Reason to Rejoice: A New Album of Unreleased Songs from Terre & Maggie Roche

Terre & Maggie Roche, “Kin Ya See That Sun”

Terre Roche – acoustic guitar, singing
Maggie Roche – acoustic guitar, singing
Produced by Lisa Brigantino & Terre Roche
Audio Restoration & Mastering: Thomas Millioto
Live Recording Engineer: Pat Tessitore
Music by Margaret A. Roche; Words by Terre Roche.
Published by Nabithius Music (ASCAP)
©℗ 2022 Earth Rock Wreckerds. All rights reserved.

By PAUL ZOLLO

Terre Roche, who is legendary for being one-third of the beloved, brilliant, whimsical and wise trio of sisters known as The Roches, has already delivered a great bounty of singularly inspirational musical reasons to rejoice.

Now she’s unveiling a new and seriously great one: the upcoming release of the album Kin Ya See That Sun, which will be released digitally on October 21. An historic and luminously lovely collection of unreleased early recordings by Terre and Maggie, who were a duo in the mid-70s prior to their little sister Suzzy’s inclusion in the group, it’s a great and long-unexpected delight. It’s also a sound and shimmering reason to lift up our hearts. Again. It will be digitally released on Friday, October 21.

Jersey girls from Park Ridge, The Roches first fell in love with folk music before setting off to perform their own songs at college campuses around the country. The two sisters toured America by themselves, for more than two years, with 17-year-old Terre completing her senior year of high school by doing homework and exams while on the road.

Suzzy, Terre & Maggie Roche, from bottom to top.

Paul Simon met them when they attended his songwriting class at the New School in New York.  He would come to produce part of their album Seductive Reasoning and enlist them to sing background harmonies on his third solo album, 1973’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, on the sunny classic “Was A Sunny Day,” accompanied by a sweetly joyous photo of the two sisters smiling.

There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, Paul Simon’s second solo album, and the only one with Maggie & Terre Roche, on “Was A Sunny Day.”

With his support, they made their official debut as a duo with 1975’s now-classic Seductive Reasoning, featuring production from Simon on one song, and that of Paul Samwell-Smith (Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Jethro Tull), and backing by the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

With the addition of Suzzy, the duo became The Roches, and made their great self-titled debut in 1979. The forementioned duo album – now a mostly secret and beloved classic – was the first and final time we heard the Maggie & Terre duo.

Until now, that is!

“I was 12 years old, ” wrote Terre about the origins of this album and song, “and Maggie was 13. We were just learning to play guitar. We’d learned off a PBS special called Folk Guitar With Laura Weber – I’ve always regretted that I never wrote Laura Weber a fan letter, and sadly she has passed away – but she taught us a bunch of guitar chords, strums and very cool folk songs we had never heard before.

“Maggie gave me this set of lyrics, and I wrote the music for it. Though we had never traveled beyond our New Jersey home, we had a longing to go out West.”

Maggie died in 2017. Two years later, Terre received live recordings from two different people who had recorded her and Maggie performing in 1975 and 2000. Here were many of the songs from Seductive Reasoning as they were originally arranged, just two voices and two guitars. Highlights include powerful performances of fan favorites like “Telephone Bill” and “Damned Old Dog” (recorded during a 1975 promotional tour) and the classic “If You Emptied Out All Your Pockets You Could Not Make the Change,” the latter recorded during Terre and Maggie’s acclaimed run of concerts in 2000. All live recordings featured on Kin Ya See That Sun were restored and mastered by Thomas Millioto. 

TRACKLIST:
01 “Apostrophe To The Wind”
02 “Damned Old Dog”
03 “Down The Dream”
04 “If You Emptied Out All Your Pockets You Could Not Make The Change”
05 “Kin Ya See That Sun”
06 “Malachy’s”
07 “Moonruns”
08 “Pretty And High”
09 “Telephone Bill”
10 “The Burden Of Proof”
11 “The Colleges”
12 “The Mountain People”
13 “West Virginia”
14 “Wigglin Man”
15 “Blabber Mouth”

Kin Ya See That Sun will rise on October 21, and then soar. This is one not to drop.

It’s pure Terre and Maggie Roche , doing arrangements of songs they did when they were teenagers traveling around the country to play on the college coffee house circuit.

The digital audio release will also be part of a book with lyrics, photographs, drawings, and recollections from various people who remember Terre and Maggie from way back then.

The book and audio album will be released together on October 21st; you can now pre-order the book here. Anyone who purchases the book will get it shipped to you for free, as well as a free digital download of the audio album.

Pre-order it here:

https://www.terreroche.com/store/p/kin-ya-see-that-sun-book-preorder

Kin Ya See That Sun will also be released as a limited-edition book featuring illustrations by Terre, song lyrics, rare photographs, exclusive new interview excerpts, and additional background about the project (all book purchases receive a digital download of the album). The book is available for pre-order now.

Maggie & Terre Roche. This is the original cover of Seductive Reasoning, their debut album as a duo, before becoming The Roches, which expanded into a trio when their sister Suzzy joined.

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Kin Ya See That Sun further collects never-before-heard songs such as “The Colleges” and “Apostrophe to the Wind” alongside exclusive outtakes from Seductive Reasoning including “Pretty and High” (later re-recorded for The Roches’ eponymous debut) and the previously unreleased gem, “Moonruns,” both produced in London by Samwell-Smith.

“Working on this project has brought me back in touch with the deep spiritual connection Maggie and I shared,” Terre said. “You can hear that connection in these songs. Hearing the music we made together amazes me after all these years. And I feel her gratitude toward me, wherever she is now, for shepherding the songs in their pure form through some tough terrain and on out into the light for everyone to hear.” 

Terre Roche Sparkling in the Sun

Terre will celebrate the release of Kin Ya See That Sun with a special performance at New York City’s City Winery on Laura Nyro’s birthday, October 18, at 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Terre Roche, Vol. 11:

On the ongoing phenomenon of Terre , and also The Roches, Hot fudge sundaes, Songs, Songwriting, and Writing the remarkable song “Christlike”

The Roches, “Christlike” by Terre Roche

BY PAUL ZOLLO She’s best known as the middle sister in the group, the one in the middle between big sister Maggie and little sister Suzzy. At first they were a duo, Terre and Maggie. When Suzzy was old enough and wanted to join the became The Roches. They formed a beloved, uniquely poignant folk trio, shining always with luminous harmony vocals, and original songs of charming, eccentric beauty.

THE ROCHES: SUZZY, TERRE IN THE MIDDLE, & MAGGIE

Raised in Park Ridge, New Jersey, Maggie was the songwriter first, and a brilliant one from the start. Terre, two years younger, looked up to Maggie always with much reverence, not unlike George Harrison with Lennon. Maggie’s  songs were so brilliantly written, with healthy doses of both brain and heart, that Terre didn’t consider writing her own at first. She loved singing Maggie’s songs, because she knew Maggie to be a genius.

Gradually, that genius rubbed off on her. Both were naturally gifted and creative harmony singers, as was Suzzy, who is three years younger than Terre. When they became a trio, they created a singularly exultant sound, with a distinctive blend of soul, sweetness and sophistication. Together those three voices harmonized to create a sound only siblings make – three individual voices connected by their foundational familial roots. The McGarrigle Sisters had that sound, as did The Everly Brothers. With The Roches it was like three separate parts of the same personality; nearly identical but with just enough difference to effect a rich, vivid presence.

TERRE ROCHE

Maggie and Terre took a class on songwriting Paul Simon taught at the New School in New York. It was 1970, and they were 19 and 17 respectively; Suzzy at 13 was still a kid. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was the biggest hit in the world then, and on radio always. Simon recognized the sisters’ talent and ambition, and offered to help them.

It was when he was giving them a ride to the George Washington Bridge – so they could take the bus to their Jersey home – that he also helped them understand that they were good, but could be great. And to be great – as  singers, musicians, songwriters, and recording artists – took talent, yes, which they had. But it also took a lot of work.

“Paul was driving,” Terre said, “and Maggie was in the front seat. He said, ‘You’re good. But do you think you’re as good as Paul McCartney?’ And I was sitting in the backseat watching her, wondering what she was going to say.

And she said, ‘Yes, I do.’”


Perhaps appreciating her lack of apology or self-loathing, he brought them into his fold. He signed them to a production deal which ultimately led to a record deal to make their first album – and only one as a duo – Seductive Reasoning, released in 1975.

TERRE ROCHE

But that record was still a few years off. First he gave them what used to be known as artist development. Which began with the understanding that talent takes one only so far, so every songwriter and artist must actively expand their knowledge and skills. All great songwriters and musicians learn they always have more to learn, and become students forever.

To allow this, each was advanced funds to live on, and also to finance music lessons. Maggie studied  piano , and Terre started then her lifelong study of the guitar.

“It was the first time either of studied music,” Terre said. “[Simon] was a big influence on us that way. He was always a studier himself, and I’ve continued to study ever since.”

It was the right influence at the perfect moment. That door opened to becoming a world-class musician, and both sisters walked through it swiftly. Terre immediately expanded as a guitarist, an expansion that has never stopped. It led to her understanding that, despite Maggie’s headstart in becoming a brilliant songwriter, that there was a place for Terre, too, to write songs.

Also, like Beatle George again, who suddenly was writing  “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun” – songs which forever expanded the already expansive Beatles – Terre started writing songs which also introduced a new dimension to the Roches. It was one of endearing candor – songs of great intimacy, both poetic and clear. She had a knack for including the odd detail – such as the steam table in “Mr. Sellack” – that brought a sweet authenticity to her songs, like the funny, secret, romantic and funny diary entries of a young woman learning about life in the world.

Simon also invited them to sing harmony vocals on his song “Was A Sunny Day,” on his second solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. Their photo was included in the interior artwork smiling brightly.

After Suzzy joined up, they were a trio, and made their self-titled landmark debut in 1971. It was produced by the legendary guitarist-genius of King Crimson, Robert Fripp. His participation, and use of “Frippertronics,” an electric guitar method he devised using loops, before guitar synths were here, producing a uniquely warm and  haunting beauty that was unexpected and powerful.

They made many albums – though none ever as popular as that first one – and performed around the world, and on big TV shows such as “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. Also, thanks to Paul Simon, he were invited to perform on “Saturday Night Live.” Though they would do other musical projects separately, The Roches continued making albums and performing.

In 1995, they made the album Can We Go Home Now, their last album until 2007, when they made Moonswept. They continued performing occasionally, until 2017, when Maggie died at 65.

Terre was forever taking interesting musical journeys, some alone and some with others, always unified her by her joyful, open-armed embrace of song. In New York, she organized outdoor singing parties, inviting all who hungered to sing real-time harmony on cherished songs to meet at a designated time and destination.

She also showed up sometimes in unexpected places, such as Fripp’s 1979 masterpiece, Exposure. She sings- wails, actually, intensely – on the title-track – screaming out the word “Exposure”  like a girl trapped in a burning building. But she also brought beautiful, lyrical singing to other tracks. It was confirmation of a hunch I had, and others shared. It was a recognition that Terre Roche had something else going on. We knew there was way more to her than we’d yet heard. And we were right.

After Exposure she did several beautiful solo albums, including The Sound of a Tree Falling in 1998, and the beautiful Imprint, 2015. each etched with her distinctive, poignant pictures of life.

But it was before that, on the forementioned Can We Go Home album made with her sisters, there’s a song which signals the solo work to come. It arrived like one of those miracle songs we didn’t expect, like when “The Sound of Silence” suddenly was in the world after so many years when it was not. And we all recognized, okay, there’s that now. This baseball diamond we’re playing on just got expanded.

THE ROCHES (L-R), MAGGIE, SUZZY & TERRE

Her song “Christlike” emerged with that same sense of moment, of an ascension to a different realm of songwriting, like the set of a play in the theater that suddenly opens up into a space four times as large. Who knew all that was there? “Christlike” is gently expansive, bringing together so many disparate parts that add up to the equation of being human. It’s earthbound, spiritual, religious, sexual, yearning for holiness, for impossible perfection while chained always to this  clockwork collective of our modern lives.

To discover how she found her way to “Christlike,” I asked her if she’d do an interview when she was in L.A. in 1997 to perform with her sisters at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip.

This took some serious negotiation to accomplish. This music journalism can sometimes be way more complex than one might assume. She agreed but only if we did it over hot fudge sundaes somewhere in Santa Monica, where they were staying. It was a tough mission, but I took it on, fortunately getting a tip that the Broadway deli had a great one. Which was true.

We walked there from her hotel, and she was quite delighted by the sundae. Which opened the “Christlike” door. Where did that come from?

“It was like automatic writing,” she said. “It poured through me. I had to stop and look up one of the words, because I didn’t know what it meant. I think it was channeled in a way. Because when I looked it up, the word meant exactly what I meant to say. It was the word ‘rend.’ I remember I had this image of this guy tearing meat apart and slobbering. And I put the word ‘rend’ in and figured I’d change it when I got the right word. And when I looked it up in the dictionary, it meant exactly that. It meant ‘to tear apart.’ Maybe on some unconscious level I knew that. I think writing works like that a lot. If you can get out of your way to let your subconscious come through, you can write your best stuff. “

Asked if she knew the secret of how to do that, she said she wished she did. “If I knew, I could write a lot more songs than I do. All I know is when it does come through me like that, it feels like a good song. Unrestricted.  I’m not forcing it to go a certain way.”