Behind the Song: “Alaska Set”

Alaska Set is one of several tune sets on the new album, Dragonfly. These tunes were inspired by time spent in Alaska back in 2012. We played shows every day for a week at the Alaska State Fair (held in Palmer, AK), and in-between we tried to get in as much sightseeing as we could! Here are some pictures from our experience there.

Something fun about tune sets is that within the piece, you can name each tune differently. In the Alaska Set, there are three - it starts off with "Hatcher Pass," followed by "The Purple Moose" and finishes with  a tune called "Huckleberry Everything."

Hatcher Pass is a mountain pass through the southwest part of the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska, and has some beautiful views. The Purple Moose is a drive-thru coffee shop in Palmer that was conveniently on the way to the fair, and they served some very good coffee, including a purple moose mocha. :-) ...and Huckleberry Everything is about the amazing gift shops all over Anchorage where EVERYTHING is huckleberry flavored. Yum!

Alaska has epic, wild scenery and the mist over the mountains was very reminiscent of Scotland and the Northwest as well. We think Celtic music goes very well with that mist over the mountains feeling, and that's what we really wanted the Alaska Set to sound like! Because Alaska is known for it's wildlife, we were sure we would see a lot, but we just managed to see a reindeer at one of the tourist stops and a goat on a hillside verrrrrry far away. And a duck. But we did find Willow's jail! 😂

The song, "Alaska Set," can be found anywhere you find your music. Find listening links here: