GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN (2025)
Ghosts in the Garden, the gorgeous and searching new album from Kris Delmhorst, is a layered, kaleidoscopic meditation on grief, loss, and fate. Inhabiting the songs are a host of vivid spirits made tangible: the departed and the disappeared, sins and their consequences; lost loves, missed chances, and the invisible sorrows that accompany us all. With richly observed details and finely calibrated emotional range, Delmhorst finds the wavelength that illuminates these multitudes. Having summoned them, she doesn’t avert her eyes from her ghosts – or ours – but invites them into an expansive conversation about the ways we’re shaped by loss, and woven together by unseen threads of love.
Working at Great North Sound Society, a studio built into an 18th-century Maine farmhouse that no doubt harbors ghosts of its own, Delmhorst tracked live with a core band of Ray Rizzo on drums, Jeremy Moses Curtis on bass, and Erik Koskinen on guitars. Engineer Sam Kassirer added keys, and Rich Hinman contributed pedal steel. An illustrious procession of guest vocalists – Anaïs Mitchell, Rose Cousins, Anna Tivel, Ana Egge, Taylor Ashton, Rachel Baiman, Jabe Beyer, and Jeffrey Foucault – brings prismatic brilliance to the tracks, refracting the individual slant of each song’s light.
The stories on this record unfold from the inside out like fables, sketching archetypical characters – a fisherman recalling details of a life tethered to the margins, a soldier remembering the universe of a single day and night of love – and transforming them into proxies for our own hauntings. The darkly hypnotic “Wolves” reckons with the mortality of parents, the ordinary and inevitable orphaning that we all face. “I see wolves / circling the fire / circling the fire with their yellow eyes,” Delmhorst sings, steadying and challenging us to meet death’s gaze with respect, before posing the album’s central question: “Do you really love the story if you don’t love the end?”
The eponymous ghosts of the title track – who turn up not only in the garden but on the road and in the kitchen, in songs and at the bar – recount a dear friend’s expansive last days, departing the corporeal world surrounded by a houseful of loved ones, music and stories, unguarded tears and wild laughter. It’s a gathering of spirits, the brief and holy moment when the door between worlds is open, and it is from this place that the album’s journey unfolds.
Some elegies are more collective than personal: “Won’t Be Long,” a jangly, agitated rocker, uses the queasy restlessness of the pandemic years to indict our blind impulse toward self-destructive greed, while the gentle, rolling groove of “Age of Innocence” delivers matter-of-fact reportage from a future ghost, tallying the inevitable wages of our excess. From the weatherworn longing of “Lucky River,” to “Something to Show” and its insomniac prayer for insight, Ghosts in the Garden explores the hidden country of grief, a land we all inhabit together but often navigate alone. Within this tender and urgent collection of songs, Delmhorst offers a place in the wilderness to gather for solace and communion: “everyone’s here / no one’s gone.”
ALBUM CREDITS:
(PDF of full credits, including song-by-song)
Recorded by Sam Kassirer at Great North Sound Society, Parsonsfield, ME
Mixed by Sam Kassirer at MEFFA, Medford MA
Additional recording by Colin Fleming, Sean Sullivan, Zachariah Hickman, Alec Spiegelman, & Jeffrey Martin
Mastered by Alex McCollough at True East, Nashville TN
KD - acoustic & electric guitar, Rhodes, vocals
Ray Rizzo - drums, udu, chimes, percussion
Jeremy Moses Curtis - electric and upright bass
Erik Koskinen - electric and acoustic guitars, organ
Rich Hinman - pedal steel guitar, electric guitar
Sam Kassirer - piano, organ, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, autoharp
Rose Cousins - vocals (1, 11)
Jabe Beyer - vocals (3, 10)
Rachel Baiman - vocals (4)
Anna Tivel - vocals (5)
Jeffrey Foucault - vocals (6)
Ana Egge - vocals (7)
Anaïs Mitchell - vocals (8)
Taylor Ashton - vocals (9)
Photos - Anja Schütz
Band photo - Louise Bichan
Design - Meghan Dewar
Liner notes - Jenna Rozelle
All songs ©2025 Kris Delmhorst / Big Bean Music / ASCAP (admin. Domino Publishing)
Except "Beyond the Boundaries:" Lyrics Kris Delmhorst / Big Bean Music / ASCAP, music Kris Delmhorst & Matthew Sanborn / Organ Donor Music
TRACKS
1. Long Day in the Milky Way 2. Golden Crown 3. Hanging Garden
4. Secret Girl 5. Horses in the Sky 6. Skyscraper 7. The Horses
8. Flower of Forgiveness 9. Nothing ‘Bout Nothing 10. Crow Flies
11. Bless Your Little Heart 12. Call Off the Dogs
PRESS QUOTES:
“This is a grand seduction of a record by an artist who has always been true to her heart and has perfected the art of digging deep to deliver spirited, nourishing compositions with lyrics which do far more than rhyme…Ghosts in the Garden takes hold and hits you very hard.” Eric Thom, Americana Highways [full review]
“Kris Delmhorst has created yet another Americana masterpiece…it’s not a downer of an album, rather a reflection on a life, an examined life, one that takes the personal and makes it universal. It could also serve as a cautionary tale, don’t sweat the small stuff…life is more, far more, than what’s immediately in front of you.” Amos Perrine, No Depression [full review]
”Ghosts in the Garden proves an ideal example of Delmhorst’s definitive style, one that relies on insight, emotion and a highly knowing perspective…it would be hard to imagine a more compelling set of songs.” Lee Zimmerman, American Songwriter
“Like the poems of Keats, Shelley, and Emily Dickinson, Delmhorst’s songs flourish as odes to impermanence and memory…Ghosts in the Garden displays [her] lyrical brilliance and her ability to call forth the spirits that dwell just behind the joys and sorrows of our lives.” Henry Carrigan, Folk Alley [full review]
LYRICS
WOLVES
I see wolves circling the fire
circling the fire with their yellow eyes little bit closer every night
dark on dark, patient pride
just outside the edge of the light
they know how to wait, how to sit tight
when I was a child you were the tallest one tallest one, block out the sun
a little bit smaller now the closer they come but hey no, there’s no shame,
someday we’ll know all their names, there’s no wrong, there’s no blame, they’re wolves
and on that day when they come
you won’t be gone, you won’t be done you’ll be sleeping in the snow
you’ll be running in the sun
you’ll be wolves
I see wolves
circling again
look em in the eye like some kinda friend
do you really love the story if you don’t love the end
GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN
then we burned all the bad news all the shit that we can’t use
you were my first glimmer it’s true now look at this circle of light
dark side of a dark year
down to zero and the stars are clear feel the edges disappear
you can fall right into the night
ghosts in the graveyard, hearts in the room trying to do everything we learned from you
we were laughing like we got the joke tears and whiskey, tea and smoke carving hearts in the big old oak
it’s the strongest one we know
you were on your way though
already halfway out the window
32 feet make a broken beat in the brand new snow
ghosts in the kitchen, singing along everyone’s here, no one’s gone
ghosts in the garden ghosts in the car
ghosts in the dishes ghosts at the bar
ghosts in the records ghosts at the show ghosts on the highway ghosts everywhere we go
ghosts in the doorway, drawn to the light pull em in close, hold on tight
WON’T BE LONG
are you the match or the kerosene
are you the head or the guillotine
on further inspection maybe there’s no difference at all
well we always knew we’d probably crash
never ever ever letting up on the gas
buckle up baby, i think we might be hitting the wall
well can you tell me something to turn the picture upside down cause right now nothing
feels like solid ground
they say it won’t be long
i wanna blow my cage i wanna slip my skin
leave behind these walls i’m in
yeah i wanna run free like the horse i never learned to ride
come on and prune my nerves back to fresh endings
stir my blood, scuff up my wings
and give me whatever it takes to make the fever subside
well can you tell me something show me where i’m supposed to be cause right now nothing feels like anything to me
they say it won’t be long
they say it won’t be long
because we wanted a little more
we just wanted a little more
we always wanted a little more, little more, little more of everything
well can you tell me something show me where i’m supposed to be cause right now nothing feels like anything to me
they say it won’t be long
they say it won’t be long
NOT THE ONLY ONE
hey you with your hands on the table you with your eyes on the wall
you thinking a mile a minute
hey you saying nothing at all
you watching the bus leave without you you letting your coffee get cold
hey you blinded by sunshine
you feeding birds in the snow
you're not the only one
you're not the only one here
not the only one here with a broken heart
you walking by your old apartment
you reading the name by the bell
you lighting matches, burning letters to ashes hey you leaving them right where they fell
you smoking one more on the front porch
you locking the door down tight
you picking up the phone and putting down the phone and picking up the phone all night
you're not the only one you're not the only one here not the only one
who wakes up in the morning, walks the dog,
hangs the sheets, goes to your job,
brings in the mail, cleans up the kitchen,
lets the kettle boils over while you’re reading the news about flowers piled up in the schoolyard,
can this be the world, can that be the time, and you go to the party, say things to people, cry on the shoulder of the dark road home
you're not the only one
you're not the only one here
not the only one here with a broken heart not the only one
SUMMER’S GROWING OLD
september evening
snapdragon red, bumblebee gold blue of the neighbor’s tv summer’s growing old
something in the air like a hinge is turning corner of your eye like a shadow thrown anyone you’ve ever been is coming back again summer’s growing old
I don’t even know if I can keep on waiting here bright stars are racing all around the sky everything is tumbling out of my heart summer’s growing old
DETOUR
we took a detour from the high line
cirrus in the big sky, dust in the light
into the mountains that sheltered explorers open secrets, secret signs
we took a slow ride on the surface shivers in the fault lines way way down
gear down, here now, ghost town the only place you ever started from gear down, here now, ghost town
chasing a new line, cardwell 359
get your head and heart to rhyme then write it all down boys on the big bluff digging in the open cut
is it a gold mine or just a hole in the ground
remedy, apology, forefathers
how many centuries to make it right
gear down, here now, ghost town the only place it ever had to go gear down, here now, ghost town
AGE OF INNOCENCE
in the age of innocence fancy free and frivolous
so lush and limitless
as far as the eye could see
just babes in the woods
taking names and feeling good did it all because we could living for today
it’s a cliché but its not wrong
don’t know what you got until it’s gone
paradise was so hard to believe in
once we were innocent and unashamed
now we’re the only ones to blame
we didn’t even know we were living in the garden of eden
express lane towards the fall hellbent to lose it all
don’t you wish we could’ve stalled even for one more day
but we just had to ask the question give in to our obsession
perpetrate the big transgression and throw it all away
it’s a cliché, now we know why
don’t miss your water til the well runs dry
we had no idea how soon we’d be leaving
and all the little things that got us down
don’t they all seem so irrelevant now
we never even knew we were living in the garden of eden we never even knew we were in the garden
LUCKY RIVER
two blocks from east and seven from main walk it since I broke my chain
I come back time and time and time
sit the bridge with my pole and line
sit the bridge with my pole and line sit the bridge
heron on the bank as thin as a door
he don’t even notice me anymore
I been moving along I been sleeping rough a little here and there but its never enough a little here and there but its never enough a little here and there but
I had a little place by the package store it’s not my place anymore
wasn’t much but suited me fine
every single day a little further behind every single day a little further behind every single day
used to be a dance at the social hall
a girl kiss me by the church wall
but a couplea two three heart attacks and one more time break the pony’s back one more time break the pony’s back
one more time
cars roll by on 53
places to go they don’t see me
blew a little more cold rain today
I thought I wanted april but I guess I wanted may thought I wanted april but i guess I wanted may thought I wanted
just below the culvert runnIng out foam I caught a little fish and I let him go
I caught a little fish and I let him go
I caught a little fish and I
lucky water, roll away
lucky sun, call it a day
lucky rainbow, let your colors show lucky river someplace to go
lucky river someplace to go
lucky river
BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES
so many years ago in another lifetime
when i was still traveling on fate’s borderline
I met my true love and she would have been mine
if not for the boundaries of space and of time
we went walking and talking under sheltering pines
picking clovers and violets and sweet celandine
the blood in our veins was singing in rhyme
unaware of the boundaries of space and of time
she said you are a soldier bound for the front lines
and I’m bound to a man who is no friend of mine
well doesn’t it feel like a terrible crime
to be prisoners to the boundaries of space and of time
to her cold little room up the stairs we did climb
at the top of an old house all covered with vines
and spent one endless night with our hearts all entwined
erasing the boundaries of space and of time
well my heart turned to stone when I heard the bells chime
boarded the train at a quarter to nine
it carried me deep behind enemy lines
cursing the boundaries of space and of time
every desolate lover, every lost valentine
would give their last breath, they would spend their last dime
to write more of the story somewhere way down the line
beyond the boundaries of space and of time
beyond the boundaries of space and of time
DEMATERIALIZE
I sent a signal into the black
just to hear a human echo coming back
now the world’s a different hue since the day my heart got drunk on you I fly away when I least expect it
look my way I might dematerialize
and now this story’s written on my face
and so I take it with me everyplace
people talk and people stare but they don’t know I’m barely there I fly away when I least expect it
any old day I might be up and gone
so tired of the apocalyptic grind, let’s find a space to occupy point a finger close your eyes let’s make a world we recognize and fly away
I sent a signal into the black (I fly away, I dematerialize) I sent a signal into the black (I fly away, I dematerialize) I sent a signal
SOMETHING TO SHOW
meet me at the landing spot, I’m ready waiting at the center of the world underneath the satellites and power lines searching for a gleam, a secret sunken pearl
give me something to show something to show
for all my sleepless nights
push a little boat out on the water
row it all the way across the sky
dig in the oars, set it spinning in kaleidoscopes of phosphorescent stars, striking off the hard flint of your eyes
give me something to show something to show
for all my restless days, every breathless morning, all my years awake,
every dream of water
everywhere we been’s illuminated
we’re floating in a fragile crystal ball
is this what it’s like to be the stars, the stars, the stars, the stars, the stars, the stars, the stars
all alone, all together, in the dark
give me something to show something to show something to show
meet me now I’m ready