Shaul:

I would like to thank Annette Yoshiko Reed for her unending love and patience, my children, Yehuda, Chisda, Miriam, Kinneret and stepson Kun, and the great musicians who made this happen. I would also like to thank Ken Perlman for his many hours of instruction and for schooling me in the world of old-time music, and to Brad Leftwich with whom I studied banjo in Bloomington.

I want to dedicate this record to Jon Bowman z"l, guitar player, fiddler, banjo player, who left us way too soon. We spent hundreds of hours playing music together in his living room studio. You are not forgotten.

Finally, to Basya, who heard these tunes and immediately heard something I didn’t. And to the Fire Island Synagogue who supported us from the start and who continue to make Fire Island a place of creative and experimental Jewish life and devotion.

Basya:

I’m grateful for the mystery of creative sparks. For the Fire Island Synagogue for giving us freedom and supporting the spirit of experimentation and friendship, and to Shaul for bringing this incredible banjo treasure trove of music to my consciousness and co-piloting the entire journey.

I would love to acknowledge the team that helped shape the final release of this project.

I would like to thank Jorian Polis Schutz for his support. Don Godwin for shlepping so much sound equipment to record us live in the synagogue those hot summer days. For recording, mixing, mastering, and co-producingthe record. To Raechel Rosen, who at the time was just beginning her cantorial journey and sang all the harmoniescreating lush mystical sounds with her voice. To our incredible team of core musicians, Daniel Ori on bass, Megan Gould on violin, and Mathias Kunzli on percussion for their spontaneous input on the arrangements and Daniel Ori also recorded my vocals for half of the songs, Megan wrote a gorgeous string arrangement for the coda, and Mathias overdubbed a few layers of rhythm magic.

To our guest musicians: Matt Turk, Myk Freedman, Joey Weisenberg, Kaia Berman Peters and Madeleine Levinsohn as well as Wayne Silver at the Iceplant.

To Erica Harris for her imaginative work and the beautiful visual art for the cover.

I’d like to thank Saadya, my nearly eight year old miracle son, for putting up with moments of distraction, or fueling my creativity by modeling a never ending imagination and playfulness.

He is my anchor, and my tide, and my teacher and my widest, deepest most challenging love.

Last but not least, I’m indebted to my brother Yisroel, who because of his own unexpected musicality, inspired me to become a musician. He was deeply engaged in this project, and on every project, I’ve ever worked on, and has been the closest in advising me on all the stages of Kabbalachia, from the earliest mixes to the final masters.