In January 2008, I discovered Peter Mulvey. The song "Better Way to Go" played on KBCO one day as I was driving in Denver and it led me to Mulvey's album, Notes from Elsewhere. After picking it up, the album has consistently been at the top of quite a few of my playlists. His honest voice, amazing guitar work, and brilliant lyrics keep me coming back time and time again.

So when I heard he had a new album (his twelfth) coming out, I knew I had to pick that one up as well. Letters from a Flying Machine isn't quite what I expected, and yet it's more than I might have hoped. This isn't a conventional album full of song after song, but rather a journey through time and space where Mulvey finds ways to communicate with his nieces and nephews during his travels. The "Flying Machines," of course, are airplanes and there are four of the many letters Peter has written to his family on his many travels. And each letter is a glimpse into his life, his relationships with his family, and his observations on the world.

Though I love the music on this album, I have to take some time to chat about the letters. Writing a letter is a very personal process and one that may be lost on today's youth. E-mail, Twitter, instant messaging, and text messaging all tend towards more conversational bits shared between the sender and the receiver. Those mediums can be personal, but we no longer have the delays between sending and receiving personal correspondence that made receiving a letter so much more personal and exciting. For Peter to share these intimate collections of thoughts passed from himself to his nieces and nephews is a wonderful way to share more of himself with his fans and forever immortalize the letters for his family.

The tracks of Letters aren't meant to be listened to a bit at a time out of order. These tracks are arranged carefully to illustrate how when we are gone, some of our legacy is left behind. But what is that legacy? What form does it take? This is what Mulvey delves into through these letters and songs.

Article Author: Fitz

Brian Fitzpatrick (aka "Fitz") is a software engineer and writer living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, two daughters, two dogs, and two cats -- trying desperately to survive the chaos!

Visit Fitz's author page — Fitz's Blog