryna: "Nerissa and I were blessed with a musical family. The kind of family who sang in living rooms or backyards when we went over to friends' houses, in the backseat- or trunk- of the car when we took a trip of any distance, and of course, around the kitchen table when we were home. We rarely listened to records or tapes or even the radio. Mostly we made our own music. Our father played the guitar and sang the melody while our mother harmonized. My sisters and I learned where our voices fit in. Even when I was a teenager, I knew that this was special. Not everyone had music in their family."
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Nerissa and Katryna making music for families[/caption]
Nerissa: When I was a kid, I read a biography of Pete Seeger and became convinced that he was not only the greatest living American but also some kind of divine song midwife. Also, that I wanted to do what he did. I learned many of the songs for Kitchen at my father's feet. He learned these songs at Pete Seeger's feet. My father bought records by Odetta, the Weavers, Ian and Sylvia, and learned still more songs around the campfire from friends and family in the Adirondack mountains. From the time I can remember, he and my mother shared this music with their three daughters; after dinner often involved long sing-alongs culminating with the dreaded "Irene Goodnight" which meant it was bedtime for real. the Nields in the schools
Learn about the Nields' school programs...Praise for the Nields
The Nields bring, more than anything, authenticity and joy to the kids’ music world. Their utter delight in performing is infectious and comes across both on record and in their live performances. -Bill Childs, Spare the Rock
The Nields continue to make vital family folk music with humor and tenderness. Rock All Day, Rock All Night is an all-purpose collection of songs that will serve your family well in times both of play and rest. Definitely recommended. -Zooglobble
Rock All Day/Rock All Night is a wonderful set for young families, and excellent listening for any lover of traditional American music. It’s a keeper. -Sing Out! Magazine
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Management
Patty Romanoff Bulletproof Artist Management (413) 527-9393 [eeb_email email=""]The Band
[eeb_email email=""]Booking
Peter Quince Touring (413) 218-1786 [eeb_email email=""]Praise for the Nields
The Nields rank among the upper echelon of today’s original acts, with emphasis on the word ‘original’…Five individuals whose pooled talent has resulted in one of the best new sounds to emerge in America in recent memory. -Island Ear, New York
Nerissa and Katryna had the privilege of matriculating at the Potomac School in the wake of the renowned singer/song collector/Revels-creator John Langstaff who had once taught at the school and continued to visit for assemblies. Jack would come down from Cambridge and get the entire school singing folk songs. Nerissa & Katryna's father, John Nields had a similar privilege in the 1950s when the blacklisted Pete Seeger would come to sing at his school. So the Nields know the power of bringing song to schoolchildren, and wish very much to pay back this debt. To this end, they have visited many schools in the course of their career (The Maret School, Foxcroft, Madeira, Potomac, Crocker Farms, South Deerfield Elementary, The Hill School, St. Anne's, Proctor, many many others) and continue to do so. They bring tailored programs to the school based on the age range and the desires of the institution. As authors (they have published three books, between them), they create presentations around their books.
Click on the links below to pull up pdfs for each program.
Produced by Anand Nayak and Dave Chalfant. Mixed by Dave Chalfant, except for Away in The Manger, Deck the Hall, O Come All Ye Faithful, Mary Had a Baby and Silent Night (Anand Nayak) and Merry Christmas Mr. Jones (Huck Bennert). Mastered by Dave Chalfant at Norfolk Studios in Northampton, MA.
Vocals: Katryna Nields, Nerissa Nields, Ben Demerath
Guitar: Nerissa Nields
Ben Demerath played guitar on Friendly Beasts, Go Tell it on the Mountain, Wassail and Children Go, and bass on Children Go and Silent Night.
Anand Nayak played slide guitar on Children Go and Silent Night, harmonium on Away in a Manger, and bass on Friendly Beasts.
Chris Brashear played fiddle on Friendly Beasts and Wassail.
Dave Chalfant played all the instruments on Christmas Carol, Joy to the World; everything except Nerissa’s acoustic on Jesus Was a Refugee; bass on Merry Christmas, Mr. Jones. He also played additional guitar on Go Tell It on The Mountain, and additional guitar, banjo and percussion on Children Go.
Dar Williams sings on Merry Christmas, Mr. Jones
Mahlon Stewart does, too.
Dave Hower plays drums on Merry Christmas Mr. Jones
David Nields plays electric guitar on Merry Christmas, Mr. Jones
John Nields sings on Please to See the King
Huck Bennert mixed Merry Christmas Mr Jones.
Anand mixed Away In the Manger, Deck The Halls, O Come all Ye Faithful, Mary Had a Baby and Silent Night
Track Listing
- Go Tell It on The Mountain (Traditional/Work)
- The Friendly Beasts (Traditional)
- Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional/Chadwick)
- Joy to The World (Watts/Handel)
- Away in a Manger (Traditional/Murray)
- Children, Go Where I Send Thee (Traditional)
- Deck the Hall (Traditional)
- Gloucestershire Wassail (Traditional)
- In the Bleak Midwinter (Rosetti/Holst)
- Christmas Carol (N.Nields)
- O Come All Ye Faithful (Wade/Oakeley)
- Mary Had a Baby (Traditional)
- Merry Christmas, Mr. Jones (N.Nields)
- Please to See the King (Traditional)
- Jesus Was A Refugee (N.Nields)
- Silent Night (Gruber)
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Experience 11 all-new songs from The Nields
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