First CD release of 1969 album from group led by Mel Lyman.

The American Avatar: Love Comes Rolling Down album from The Lyman Family with Lisa Kindred was released on Reprise Records in 1969 and hadn’t made it to a CD release until now.

Primarily a blues covers album, with contributions from members of Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band including Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur, and Mel Lyman himself, the family grew out of a Boston suburb underground newspaper called Avatar. By 1970 the family was about 100 people strong and are an ongoing concern to this very day.

From the liners notes:

 

In a conversation between Mel Lyman, David Gude, Jim Kweskin and Joey Goldfarb printed in issue #22 of the Avatar, March. 29, 1968, Lyman spoke of his passion for music.

 

“Sound is the closest form to the essence, to Truth, to spirit. Sound is the first veil, the first form around spirit. That’s why music is the highest art, if you can truly feel the highest music then you are as close to the Truth as you can get without actually becoming the Truth itself. I told you that before, remember I used to say that sound created sight.”

Also featured on the album are the talents of Bruce Langhorne (known for his work with Richard & Mimi Farina, Bob Dylan, and other notable artists of the era) and Terry Bernhard (who would appear on a later Kweskin album called Side By Side).

Nearly 50 years after its debut, American Avatar: Love Comes Rolling Down enters the digital era for a new generation of music listeners to discover!

CD Track List:

1. California Water—Take One
2. James Alley Blues
3. Good Shepherd
4. Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
5. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
6. My Love Comes Rolling Down
7. California Water—Take Two