My Brightest Diamond

In the fall of 2008 I was in Holland playing the Take Root Festival. I saw several amazing performances but two still stand out to this day. One was Bon Iver. I had never heard of Justin Vernon and walked in to the show unsuspecting,out of curiosity from the name alone. I was completely swept up in every aspect of the performance. The melody,emotion,silence and storm. I felt my heart blown wide open as we all,a crowd of hundreds, sang "What might have been lost..." over and again in unison. It was like experiencing one of my first concerts. A time before I knew anything as a performer. Before the inside view of soundchecks and monitors, dressing room food and backstage banter. It was both inspiring and humbling and I was grateful to have been witness to it.
The other performance of the day that struck me, was also a stumbling revelation. I heard the sound of some strange bird warbling what seemed to be a Prince song. I followed the call into the lobby of the venue where another stage was set. There under light and swirl was Shara Worden aka My Brightest Diamond. The music was intriguing and not easily grasped. At one point she quietly stopped to tune her guitar. A task that seemed to go on inexorably. It was probably, in all, about 3 minutes. Which if you count out those seconds in silence can seem a lifetime. The crowd stirred awkwardly and she spoke not one word to aleviate the tension. Finally, when the last string was in tune, she reached into her pockets with both hands and flung silver glitter out over the crowd. It was perfect and I fell in love with her just a little bit right then and there. A few months later, thinking back on that moment I wrote a song for her. Part fact and mostly fiction, titled of course, "My Brightest Diamond." I recently recorded the song with Adam Tyner and Bill Palmer at Frogville Studios in Santa Fe. You can give it a listen if you like right here:
http://www.myspace.com/nathanhamiltonmusic