There’s a certain sacred thread that weaves through the great musical mystics. You hear it in the heart-scarred whispers of Leonard Cohen, in the cosmic campfire tales of Jerry Garcia, in the intimate hush of Joni’s Blue. On her new single “Love Through Sound,” Canadian folk-pop songstress Alex Krawczyk picks up that thread and gently runs it through her fingers, crafting a delicate tribute to the healing, unifying power of music.
Releasing fittingly on August 1—Jerry Garcia’s birthday—this track isn’t just a song. It’s a reverent invocation. Co-written with her frequent collaborator and producer Robbie Roth, the tune feels like a love letter to the Deadhead ethos: not the tie-dye and twirling clichés, but the deeper spiritual undercurrent that pulses beneath it all. The notion that music—pure, unfiltered, soul-fed sound—can connect strangers, soothe wounds, and maybe even save us.
“Casey Jones you’ve got me riding high,” she sings at the top, and right away the path is lit. Krawczyk doesn’t mimic the Grateful Dead. She channels them. She borrows their symbols like a painter reinterpreting a sacred scroll, not to copy, but to communicate something eternal. There’s Cumberland mines and Uncle Sam’s blues, yes, but also a universal longing that’s all her own. “Your golden road has strangers shaking hands…” — that’s not just a lyric, it’s a lifeline. In these fractured times, it feels like a prayer.
Robbie Roth’s production is clean, warm, and emotionally tuned. Acoustic guitars ring like open hearts. Electric textures courtesy of Tim Bovaconti and Caroline Marie Brooks shimmer like stardust over Devon Henderson’s steady basslines. Davide DiRenzo’s drumming doesn’t drive the song so much as accompany it on its pilgrimage. Robbie Grunwald’s piano work is subtle but essential, gently tucking its melodies into the corners like light through stained glass. And then there’s Alex—ethereal, honest, present. Her voice doesn’t demand attention; it earns it.
“Love Through Sound” feels less like a single and more like a meditation, a moment of pause in a world that rarely allows one. The refrain—simple, repeating—works its way under your skin, like a mantra, like a memory. It dares to believe that something as intangible as sound can become something as vital as love. And if you’re really listening, it proves it.
There’s a humility to Krawczyk’s music that speaks volumes. She’s not chasing stardom. She’s not posing in front of some Instagram-filtered dreamscape. She’s standing in the tall grass, heart on sleeve, offering a melody like a message in a bottle. There’s a purity here, a stillness. And in that stillness, something sacred stirs.
This is a song for the seekers. For those who believe that art can still mean something. For those who find solace in melody, and maybe even salvation in harmony.
“Love Through Sound” is not just an homage to the Grateful Dead—it’s a quiet reminder that the road goes on forever, and that the music, if we let it, can carry us all the way home.
Play it loud. Play it alone. Or better yet, play it with someone you love—and feel the silence between you disappear.
–Lonnie Nabors