Tony Anderson - Ancestral

As part of my forthcoming album, I wrote Ancestral to help me sleep. The photo was taken near my Grandmother’s farm outside of Hooper, Nebraska. Her name was Kaye Benson and she’s the one who convinced my parents to leave south Florida in the late 1980s to experience life in the heartland. Her home (and the land it was on) continues to be idyllic each time I return. Many of my favorite memories from childhood took place there, and the nostalgia continues to draw me back even though she’s gone. What I love remembering most is how quiet things would get on summer nights. Perhaps that’s what Ancestral is so simple. So soft. I recently found a letter Grandma Kaye wrote my parents in January of 1990 just after my mom and dad had taken 4 of us kids (all under the age of 5) to Nebraska for the first time: “David and Ariane, I saw you walking hand in hand down the front lawn and later far out into the fields. I hope you had a peaceful, tranquil walk and perceived the beauty o