How to Smile Upside Down: New Album Sept 2020 Gary Hurlstone

This album has taken nine months to complete. Nine people provided the inspiration for the songs. Nine musicians contributed. It will be released in September, the ninth month of the year. Because of this I decided to call the album, ‘How to Smile Upside Down,’ just to frug up the architects of cosmic coincidence!

A whole bunch of musical creatives made the whole thing possible:

Richard Bamping-cello (Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra)

Todd Caldwell-Hammond B3 (Crosby-Stills-Nash, James Taylor, Bonnie Rait, Jackson Brown)

Tony Scherr-Bass/electric guitar (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Iron & Wine, Loudon Wainwright)

Gillie Nicholls-vocal (Albion Band)

Jamie Parkes-violin

Robbin Harris-percussion,

Zen Chen-vocal

The whole thing was pulled together through the incomparable talent of Peter Scherr who acted as mentor, producer, orchestrator and contributed double bass as well. Recording sessions took place at various parts of the globe, New York, Hong Kong, Calgary. What could have been a nightmare turned into the perfect excuse to do what I love doing most: making music, smiling upside down in the strangest of circumstances.