Tempest
The Bay Area Celtic Rock Band Tempest’s album “Going Home,” on the group’s new record label Celtodelic is co-produced by band leader Lief Sorbye and Robert Berry (3, December People) in November and December of 2021, the album is best described as “Euro Celtic,” as Tempest incorporates more Scandinavian and British Isles material into their brand of Progressive Folk Rock.
“Jolly Roger” is the music video from “Going Home.” With a handful of pirates and the classic Jolly Roger flying, the video was produced at Morgan’s Cove, the secret, treasure-laden pirate ship in a backyard of Morgan Hill, CA, as well as at SoundTek Studios in Campbell, CA. Tempest’s “Jolly Roger” is a folk-rock cover of one of Lief’s favorite “deep tracks” from the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn. Lief wrote “The Shepherd’s Daughter,” based on the traditional British ballad, The Knight and The Shepherd’s Daughter. “Dream Morris” was a melody fully formed in Lief’s head one morning when he woke.
The disc features a range of spirited fiddle and mandolin instrumentals “The Optimist” and “Mrs. Preston’s Favorite.” There are songs in Lief’s native language Norwegian. “Hjemreise” is a dedication to the recent passing of his mom and the magical mountain cabin ‘Jegerstølen,’ pictured on the front cover of the record. The song title translates to the album title, Going Home.
The Norwegian children’s song “Pål Sine Høner” (Paul’s Chickens), a Swedish murder ballad “De Två Systrarna” (The Two Sisters), and the British “The Devil and the Farmer” are traditional folk songs on Going Home.
Hailing from Oslo, Norway, founding member and lead singer/electric mandolinist, Lief Sorbye, is recognized as a driving force in the modern folk-rock movement. He started Tempest in 1988 after years of touring and recording on the folk circuit. The band also features San Francisco’s Lee Corbie-Wells (fiddle, vocals), Bulgaria-born Nikolay Georgiev (guitars), Michigan’s Hugh Caley, (bassist), and Cuban drummer Adolfo Lazo, who is an original member of Tempest.