While many businesses cautiously start to reopen, music venues are still closed. Artists who thrive on touring, interacting with an audience and performing their music live have been relegated to waiting for doors to reopen and the day we can all celebrate together again. So, what’s a creative to do with all that extra time? In the case of KNOTTS singer Adalia Powell-Boehne, this pause from performing has provided the opportunity to create an uplifting new song (“Shade Tree”) and do some literal and philosophical house cleaning.
 
 The single is available starting today on bandcamp 100% of the purchases of "Shade Tree" on bandcamp today will benefit the NAACP.

We connected with Powell-Boehne to get the socially distant scoop on the new song and the upside of downtime.

On the genesis of the song
 “Shade Tree” was written in a few places, it's a feel-good song reflecting my state of mind at the time. I wrote some of it the first week of getting to know a new house. That week I was finding out for the first time exactly where the best sunny spots are and seeing cardinal neighbors. I also started to write the guitar for “Shade Tree” on a trip to Michigan, I knew right away it was a groovy "rock band" song.I finally finished it one afternoon when I strapped my guitar to me and walked down the street in Norwood playing the song. Fun fact, attracts lots of weirdos. After I denied a few song requests, I saw this huge tree and I sat under it strumming different chords to try to figure out a chorus.And I landed on writing the chorus lyrics, "Life is better under a shade tree." The song is a reminder that wherever we are going, it's good and we'll get there at our own pace.

 On living and creating in quarantine
 Life in quarantine has felt like a dream, surreal, and revealing more than I'd ask to know about my subconscious. Much of the time I'd felt like I was peeling back these layers of myself that I just had time to uncover and deal with and it felt raw and difficult. The upside is that the deep healing is worth it. I spent a lot of time walking near Xavier, cooking, helping my kids with homework. I went through the "projects" phase of quarantine too. I can see my basement floor again. I really missed people and felt sorry for taking them for granted. Mostly I thought a lot about my life and I decided that I am grateful to make music and make it with other people. It is an incredible thing, and I am content to live my humble artist life. As things start to get busy again, I hope I remember that.