The Return

THE STORY OF THUNDER (and LIGHTEN-ING, and BOULDER)

In 2007, after some years of playing the same circuits and collaborating in concert with Ferron, indie-rocker/performance artist Bitch, set out to make an album of the artist.

Bitch wanted to make something raw, something that captured a side of Ferron that she had befriended but never heard on her albums. "Boulder" was recorded in Ferron's house, close to her comforts. You can sometimes hear her feet on the wood or the phone ring. Bitch accompanies her on an out-of-tune piano in the house, and, more often, on her campfire-style fiddle.

Ferron (reluctantly) agreed to let Bitch camp out in her RV in her backyard and follow her around for a few weeks, bringing her portable studio from room to room, depending on the day (and Ferron's mood).

"Ferron was very clear at that point, that her musical dream was over, and she was more interested in gardening at this point in her life. Looking back on it, part of me sees how pushy I was in getting her to record with me, and I'm of course glad I was. Plus, Ferron is still friends with me, so she must be too, on some level!" Bitch says.

After two weeks of keeping Ferron out of the garden, Bitch hit the road with her own band, bringing the recording/editing studio with her. Over the next year, she recorded and worked long-distance with her different artist friends who wanted the chance to sing or play on one of Ferron's songs.

"Boulder" includes performances by Midtown Dickens, JD Samson (Le Tigre, MEN), Lyndell Montgomery, Ani Difranco, Amy Ray, Emily Saliers, Julie Wolf, Geo Wyeth, Samantha Parton (The Be Good Tanyas), Tina G (Goddess and She) and Lindsay Elect.

Since releasing "Boulder," Bitch met visual artist/ video maker Billie Jo Cavallaro. Upon introducing Cavallaro to Ferron, Bitch and Billie Jo started to talk about making a documentary about Ferron. One of the first things we hear Ferron say in "Thunder" is "I think all documentaries follow that sort of timeline life story…I just don't think like that."

On a tour through Iowa, the two met Leslie Gearhart, a real estate developer and arts philanthropist, and she agreed to help fund the project. In October 2010, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the rest of it.

While living in NYC, Bitch and Billie Jo drove to Ferron's house a few times to interview her, bringing the project back to the city to work on it.

"Thunder" is not your average documentary. It doesn't give us that 'timeline approach,' nor does it tell Ferron's whole life story. Instead, Cavallaro and Bitch capture a 'window into the artist'---where we are affected on a subconscious level. It tells the tale of an intergenerational friendship that explores the ideas of legacy vs. invisibility and the artist vs. the world.

During the making of Thunder, Executive Producer Leslie Gearhart asked Bitch about making an accompanying soundtrack. Because so much of the soundtrack is already on Boulder, they decided to dive into a new recording project with Ferron, that was recorded over the course of 3 days in September in Des Moines, IA, when Bitch and Ferron came to play the Iowa Women's Festival in Iowa City. Then, Bitch and Billie Jo would travel back to Des Moines over the next few months to finish the recordings. The resulting album is called Lighten-ing, and is available through Short Story Records.

We encourage you to explore all of the work of the artists involved in this project:

FERRONONLINE.COM
BITCHMUSIC.COM
BILLIEJOCAVALLARO.COM
SHORTSTORYRECORDS.COM